The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) might as well be renamed Fast Drug Approval. The FDA has a record of quickly approving drugs, while seldom performing any independent or long-range testing of the prescribed medicines.

As a result, we have seen drugs approved like Vioxx, Merck’s drug for osteoarthritis. Subsequently, Vioxx was pulled from the market because its use led to unstable cardiovascular systems for patients. Now, some 30,000 of those patients have lawsuits pending against Merck. More from Jamie Dlux.