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Welcome to Andy’s Take.
The Food and Drug Administration develops a vast amount of information about products used by consumers and patients like medicine, food, and cosmetics. This information is based on rigorously documented scientific evidence, is timely, and can be of great importance for the well being and health of anyone -- including you.
My take on this valuable and unique knowledge is that it cannot serve its purpose until it is made available quickly and easily to millions of Americans. And that’s why I am particularly pleased that this week, the FDA has announced an innovation that will bring health data developed by FDA to the Internet. This latest step in our communications efforts is a plan to partner with existing popular health information websites to bring information to you rather than expecting you to come to the FDA.
I am delighted that our first partner is WebMD, a major provider of online health information that has more than 49 million unique visitors each month. At www.WebMD.com/FDA, you can access consumer-oriented information on the safety of FDA-regulated products. You can report problems involving the safety of these products directly to the FDA. In addition, WebMD will send FDA’s public health alerts to all WebMD registered users and site visitors who request them. The FDA website will also feature FDA’s Consumer Updates, timely and easy-to-read articles that are also posted on the FDA’s main consumer Web page.
We hope that partnerships such as this, along with other communication initiatives in the future, will make finding FDA information even easier. We will further increase our presence on the Internet – to make it easier for you and your family to get the health information you need as quickly and as conveniently as possible.
Thank you for listening, and please check back here next week for Andy’s Take!
Andy
Andrew C. von Eschenbach,
M.D.
Commissioner of Food and
Drugs
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