Michigan House Democrats Combat Deadly Drugs

Everyone knows that the FDA just doesn't have the resources to test drugs as thoroughly as they need to be. Thanks to Governor Engler and a Republican-controlled legislature, in Michigan manufacturers of harmful drug products are afforded complete immunity if their product was approved by the USFDA. This ultimately means that drug companies are not held accountable for knowingly selling harmful products. Thankfully, the House Democrats remember that this affects real people, and today reaffirmed their commitment to fighting for the disclosure of drug test results in the face of criticism from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. I think this picture says it all.

The Jackson Citizen Patriot has more on the increased awareness of the issue. As usual, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce claims that the issue is "about trial lawyers" and that reversing the immunity will kill jobs. What about the idea of consumer protection? The fact is that most Michigan residents would rather be protected from products that are known to be harmful, and favor having some kind of recourse so that companies think twice before engaging in this kind of behavior. Given that we're the only state that grants this immunity for just one particular industry, I don't see how this is an issue of being business-friendly.

(cross-posted on Michigan Liberal)