90 Miles From Tyranny : FDA Commissioner: We Need More Power to Keep People from ‘Being Harmed’ by Misinformation

Thursday, April 20, 2023

FDA Commissioner: We Need More Power to Keep People from ‘Being Harmed’ by Misinformation


During an interview with CNBC on Thursday released on Tuesday, FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said misinformation is hurting life expectancy and “there is a real need for better regulation of how we deal with” health misinformation on the Internet and “when we see people being harmed” “specific authorities at FDA, FTC, other areas are going to be needed.”

Califf said, [relevant remarks begin around 9:35] “We know more and more about misinformation. It relates back to this life expectancy. Why aren’t we using knowledge of diet? It’s not that people don’t know about it. Why aren’t we using medical products as effectively and efficiently as our peer countries? A lot of it has to do with choices that people make because of the things that influence their thinking. The COVID vaccines and the antivirals give us an easy way to talk about it, but this is not limited to those areas. In heart disease, so many people don’t take their medicines, even though they’re now generic and very low-cost, often [they’re] deluded into taking things that are sold over the Internet that aren’t effective.”

He continued, “So, how do we deal with this? First of all, you’ve got to tell the truth in a louder volume. In the good old days, when I was a practicing cardiologist, for the most part, people developed products, they got through the FDA, the label determined what was talked about, the Internet didn’t exist, you advertised in medical meetings and journals. There was sort of a hierarchy of information that went through the prescriber or the implanter in the case of devices to the patient. Of course, the problem in that system is it left a lot of people out. We now know about that. Now, everyone’s included because everyone’s connected to the Internet. But we can put out a statement about what we’ve determined based on the highest level of evidence, within ten minutes, someone who’s thought ten minutes about it can reach a billion people. And there’s nothing that restricts them from telling things that are not true. This has always existed. … But they couldn’t reach so many people.”

Califf added, “[Y]ou think about the impact of a single person reaching a billion people on the Internet, all over the world, we just weren’t prepared for that. We don’t have societal rules that are adjudicating it quite right. And I think it’s impacting our health in very detrimental ways. … I think there is a real need for better regulation of how we deal with this complex information.”

He further stated that the FDA already does have regulatory authority over the tech industry regarding health information online because it regulates advertising and people advertise on those platforms, “the question is, can we do it better? And there are so many avenues now by which that information goes around that we have to think hard about what the right regulation is.”

After citing an example about regulating advertising, Califf also said, “I’m highly aware that, in our society, people don’t want the government to have too much power, but I think specific authorities at FDA, FTC, other areas are going to be needed. I’m not saying what they are, because I don’t really know, but I do believe we’re going to need to, when we see people being harmed — like, let’s look at vaccination again, very few people are dying from COVID who are up to date on their vaccination. And if — beyond that, even if they get infected, almost no one is dying if they’ve been vaccinated up to date and they’ve gotten an antiviral that’s approved by or cleared by the FDA. So, why is this not happening? We need to work on this.”

He added that people who are dying of COVID “are the people that are not up to date on their vaccination and don’t encounter clinicians who are up-to-date on the advantages of antivirals. But they’re also people who have been heavily influenced by people on the Internet telling untruthful things about the vaccination. And I’m not arguing here that we should suppress free speech, that’s not — the First Amendment is the First Amendment. But we have to counter that information with truthful information and...



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11 comments:

  1. Maybe they should monitor themselves. Lying bastards!

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  2. 10 to 1 the only reason they’re worried is that it’s their life expectancy that’s going to be affected.

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  3. Man, there is some sick, sick, lying bastards out there. FedGov is full of them.

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  4. In other words, "we want more power to shut people up so that we can kill more people with our lab-created diseases and coerce them into injecting poisonous and lethal jabs, because depopulation is our top priority."

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  5. Officials who think they have some kind of lock on the truth when all they are really doing is pimping policy positions need to STFU. Official word on covid and the mRNA vaccines turned out to be mostly bull3hit for 2-3 years and even now they are still pushing a dangerous and poorly tested mRNA vaccine, because they are afraid to admit their mistakes, errors, wishful thinking, and outright lies.

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  6. Every television solicitation you hear from lawyers telling you if you used xx drug and were injured you may be entitled to a large monetary award; remember, that the drug was given FDA approval.

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  7. Never trust a man that wears a bow tie.

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    1. When he started working for the government his first official act was to move the propeller from the top of head to the front of his neck!

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  8. How appropriate to have gold swastika trim on the right side of that picture!

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  9. We need an amendment for term limits of the House, Senate, Judiciary (total time in office as a Federal Judge), and government employee and Staff (no matter the dept combined time limited to 20 years).

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  10. We also need a really good five-cent cigar, but that ain't gonna happen either!

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