Is This Big Gov'ment?

If you've been watching the news lately or reading your local paper, you've probably heard about the meningitis outbreak that's captured the Nation's attention.  The source of this particular form of fungal meningitis has been linked to a steroid injection produced by the Massachusetts drug compounding firm New England Compounding Center.  This compounding center has announced a recall of 17,500 doses of a steroid pain treatment injection that had been distributed to 23 states.  Anybody who has received this form of pain treatment utilizing steroid injections produced by this firm has been encouraged to monitor their health closely and see a doctor if meningitis symptoms occur.  So far 137 cases of meningitis and 12 deaths have been linked to this batch of bad drugs.

How does this happen, you may ask.  How could your loved one receive a simple steroid injection for pain treatment and later perish from an infection caused by bad drugs?  It happens when the standards of public health that we take for granted in the United States are lowered by the demands of industry to make a profit in a relaxed regulatory environment.  The Food and Drug Administration, the federal agency responsible for ensuring that our food and pharmaceuticals are safe for the public's consumption, is not able to effectively carry out its consumer protection mission in this State regulated industry.  Medical compounding firms are outside of the regulatory jurisdiction of the FDA.  Their oversight has been left to State agencies that have wildly varying standards of self-regulation for these firms.  The following statements from an article by CNN articulate the issue at hand:

"Currently, the FDA does not have jurisdiction over compounding pharmacies until there is a problem. FDA officials say they have been fighting to change that for more than 20 years.

The compounding pharmacy industry has challenged those efforts, and courts have ruled that individual state health departments are in charge."

I think it bears mentioning that this issue is occurring in the very state where Mitt Romney was formerly the Governor.  Now before you go and accuse me of trying to pin something on Mr. Romney that he had little or nothing to do with (because Republicons have never done that to President Obama), I'd like to make the following connection that does stick.  The current Romney-Ryan platform directly states that over-regulation of private industry hinders the American economy and kills jobs.  Furthermore, over-reaching federal agencies staffed by armies of malevolent overpaid bureaucrats have made small businesses such as the New England Compounding Center the target of their recovery ruining regulatory agenda.  We need fewer regulations and more authority turned over to State governments because that level of government knows what's in the best interest of all citizens (unless the governor is a Democrat - then it's probably suspect).  The agenda is clear - less regulation from "big gov'ment" so that the morals of free market Capitalism lightly touched by magnanimous State governments can flourish.  Romney's campaign calls it "Smaller, Smarter, Simpler Government".

The Tea Party's Call To Arms

It appears that lassez faire model ran amok in Massachusetts.  The consequence so far has been the death of 12 individuals and possibly more as the days pass and the investigation continues.  If Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are elected, you will see more of this.  Just think, when funding is cut for FDA inspections of food processing companies and more outbreaks of E-coli and related health problems start to occur, you'll begin taking a closer look at how "big gov'ment" regulation impacts your life.