Trump Proposal to Eviscerate FDA Regulations Would Endanger Public Health
Statements of Public Citizen Experts
Note: Today, President Donald Trump told pharmaceutical company CEOs at a White House meeting that his administration will be “cutting regulations at a level no one has ever seen before.”
Statement of Dr. Michael Carome, Director, Public Citizen’s Health Research Group:
President Donald Trump’s preposterous promise to pharmaceutical company CEOs to slash U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations by 75 to 80 percent would, if fulfilled, fundamentally destroy the ability of the agency to protect patients and consumers from unsafe or ineffective medications and medical devices, hazardous foods and dietary supplements, and dangerous tobacco products, among other things. The end result would be countless preventable deaths, injuries and illnesses across the U.S.
Trump’s horrifying proposal reflects utter ignorance about the FDA’s essential role in protecting public health and once again demonstrates his commitment to placing corporate profits above protecting the safety of the American people.
Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen:
Today’s latest, fact-free, deregulatory rant from the president makes clear why his efforts to roll back health and safety protections are so dangerous. While it makes no conceptual sense to talk about the “quantity” of FDA regulation related to the pharmaceutical industry, destroying medication and device approval standards at the FDA will have devastating, life-and-death consequences for hundreds of thousands of Americans. It will also, incidentally, hurt the industry Trump purports to assist by undermining Americans’ faith in the safety of medications and devices and by virtually guaranteeing disasters that subject companies to immense liabilities.
###