FDA

Meningitis cases in Michigan reach 46, other meds could be involved

Mark Brush — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:28:53 +0000

The Michigan Department of Community Health said the number of meningitis cases associated with the recent outbreak reached 46 yesterday. Three deaths in Michigan are linked to the outbreak.

In the meantime, the New York Times reports the FDA warns other drugs could be involved:

Rep. Dingell supports bill to speed up FDA reviews

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:03:55 +0000

Congress is trying to speed up the review process for new medicines and devices while still keeping them safe. A bill before the House would increase the amount of money and authority given to the Food and Drug Administration to do that.

Congressman John Dingell represents Michigan's 15th District and supports the bill. He says one way the new bill will protect the drug supply is by increasing the FDA's authority over imported medicine.

"[The User Fee bill] enables [the] Food and Drug [Administration] to address the problems that we had (i.e. unsafe pharmaceuticals and unsafe commodities and components for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals in this country," Dingell said. "So Food and Drug can control them now."

Drug and medical device manufacturers typically pay user fees that fund the reviews by the Food and Drug Administration. The new bill will expand those fees to more companies, including international ones.

"This is the best way of leveling the playing field between American manufacturers and foreign manufacturers" said Dingell, "and also seeing to it that everybody -- consumers, manufacturers and all get the services that they're entitled to from [the] Food and Drug [Administration]."

Patient safety advocates are against parts of the bill. They say even tougher reviews should be applied to medical devices.

-Nishant Sekaran, Michigan Radio Newsroom

Artpod: Are Glittersniffer cosmetics safe to use?

Jennifer Guerra — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 18:36:23 +0000

On today's Artpod, we'll look into the health and safety concerns that surround a Michigan small business called Glittersniffer Cosmetics.

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/michigan/local-michigan-956674.mp3

Bridget Bodnar filed the report for Michigan Radio. The story generated a lot of buzz on the Michigan Radio comment page, and got picked up by AnnArbor.com as well.

Bodnar talked to about a dozen women who used Glittersniffer Cosmetics, including one woman who said the eye makeup "started to burn and itch and I just wanted to rub, and dig my eyeballs out of my face they hurt so badly.”