U.S. Food and Drug Administration
FDA Consumer magazine
November-December 2000
Table of Contents
The Food and Drug Administration is a rare organization within the federal government; it functions at a place where science and the law intersect. The agency's scientists and lawyers, working together with other agency regulators, make decisions that affect all Americans every day of their lives.
The FDA Consumer, too, occupies a strange and unique position within the portfolio of government publications. For one thing, it is generally readable, the Summaries of Court Actions notwithstanding.
Moreover, it's directly aimed at the consumer, who I define as my mother.
My Mom grew up in a time when women were not generally trained in a profession. She didn't go to college, but she was a straight A student in high school. She has lots of common sense, much of it hard-won by the trials of life, and she has a good heart. What's more, my Mom is generally curious about the world and likes to know what her oldest son is up to, so she reads my stuff. I like that, so I try to write--or edit--stories so she can understand them.
These two facts--that FDA is a regulatory agency and FDA Consumer speaks to a general audience--occasionally come into conflict. Sometimes, our efforts to translate the agency's dense regulatory language make my colleagues in other parts of FDA nervous. They seem to worry that if we simplify the articles too much, readers--the public, industry, even Congress--will misinterpret the FDA's policies, decisions and actions. And misunderstandings can lead to lawsuits.
So, I thought I might make a few statements about what FDA Consumer magazine is and is not. First, as it says on the front cover, FDA Consumer is the magazine of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As such, the editors and writers work very hard to ensure that the articles reflect the policies and viewpoints of the agency. To help make the articles accurate and authoritative, the writers work with FDA scientists during the research and writing process, and then we ask FDA experts to review the final manuscript. This process provides the reader with the most current and accurate information possible.
But a magazine article neither makes nor embodies FDA policy. It's a journalistic enterprise. The articles merely reflect and explain the policy decisions made by the agency's experts. An article can't describe the agency's regulations and guidances in all their glory--or detail. When FDA puts forth a regulation, it fills tens to hundreds of pages in the Federal Register, the official publication of the executive branch. The FR is good reading if you have insomnia.
We try to keep it more interesting. We take a complex story and tell it simply. We struggle for the balance between accuracy and accessibility. To do that, we leave things out, including many of the nuances behind an FDA decision.
Telling the government's story--the story of how democratic people govern themselves--is an essential task. Associate Commissioner for Public Affairs Lawrence Bachorik, Ph.D., describes this responsibility and how the agency responds in this issue's The Last Word. That's a job FDA Consumer takes on joyously.
The need for teachers, for translators of arcane language, has been known for a long time. In May 1959, C. P. Snow gave a now-famous lecture at Cambridge University called "The Two Cultures." Lord Snow observed that the gap between those trained in science and those trained in literature had become so large that these two cultures no longer communicated with each other--to the detriment of all. Since Lord Snow's lecture, a class of writers has emerged--medical and science writers--who see it very much as their mission to serve as a bridge between the two cultures. Add a third culture, the culture of law, and the mission becomes even more complex.
But that mission is FDA Consumer's raison d'etre. The magazine exists to bridge the gaps and it will continue to do that by writing accessible stories.
Besides, I want my mother to keep reading.
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