A new report from the Institute of Medicine concluded that the FDA is not doing a good job of ensuring products are safe before they are approved. That's one of the reasons why a new bill introduced by Representative Rosa DeLauro, the FDA Scientific Fairness for Women Act, HR 6235, is so important. Fortunately, Rep. DeLauro is a well-respected Member of Congress with a key leadership position that helps determine FDA funding every year. Her bill sends a strong message to the FDA, but that message will be even stronger if other Members of Congress also co-sponsor the bill. Please take a moment to send an email to your Representative asking them to immediately co-sponsor the FDA Scientific Fairness for Women Act.

The bill would:

• Provide explicit authorization for the Office of Women’s Health within the FDA, and elevates the authority of the office; Require FDA to hold a scientific workshop that brings together FDA scientists with scientists and clinicians from respected and established medical professional associations and health agencies to evaluate the scientific data on the use of emergency contraception by females under 18, Require FDA to define the life of silicone breast implants, and require their safety to be demonstrated for the life of the device and prior to approval, Hold FDA accountable for its actions if silicone breast implants are approved, Require FDA to list potential members of FDA’s breast implant advisory committees before the meeting and allow NO exemptions for financial conflicts of interest, and Require FDA to convene and oversee a panel of independent scientists to design and conduct a study on platinum and platinum salts in the bodies and breast milk of women with silicone breast implants. We have provided a pre-written subject line and text for your email to Congress, but strongly encourage you to edit them so they are in your own words. This will make it much more persuasive to your Representative. Just remember: we are not asking them to vote for the bill, since that probably won’t be an option this year. We are asking them to co-sponsor the bill, which is something they could (and should) do immediately.