In 2008, for the first time in 18 years, the pharmaceutical industry’s donations to Democrats were on par with the money it gave to Republicans.
A serious issue in the practice of Public Administration is a concept called agency capture or regulatory capture. Agency capture is when a government regulatory agency (such as the Environmental Protection Agency) that was created specifically to protect the public interest by regulating industry instead begins to act in the interest of the industry it is supposed to be regulating. It is a complete perversion of the purpose of regulatory agencies and it is more common than you might think. Ask yourself this, have you ever hired lobbyists to influence members of congress concerning the actions of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)? What about the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)? I can assure you that the major pharmaceutical companies have. The following link contains an article that makes a compelling case against the earnestness with which the FDA is protecting the public interest. http://www.cspinet.org/new/200606271.html
The following article involves possibly an even more sinister twist to the case of the FDA actively trying to stifle opponents, even if they work for the FDA. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/us/fda-surveillance-of-scientists-spread-to-outside-critics.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&
*Do you think the FDA has the public’s best interest in mind or has this agency been captured?
SFA PBA Rocks 