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many drugs which are legal in Europe are banned here in the US.

This statement is as bad as Breyer on the SCOTUS citing legal precedents from other countries in order to justify his rulings. Just because the European weenies do something, doesn't mean we have to.

I'm against excessive government, as well as many regulations, but medications need to be regulated. For example: do you know how many people end up with kidney failure due to excessive NSAID (ibuprofen, aspirin, etc) use? And these drugs are over the counter. Many people ignore drug labels, and use the logic "if 1 is good, 2 is better". Imagine if all of the drugs went unregulated (which would happen if we abolished the FDA). There would be no need for clinical trials for drugs, and the drug firms would be able to produce drugs that could potentially induce widespread harm. I'm certainly not saying the FDA is not without it's faults, but it does serve a vital purpose. Sorry, I think the FDA is necessary.

This statement is as bad as Breyer on the SCOTUS citing legal precedents from other countries in order to justify his rulings. Just because the European weenies do something, doesn't mean we have to. >>

No, it is not, you're confusing the issue. I was not referring to international law or SCOUTS decisions, I was referring to the FDA and politics with the drug companies. There are some good pharmaceuticals out there in other countries helping people and our FDA refuses to approve them for the common good.

Don't be so Pollyanna, they just allowed 60,000 people to be killed with Cox 2 inhibitors, let the drugs on the market, while ephedra and herb, killed less than 200 people and was taken off the market. An FDA committee just recommended that some of the Cox 2 inhibitors be put back on the market. So much for the common good.

They did the same thing with L-tryptophane, and amino acid, which was contaminated through a manufacturing process in Japan and once found and fixed, did not put the amino acid back on the market because the SSRI's were coming out and they didn't want a natural, non-toxic SSRI to compete with the big drug companies. It's still off the market today. It's about politics and money.