The FDA used to be much better at protecting the populace from dangerous drugs . Unfortunately , the big corporations got to the politicians , who then reduced the efficiency of the FDA in favor of the corporations making lots of money . Remember DDT , the farmers used to use to kill varmints in the corn fields ? The poison was showing up in other wild life ( like the American Eagle ) . and their egg shells were so thin , that the eggs didn't last long enough for the eaglets to hatch ? I suspect it was also causing plasticine in American women , who were not able to get pregnant . Then there was thalimitide (sp) . This was the drug they gave to pregnant women in the early 1960s , to prevent morning sickness . A lot of infants were born missing fingers, toes , arms , legs , eyes , and genitelia , until the CDC made a public broadcast about it on the evening news .