Justin Blum covers the Food and Drug Administration as an enterprise reporter, investigating how well the agency performs its duties to regulate the medicines taken and food eaten by all Americans. This year, he has focused on how the agency balances its responsibility to guarantee drugs are safe against
The first story listed here describes how researchers, individuals and businesses can’t get vital information from the FDA because of a backlog in filling Freedom of Information requests. The FDA’s 20,365 unfilled requests for information exceeded the totals for the departments of Defense and Justice, the story reported. One company, FOI Services Inc., accounted for 44 percent of the backlog. Researchers, consumer groups and individuals said the delays limited their ability to alert the public to food and drug dangers and to hold the FDA accountable.
The second focuses on the exquisite balance between patients and advocates who are pushing for quick approval of drugs and consumers who have been hurt when an approved medicine turned out to be dangerous. The story balances each argument, explains the existing system and where the weaknesses lay using examples from real people.
In story No.3, Justin shows how the agency is hamstrung in regulating food safety, even as the numbers of complaints ring up. The final story shows how individual states often do a better job of regulating food safety than the federal agency given key responsibility to keep us healthy. In many cases, Blum reports, states have found half of some fish they tested contained antibiotics banned in the U.S., clearly questioning what would be found if the FDA was able to take a more proactive role.
In the case of each story, Justin’s even-handed, highly explanatory reports opened a window on an U.S. agency criticized by many for its secrecy and close relationship with the drugmakers it regulates.