Over-Regulation

• The effects of not approving a safe drug are impossible to ascertain, so the FDA is often criticized for exercising too much control in approving new drugs. Medical professionals, drug manufacturers and patient advocates believe the FDA's extreme caution when denying consumer-patients the right to use certain drugs unnecessarily denies those patients medication that could be beneficial in treating conditions.
  
  

Under-Regulation

• The damaging effects of approving a dangerous drugs is well-known to the FDA and its critics. Drugs such as Rezulin and Vioxx are just two examples of dangerous drugs that were approved by the FDA, only to be later banned when further testing revealed damaging effects on patients. Critics of the FDA accuse the organization of playing favorites with certain drug companies by rushing medications through the approval process too quickly. Many critics also cite many food-related products as examples of hastily rushed approval jobs, particularly beverages such as energy drinks and processed food products such as nutrition or diet bars.
  
  

Bias

• Nearly all critics believe that the regulating practices of the FDA are heavily influenced by pharmaceutical companies. In an article entitled "Cash Interests Taint Drug Advice," authors cited that 70 percent of all regulating panels constructed by the FDA for the express purpose of evaluating new medications had at least one member with a financial connection to the company that produced the drug under evaluation. The article also mentions that this practice was also common in panels constructed to evaluate new food products.
  
  

Wasteful Spending

• As with any regulatory organization, the FDA is often criticized for wasteful and inefficient spending and system practices. Currently the FDA is one of at least 15 regulatory agencies in charge with evaluating food products for safety. Like many of these other agencies, the FDA's massive bureaucracy tends to generate high costs. A 2009 commentary in "Forbes" magazine points out that it costs more than $1 million for companies to apply for approval. This cost is passed on to consumers in the price of the medication and food products.