Earlier this month, I told you about the court ruling forcing the FDA to allow over-the-counter sales of Plan B to minors. It has now been reported that the FDA will not challenge the court’s ruling. I guess what’s really telling appears in this Washington Post article: the FDA has “approved sales to 17-year-olds at the manufacturer’s request.”

Maybe it’s just me, but…I thought the whole purpose of a regulatory agency is to act as a “check and balance” to the industry that it regulates. Why is the FDA approving anything at the request of the manufacturer?  Is the FDA supposed to be safeguarding the public or helping the pharmaceutical company make money?  The question that I have which the FDA still has not answered is this: if a high dose of hormonal birth control is safe for self-diagnosing and self-medication, why is a prescription still required for the regular dose of hormonal birth control? In fact, why do low-dose hormonal birth control, such as Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo, need a prescription, yet a HIGH DOSE of hormonal birth control is now going to be available to minor children without a prescription?

It still doesn’t make sense to me…unless you frame it all in the context of a hidden agenda.