What with the financial crisis and election, Understanding Government has gotten away from a favorite item: The Food and Drug Administration needs more money! Now! The Washington Post’s Rob Stein reminds us that the agency has a $2 billion budget to oversee food and drug products that make up 1/4 of all U.S. consumer spending. The agency has had a series of sensational mishaps, but it is also generally plagued by a lack of leadership, resources, and, for the past eight years, an administration that didn’t believe in the agency’s mission.

FDA is especially unresponsive to a changing marketplace where many drugs are now made in China.  This has lead to calls for inspectors at these Chinese plants as well as inspectors at U.S. ports of entry.

But, as I learned writing my report on the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a related agency with related problems, there are simply not enough resources to investigate the entire consumer supply chain. FDA would be wiser to invest its money in labs that will test drugs when they come to America instead of trying to game an often maze-like production and distribution system.-MB

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