CQ Today's Midday Update (free email service) passes on the latest news regarding the poor state of the FDA:

The Food and Drug Administration received more than 422,500 reports of adverse drug side effects last year, a new record, USA Today reported. Final figures won't be available until spring but the preliminary estimate was confirmed to the Associated Press by agency spokeswoman Laura Alvey. It significantly exceeds the 370,887 reports of "adverse events" in 2003. FDA officials attribute the rise to increased use of prescription drugs rather than an increase in risk from the drugs. Many in Congress, led by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, have been pressing the FDA for stronger monitoring of prescription drugs once they are on the market. The Food and Drug Administration this week will likely announce steps for a "more robust post-marketing surveillance system," Amit Sachdev, deputy commissioner for policy, said last week. Acting Commissioner Lester A. Crawford, who has been nominated for promotion to full status, is scheduled to appear Thursday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to begin his confirmation process.

The FDA has been cozying up to the pharmaceutical industry for too long and today's report is just one small sign of this. A 14% increase in reports of adverse side effects in just one year?

The FDA needs to sever its ties with the pharmaceutical industry once and for all. As long as its technicians and doctors are on the dole from these huge companies, their loyalty to the public safety is in question.

It would be quite simple and -- pardon the pun -- painless for the FDA to administer a ruling barring its employees from owning pharmaceutical stocks or receiving other benefits from the industry. Bush's FDA won't do this, of course, because PhRMA is one of the Republicans' largest donors. Nevertheless, for the sake of the safety of the American people, the FDA needs to spend a little less time coddling up to the industry and a little more time ensuring that drugs that have horrible side effects don't reach the market in the first place.