Letter: FDA errs on the side of caution

The letter writer (Feb. 21, "Don't weaken FDA standards") attacking free-market economist Walter E. Williams displays the shortsighted and poorly thought-out argument she ascribes to Williams.

As Williams properly states, the FDA can make two types of errors in its drug approval process. It can approve drugs that may cause harm, and it can disapprove safe drugs that would benefit mankind.

Since the FDA will only be criticized for approving drugs that cause harm, the tendency for the agency is to avoid approving even lifesaving safe drugs. And the public will never realize how many people died because of the FDA's self-serving decisions.

As the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons said, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's policies have led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans.

Robert M. Evenson