FDA website

    The USFDA website includes lots of information, with topics ranging from the safety of apple-juice, to the regulation of nail care products, to news and events from as recently as yesterday! They even have a section for the reporting of emergencies. Some of the main sections on the home page include food, drugs, cosmetics, vaccines, science and research, and recalls and alerts. The information is very organized, so if you go to the website looking to find a specific piece of information, chances are you’ll be able to find it relatively quickly. But the copious amount of links makes it quite overwhelming, especially if you’re just going to the website for general information. The home page is covered with links from top to bottom, and for each link you click on, you are lead to more and more links!  It’s exasperating when you need to click on multiple (sometimes up to 5 or 6) links to get to an actual story or piece of data.

One thing I found helpful in navigating the crowded website was its site map, which you can get to by clicking on the link towards the middle of the very bottom of the page. Other than the refreshing fact that it only takes one click to see it, a good thing about this map is that it organizes all the information available on the site into clear labeled sections. Here, there are no distractions making it hard for you to find your way – just a plain white background and the list of links. I found this to be the most useful link on the website! Another thing I really enjoyed about the website is that on one of my visits, they asked me to take a survey about how I enjoyed the website or thought it could use improvement. I appreciated this because it showed that they really want to make it the best it can be to help protect and educate the public, and that they care about the opinion of the public.

The website includes information about the US Food and Drug Administration itself, with basics about the agency, explanations of their programs, information about how to get a job there, and more. It explains how the FDA is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (http://www.hhs.gov/).  It protects American citizens by regulating and ensuring the safety of food, drugs, tobacco products, cosmetic products, dietary supplements and electronic products, as well as helping to speed up product innovations and provide the public with the accurate information they need to stay safe.

The website also provides readers with information about the agency’s current activities. For example, in the what’ new for biologics section, you can see that yesterday they posted about a public workshop entitled  “Data and Data Needs to Advance Risk Assessment for Emerging Infectious Diseases Relevant to Blood and Blood Products” that is to take place in Gaithersburg, Maryland on November 29^th. As this shows, the website is updated very often.

After some research, I learned about a few controversies regarding the FDA. One of these happened a few years ago, when a federal judge ruled that the agency based their decision about an over the counter morning after pill on politics instead of on science. The judge said that the FDA did not make its’ decision legally, but that the agency’s leadership (not scientists and physicians) made the capricious decision.  When I tried to find information about this controversy on the website, I could not find any information about the court proceedings or ruling.