[temphn]

The FDA is not elected, or even indirectly elected. They are career bureaucrats with career tenure who cannot be fired. How would you even know that they are doing a good job? Last I looked, Americans have terrible health care relative to other countries; the FDA has no responsibilit for that?

[akiselev]

You must be kidding, right? The for the last 20-30 years the head of the FDA has been a very volatile position covered with public scandals and the agency has an insane turn over rate due to the structure, workload, and public pressure [1].

Actually it looks like the developed countries with more, better treated bureaucrats are doing far better.

[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/201...

[HarryHirsch]

Access to healthcare is firmly in the bailiwick of Congress. Hell, the rest of the First World has similar authorities that determine what drug gets to market, their criteria are similar, and their healthcare metrics aren't nearly as awful as the United States.

And for the "career bureaucrats", if you want a modicum of stability you need them, you can't have elections or change the rules every other year - what you need is institutional memory and predictability.