A World Made of Pillows
When risk aversion kills
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The FDA, it could be argued, is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths every year. Such a statement may sound outlandish or hyperbolic, but the case can be made. In the latter half of the 20th Century, the relentless expansion of regulation and bureaucracy was justified by specious claims of reducing safety and environmental risks. However, some level of risk is necessary for progress to occur, and progress itself reduces long-term risk to humanity. Our attempt to build a perfectly safe world made of soft pillows suffocates progress in the process.
Deadly Risk Aversion
The FDA was originally created to prevent unscrupulous food and drug producers from hawking products that were unsafe, if downright deadly. The overarching goal was to prevent harm to the public. But as these things tend to go, its power gradually expanded to become, arguably, the very thing it was intended to prevent.
