FDA - Big Brother's Now Big DADDY - drugs for our children require NO prescription, NO parental consent?

I flipped on the local news last night - it sent me to comment on a Chicago Tribune article (oh, there were others reporting - it just hit the top of the search panel). Apparently, CPSIA isn't enough - we parents are now being rendered IRRELEVANT in yet another way. The FDA has approved "Plan B" (a.k.a. the "Morning After Pill") for OUR 17-year-old girls folks - NO prescription needed and, of course, parents need not be present (yes, pun intended - I sure hope you, too, will care enough to speak up to your representatives on this one).

I urge you to go read the article and the comment above mine (by a Dr Ben in SF, who pulls a valuable quote re: a serious safety concern - but, as we know with CPSIA, Big Brother has no REAL concern for the safety of our children!).

Here's the comment I left on this one:

Brilliant comment Dr. Ben! Now, here's mine...

Dear PARENTS -

Are we going to allow ANY arm of OUR public-servant-run government to undermine our parental rights, yet again, and become, ourselves, complicit (by lack of outrage and outcry), in failing to protect our CHILDREN?

A simple (but loaded) question: who is in a better position to know what is best for OUR children - we, the parents or the FDA / government? As Dr. Ben points out...it doesn't appear Big Brother does much homework before passing drugs with flying colors!

Until a child reaches the age of 18, they are OUR responsibility - under OUR roof, OUR care and OUR protection. They are most certainly NOT released to the care of the FDA, nor are they the property of the state.

I have watched, with CPSIA, how it is the government now, NOT the parents, that may approve products for our children, leaving us with fewer, NO more safe and certainly more mass-produced choices ahead (our common sense is irrelevant with this, a law that fails to protect our children - see hearings held in D.C. at amendthecpsia.com).

Now, with this FDA decision also positioned "on behalf of [OUR] children" it is, yet again, the GOVERNMENT, not the parents, that does the approving and issuing of permission - in this case, of DRUGS. Yes - chemicals potent enough to be a controlled substance are now "Big Brother Approved" to go interact with [OUR] child's body chemistry without any need to ask parents for anything! Wow.

Calling all DADS - I know our culture likes to portray you all (on t.v. at least) as irrelevant to the family these days, but I also know the truth - that there are at LEAST a million fantastic dads out there who care just as deeply and are just as relevant as we moms. I hope there are at LEAST that many now reading this - YOU are built to protect OUR children - please won't you get involved? We moms cannot do this without you!!

I have to say, I have been utterly stunned at parents remaining silent as thousands of small "mom and dad owned" businesses are destroyed for no good reason and, ironically, at the EXPENSE of their very own parental approval / authority (yep – books, shoes, shirts, bikes, ball point pens, etc. – it’s now by final authority - Big Brother Approved).

Now, I shall be BEYOND stunned if parents stand by in silence as their children become wards of the state on this one - now able to buy DRUGS that have chemical impact on their bodies PURELY by government approval.

Bit by bit, parents are being deemed utterly IRRELEVANT to their most PRIMARY CONCERN in life. Yet, are we to feel sorry for parents? I, for one, shall only feel sorry for those who raise their voices in this pathetic sea of silence in America. What are we? Stunned cattle, headed for slaughter? If we fail to speak out on these crimes against our authority - OUR CHILDREN - then we are as good as complicit to all the undoing here...

What audacity, on the part of the FDA. But much worse than even the audacity now being shown by those in positions (I deem) LESS IMPORTANT than ours, as parents, would be any failure of WE the PARENTS to raise a HUGE outcry on this one.

What a legal adult does to chemically alter his / her body is his / her own business. But what a child does to chemically alter his / her body is the business of his / her PARENTS - not the business of Big Brother.

Preserving parental authority is a non-partisan concern.

My husband and I shall be making our voice known on this one. Will you also speak up to your representatives? Ultimately, these are OUR children and they are looking to US to provide the leadership that they can no longer find in "government gone wild" decisions such as this one.


© 2009 Tristan Benz, all rights reserved