Influential F.D.A. commissioner dies..first to express concern about safety of bc pills

New York Times run a piece on Dr. Charles C. Edwards. He was the first to express concerns about whether the products actually worked and was concerned about their safety. Does the benefits outweigh the risks? Notice how Planned Parenthood objected to even warnings??

New legislation required the F.D.A. to determine for the first time not only if drugs were safe, but also if they actually worked. Dr. Edwards, who had been appointed commissioner by President Richard M. Nixon in 1969, ordered the review of hundreds of thousands of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. A particularly visible action concerned birth control pills, which were revolutionizing sexual behavior but seemed to be causing worrisome side effects.

He ordered that a message be inserted in each package discussing the pills’ benefits and hazards, including the possibility of blood clots and breast cancer. It was the boldest step yet taken under a 1966 law requiring accurate labeling.

Planned Parenthood objected to the warnings because it believed that the pills’ benefits far outweighed what it said were unproved dangers. At the same time, doctors complained that the action encroached on their role of instructing and guiding patients. Later, Dr. Edwards ordered that two brands of birth control pills be removed from the market as unsafe.

Photo: AP taken in 1970
Dr. Edwards