Concerns at the FDA

So-called "super-aspirins" Vioxx and Celebrex gained a reputation for being safer on the stomach than conventional aspirin. Now, Vioxx has been pulled off the market, and Celebrex is under scrutiny for raising the risk of heart attacks.

Consumers are worried, and a debate has been set off anew about whether the Food and Drug Administration is doing its job in overseeing drug safety or whether it needs major reform.

Hear a discussion about the FDA, its record, and its future.

Guests:

Rita Rubin, medical reporter for USA Today, author of What If I Have a C-Section;

Dr. John Abramson, author of Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine, member of the clinical faculty at Harvard Medical School, teaching primary care;

Arthur Levin, director of the Center for Medical Consumers, a consumer advocacy group;

Donald Kennedy, former FDA commissioner (1977-1979), president-emeritus of Stanford University, editor-in-chief of Science magazine.