STEPHEN UBL, president of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, would have us believe in the "strict oversight provided by Food and Drug Administration scientists and physicians" ("High court right to count on the FDA," Letters, March 11). How then do we account for the large number of drugs that have reached the market, made many millions for their companies, and sickened or killed many people? Is the FDA asleep at the switch, or are other considerations at work?
What we need now are people like Frances Kesley, the FDA reviewer who stalled the introduction into the United States more than 40 years ago of the dreadful drug thalidomide. The drug was intended to combat morning sickness in pregnant woman and to help them sleep. It was poorly tested by the German company that produced it. The pressure on Kelsey by the big drug companies was intense. She persevered, and spared American families the horrible birth defects suffered by children in almost 50 countries.
I'll take the rulings of the state courts over the FDA and the US Supreme Court any day. The FDA is not what it used to be. And Ubl's position and allegiances make him an unfit judge in this matter.
ROSLYN TALERMAN,
Medfield
