Can he at least pretend to care?

From the New York Times.

The Bush administration has been going to court to block lawsuits by consumers who say they have been injured by prescription drugs and medical devices.

The administration contends that consumers cannot recover damages for such injuries if the products have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The claim the Bush Administration makes is that allowing these lawsuits would undermine the FDA and could lead to devices the government claims is safe being taken off the market or to a more cautious prescribing of potentially risky drugs that could save lives immediately.

I guess the idea is if one out of ten pacemakers by a certain company is defective, then we let nine people live while the tenth dies. And then this company doesn't need to spend more money to address the problem because the government has already approved the device.

And what happens if not enough research is done on a drug before it receives approval? Drugs like Baycol and Rezulin had FDA approval and caused not only serious health risks but sometimes resulted in death. Who is responsible to those people who suffer because of this?

Certainly poor testing practices or the "fast tracking" of a drug that cause serious harm cannot go unchecked. Drug companies must do studies before they submit drugs for approval as it is. If they have faulty test runs or attempt to minimize findings, why shouldn't they be held responsible?

And if this holds up, how long before someone figures out a way to sue the FDA?

This is probably just another political move in an effort to shore up the base.