A Question of Intent

by David A. Kessler

"When David Kessler came to Washington to lead the Food and Drug Administration in 1990, the agency was at a low point, weakened by years of deregulatory fervor and by the corrupt actions of a few. And soon after taking office, the thirty-nine-year-old physician had to deal with the daily drama of murders masquerading as random product tamperings, imports of contaminated body parts from the former Soviet Union, political fights over the contents of food labels, and efforts to speed life-saving therapies to desperate patients. What was not on David Kessler's agenda was tobacco. But soon, he confronted a simple question: " Why doesn't the FDA regulate the consumer product that is the nation's number-one killer?" Everyone in Washington offered the same answer - the tobacco industry is too big and too influential. Challenging it would be a fool's errand.". "Despite the risks, Kessler and a group of unlikely heroes at the FDA began an historic journey inside the mazes of America's most secr