Read the post “This Is Not The Time To Suck It Up” for details about the FDA’s appalling inhaler decision and its ramifications for all of us. Listed below is a sample letter that you can use to protest the FDA’s decision to ban generic production of albuterol inhalers, and award sole production (at a price of their choice) to three big drug companies. So how do you send it, and who do you send it to?

A stamped letter tends to be more impressive than email (don’t ask me why). Please consider adding a second First Class stamp to the envelope and including in your envelope your empty inhaler cannister (see the post “I’m NOT Going To Suck It Up” for reasons why). Focussed efforts on one office are probably more effective than a scattershot protest approach.

So which office do we target? First, who oversees the FDA? Officially, it’s the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Also, the investigative arm of the government, The Governmental Accounting Office (GAO) gets involved in areas of mismanagement. Neither of these, however, tend to be answerable to (or dependent on) voters. Therefore, I propose that our protest target a member of congress. Which one? The committee that funds the FDA is the Committee on Energy and Commerce, chaired by Rep. John D. Dingell (D-MI). For that reason, please try to first send a letter (plus empty inhaler cannister!) to Rep. Dingell. But feel free to send additional letters to your own representatives (whose addresses and names you can find here). A close second (in terms of priority targeting) would be Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), who is both a senior member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce AND Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee (Waxman contact info here).

Here is THE priority address to use:

Rep. John D. Dingell, Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce

2328 Rayburn House Office Building,
District of Columbia 20515-2215
Phone: (202) 225-4071
Fax: (202) 226-0371

And here is a suggested letter to copy and paste:

________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Representative Dingell,

I am appalled at the FDA’s decision to ban generic production of an off-patent medication (albuterol) and to re-issue a new patent on the same drug. In what can only be called an anti-competitive, anti-free-market, monopolistic move, the FDA now allows only three companies to make my asthma inhaler, all of which have dramatically increased the price to me. While the FDA attempts to justify this decision by stating that a change was necessary “for the environment,” other countries have made the transition to newer formulations without price-gouging or handing out effective monopolies. One could argue that these same pharmaceutical companies have profited from trashing the environment for generations and therefore ought to bear the cost of changing to a safer formulation. No other industry has brokered a new patent/monopoly from the government for public goods when forced to clean up their own environmental mess. This is a very bad precedent for the government to set - not only in terms of pharmaceuticals, but also in terms of all potentially greener industries.

My medicine has doubled in cost, and is likely to rise even further. Here is what I wish I could have done with the money that the FDA handed to big pharmaceutical companies’ profits (circle one or more):

1) Invested it in my kids’ future.

2) Invested it in my health so that I don’t cost the taxpayers more.

3) Given it to your campaign.

4) Donated it to those in need.

5) Bought groceries.

6) None of your business.

My choice is to either not breathe, or pay. I hate being robbed, particularly by a government agency pandering to mega-profit industries. I am eager for the class-action lawsuit that will undoubtedly occur, and I cringe to think of how much that lawsuit will cost our government. Wouldn’t it be better for all concerned if this appalling decision was overturned now and generic production of an already generic medication was encouraged?

Eagerly awaiting your response,

__________________________________________________________________________________________

You can get a simple PDF version of the letter here: PDF

Or you can get a more useful editable Word document here: Word