Judicial Watch, the FDA and RU-486

A public interest group known as Judicial Watch had filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the FDA pertaining to the approval process of the abortion pill RU-486. Mysteriously the FDA refused the release of over 6,000 documents and failed to provide adequate dates for a number of the released documents.

Judicial Watch filed suit that ended up in U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. That Court has ruled and therefore is compelling the FDA to release the rest of documents with appropriate dates. This Appellate Court remanded the issue back to the U.S. District Court of Columbia for the continuation of the Judicial Watch discovery process.

The first thought that comes to mind is “Cover-up.” Anti-abortionists should have a field day as to why the FDA would attempt to cover-up steps taken in the approval process of RU-486. The FDA has been under major criticism for not doing its job in protecting the public in approving drugs that have been shown to be harmful to the public.

There is a fine line the FDA has to work with; viz. there are people who literally are desperate for FDA approval of experimental drugs that is hoped to save lives. Those are the kind of drugs that should be on the fast track on the approval process with a monitored scenario in case these drugs are more harmful than helpful.

Drugs of convenience - such as RU-486 - should not be on the fast track to approval. RU-486 is basically a birth control drug to prevent the birth of an unwanted pregnancy. How does fast tracking such drugs helpful to the public? There are huge appearances of marketing schmoozing that reaches beyond public safety in such cases. The moral implications involved in polarized politics should be considered and weighed in drugs of convenience.

Let’s keep apprised to the Judicial Watch findings. It is quite evident that the FDA is due for a reformative overhaul.