Dear FDA Consumer Readers:

For many years, FDA Consumer has been published every month, except for combined issues for July-August and January-February. Budget constraints, however, prevent us from maintaining this publication frequency. So, starting next month, FDA Consumer will be published every other month.

The change to bimonthly publication will actually have some benefits. First, the cost of a yearly subscription will drop from $15 to $10 (from $18.75 to $12.50 for subscribers in foreign countries). And second, each bimonthly issue will be bigger than before with more of the kinds of information you've come to expect from FDA Consumer. We will continue to focus on topics related to FDA-regulated products, including food safety, nutrition, prescription and over-the-counter medicines, medical technology, cosmetics, and all the other products and services that fall under FDA's jurisdiction and come into your life every day. And, we will continue to give you a behind-the-scenes look at how FDA uncovers fraudulent and illegal activities through our popular "Investigators' Reports" section.

We are confident that FDA Consumer will retain--if not improve on--the high quality and esteem it has held for many years.

Despite the change, current subscribers will still receive their full-year's subscription.

We welcome your comments. Please write to: FDA Consumer Editor, Food and Drug Administration (HFI-40), 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857.

Sincerely yours,

Paula Kurtzweil
Acting Editor, FDA Consumer