Where's the FDA?

A headline today is that acetomenaphen may cause liver damage. It should not be news to most people. There have been rumblings for a long time. Tylenol has even tried to be proactive by getting out commercials that basically say "We don't want you as a customer if you can't use the stuff correctly." So far everyone seems to be acting honorably in this situation. The one question that I do have is where is the FDA? Aren't they the guys who should be jumping on this situation like a bum on a baloney sandwich? Shouldn't they be talking with the manufacturers about warnings on the bottles, and alterations to the packaging? Aren't they the group that is supposed to be looking out for the little guy? I find their absence from the discussion a little disquieting, but not totally surprising. Basically, the Bush administration turned the FDA from an industry watchdog into a drug product expediter charged with getting drugs onto the market in a timely fashion. Drug efficacy or safety should not stand in the way of making billions. That has been proved a couple of times in the last few years. It would have been nice if they would have said at that point that the FDA was as useful as a toothless watchdog, but they didn't. Apparently FDA approved still means something to the unaware. Who do you turn to for advice on drugs then? I am going to listen to what the EU or the Canadians say. Both groups seem to be more concerned with protecting the public. Eventually though, the USDA needs to be rebuilt and made much more independent from politics.