[NOW Actions] Demand Accountability for Women's Health at the FDA

Support NOW's Work |	May 18, 2007	| Tell a Friend

Action Needed Background All NOW Actions More about NOW's work on breast implants.		Demand Accountability for Women's Health at the FDA Action Needed: We need your help. Next week Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.) will reintroduce legislation that would make women's health issues a priority at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Please take a minute to urge your representative to co-sponsor this important legislation, the FDA Scientific Fairness for Women Act. Because Congress is facing many issues at the moment, a quick phone call would be especially helpful in bringing this bill to your House member's attention. The FDA continues to dismiss scientific evidence when it makes decisions that affect women's lives -- from the application for Plan B emergency contraception to the approval of silicone breast implants despite ongoing safety concerns. We want these problems and others to be addressed effectively by elevating the Office of Women's Health to be directly under the Commissioner's office. Please send a message using NOW's formatted letter below or write one of your own, or better yet, call the capitol Switchboard and ask for your representative's office. Thanks for your help. Take Action NOW: Write Your Representative or Call Today Background: Say NO to the politicization of FDA decisions on women's health issues!   The FDA Scientific Fairness for Women Act would take politics out of women's health decision-making at the FDA by: Rescinding approval of silicone breast implants if the manufacturers cannot conclusively demonstrate their safety for the life of the implant; Requiring FDA to convene a workshop to review and evaluate current scientific data on the use of emergency contraception by young women under the age of 18; and Elevating the Office of Women's Health within the FDA so that the director reports directly to the Commissioner, instead of being buried two levels down from the Commissioner. Every woman needs the FDA to review drug and medical device applications with scientific, not political, discernment. We know that the heavy hand of the White House and conservative, religious political groups was present for the review and approval of both silicone breast implants and Plan B over-the-counter (OTC) marketing applications. The evidence for long-term safety of silicone implants was seriously lacking, as declared by the FDA's own staff, and OTC Plan B barely got approved after years of foot-dragging, but young women under 18 are denied OTC access -- for no good medical reason and against the unanimous recommendation of the FDA advisory panels. Your House member MUST hear from you as soon as possible! Please urge her or him to co-sponsor and work for the passage of the FDA Scientific Fairness for Women Act. Please enter your ZIP code and send a message to Congress now!  If you add your own words to the letter and the subject line, it will help make your message more effective. Take Action NOW: Write Your Representative or Call Today
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