A closer look at those FDA numbers

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of food and drugs. It also provides accurate, science-based health information to the public.

A recent writer attacks the FDA and insists that it suspend all COVID-19 vaccines (‘Not trusting …’, Opinions 3/18/22). Fortunately, by cutting and pasting — and online searching — the ‘facts’ that this writer used to justify this demand, I was immediately able to go to some of his probable online verbatim ‘factual’ sources.

With reference to 42,000 of 46,000 post-COVID vaccinated study participants having ‘adverse effects’, I was led to a nearly full-page list of conservative Twitter sites (i.e., “@ DirtFarmer20”, etc.).

With regard to the writer’s “Drug User Fee” charge, the online result was a nearly fullpage list of right wing Blog sites (i.e., medicalkidnap.com, conservativechoicecampaign. com, etc.).

In terms of the FDA in 1963 saying that tobacco “wasn’t a hazardous substance”: Once it received the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health Report, it did launch the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965.

On the use of Dr. Oz as a medical expert, Oz admitted many times to a Senate Consumer Safety Hearing that some of the (weight loss) products he told viewers to use were not necessarily scienceresearch supported.

Of the 65,500 post-vaccine deaths in Europe and the USA, it is important to note that with older, immune-compromised and infirm patients, the deaths do not necessarily mean that they were vaccinecaused. — Mark S. Gailey, Chico