Title: PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE HEALTHY PUBLIC: A COMMUNITARIAN PERSPECTIVE ON PRIVATIZATION AND THE FDA (1998 Third Year Paper)
Author(s): Matthew H. Baughman
Subject & Subject keywords: Food and Drug Law "public health" "privatization" "philosophy of regulation" "FDA"
Abstract:Much of the recent literature on reform of the Food and Drug Administration has focused on the issue of privatization. Specifically, critics have targeted the FDA's pre-market approval process as being too time-consuming and too costly to remain in the hands of an inefficient bureaucracy. Many scholars have therefore suggested that Congress consider shifting the burdens of food and drug approval to private, non-governmental agencies who could compete for federal dollars paid to the companies that best maximize safety and efficiency. Proponents of this view seek to create a market in public health, arguing that market mechanisms are better able to address issues of food and drug safety than government monopolies.