Mr. Gingrich recently denounced the FDA as a 'Stalinistic' agency. While Mr. Gingrich's comment may be hyperbolic, there are some interesting parallels between Dr. Kessler's responses to the FDA's problems and Josef Stalin's response to the problems of the Soviet planned economy…. Dr. Kessler, like Stalin, instead of fixing the obvious problems, has issued one denunciation after another of those who opposed or disagreed with him…. Stalin sought to solve the problems of defects and crashes among advanced Soviet Air Force fighter planes by executing some of the aircraft engineers; Dr. Kessler has responded to the occasional problems of new medical devices with a de facto regulatory pogrom that is exiling the industry.
This editorial by James Bovard, a libertarian author, compares Bush appointee David Kessler to Stalin. Seriously. From The Washington Times, “Medical Follies at the FDA”.
