Such a change, they say, could expose American consumers to unsafe, impure and counterfeit drugs.

Drug companies lobbied against the drug-import legislation, saying it would expose American consumers to unsafe, impure and counterfeit drugs.

Is there any way to protect the public from unsafe or ineffective drugs without creating an approval process that drags on forever?

In subsequent decades, Congress barred unsafe drugs, impure foods, child labor and unhealthy working conditions.

Consumers might not believe this," another former official of the agency said, "but no one wants to market an unsafe drug or an unsafe medical device.

We know the F.D.A. has failed time and again to ensure that unsafe drugs are kept off the market.

This is especially true today, as the Food and Drug Administration has proved unable to keep some unsafe drugs off the market.

It might seem that any company that marketed an unsafe drug or device would be found out as adverse reactions accumulated.

Months later, a safety official from agency told a Senate panel that the agency was "virtually incapable" of protecting the public from unsafe drugs.

Mr. Weiss is stressing his record, particularly as a "consumer watchdog," in the area of unsafe drugs.