Food and Drug Administration

Latest Articles

Free our food

Small farmers demand independence from agrobusiness industry rules
"From farm to table" isn't just a meaningless foodie slogan anymore. It's the rallying cry for the smallest of small-scale farming operations in Maine, which are fighting against what they consider to be burdensome state and federal regulations.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | May 04, 2011

Flashback: Love is the Drug

When the government cast the fisheye over aphrodisiacs a few weeks ago, it sent the hopes of countless philophiles into the deep freeze. Well, I've read the summary report of the US Food and Drug Administration denouncing over-the-counter love drugs as unsafe and ineffective and, frankly, I'm suspicious.
By BROOKE GLADSTONE | March 18, 2010

Operators are standing by

Blah Blah Tourism
Here's the ugly truth about Republican 2nd District congressional candidate Jason Levesque.
By AL DIAMON | February 03, 2010

Living with HPV

It afflicts millions, yet no one talks about this nightmarish STD. Now one woman bares all.
The results are “normal.” I breathe a sigh of relief. But should I be relieved? It’s been two years since I heard a registered nurse tell me “You have HPV,” and I am still getting scraped from the inside out, still making appointments to see doctors, and still terrified that I’ll get cancer.
By LISA SPINELLI | September 04, 2009

Weathering the weather

Going Green
Sweltering summer heat is finally upon us, along with how-to-keep-cool considerations.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | August 05, 2009

Factory food

Why the cheap, mass-produced food we eat is killing our environment, our economy — and us
Since Squanto taught the Pilgrims to plant maize, no food has been more emblematic of the evolution of American eating habits than corn. That's been true from the sepia-tinged golden age of the Midwestern breadbasket to the present day, where those yellow kernels are lab-engineered and recombinated into a dizzying array of futuristic foodstuffs.
By MIKE MILIARD | June 25, 2009

The DEA says no (again) to medical marijuana. Now what?

High on Obama?
Rick Doblin, president of Belmont-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), can't believe how long it's dragged on.
By MIKE MILIARD | January 14, 2009

Understanding the stink factor

Eat raw
What is that smell?
By CHRISTY MCKINNON | December 17, 2008

20 reasons the Earth will be glad to see Bush go

As our 43rd president scrambles to screw further with Mother Nature, a look at the ways our planet will be better off under Obama
The planet Earth usually tries to stay out of politics. It doesn't endorse candidates. It doesn't run attack ads. It doesn't even register as a lobbyist.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | December 19, 2008

Letters to the Portland Editor, October 3, 2008

Sex is risky
If a pregnancy is endangering a woman’s life, the woman’s life needs to be saved. But I feel this way because I’m pro-life.
By LETTERS TO THE PORTLAND EDITOR | October 01, 2008

Will Harvard drop acid again?

Psychedelic research returns to Crimsonland
In a moment of delightful whimsy in the annals of drug history, Albert Hofmann, after purposely ingesting LSD for the first time, rode his bicycle home and experienced all manner of beatific and hellish visions.
By PETER BEBERGAL | June 09, 2008

Everything is coming up bacon

That intoxicating smell, the siren-call sizzle — looks like pop culture has gone hog wild
Pigs are noble creatures, selflessly giving of their delectable flesh — and we need as many of them as we can get.
By MIKE MILIARD | February 22, 2008

Dance, Monkey: Kathleen Madigan

We put a visiting comic on the hot seat
The problem is that at the end of the day, when the clone figures out they’re a clone, they get mad and kill you.
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN | February 05, 2008

A tragicomedy of errors

In an excerpt from his new book, The Fall of the House of Bush, author Craig Unger details how Bush is, well, screwing up the world
It was not until after George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were narrowly re-elected that many Americans began to realize that the Iraq War represented a dangerous moment in American history.
By CRAIG UNGER | November 20, 2007

Xanax junkies

A popular drug for panic attacks can cause life-threatening addiction. But that hasn’t stopped Upjohn from marketing it to an unsuspecting public
This article originally appeared in the November 6, 1992 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
By CYNTHIA COTTS | November 19, 2007

Maggots ate my flesh!

As antibiotics increasingly lose their potency, medical professionals are turning to (yecch!) fly larvae to take a bite out of wound recovery
If you met Dana — attractive, athletic, and tan, somewhere in her 30s — you’d never guess her secret.
By AUDREY SCHULMAN | July 16, 2007

Does this cheese taste funny?

You thought maggot therapy was bad?
You thought maggot therapy was bad?
By DOMINIQUE HENDELMAN | July 11, 2007

I feel pretty...healthy

Going green
If anyone wants some big almost-full bottles of TRESemme shampoo and conditioner, shoot me an e-mail.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 27, 2007

The No-’Poo Do

If you want to lose the ‘fright wig,’ try ditching your shampoo
Halfway through my last haircut, the stylist asked me what kind of “products” I used. “Not that many,” I mumbled.
By AUDREY SCHULMAN | May 25, 2007

Who’s afraid of medical marijuana?

Opponents’ fears go unrealized with the impementation of rhode island’s law
Two hits of marijuana in the morning, and two in the evening before he goes to sleep.
By TE-PING CHEN | May 02, 2007

The Reaping

Over-serious eye candy
Mixing CSI talk with a lot of evangelical mumbo-jumbo, this over-serious eye candy keeps you on the edge of your seat but never freaks you out.
By CHRIS WANGLER | April 11, 2007

Brain-O-Matic

Can a jolt from a nine-volt battery make you smarter? Happier? Medical researchers revive a discarded technology and set the stage for the ‘brain pod’
Stuart Gromley sits hunched over a desk in his bedroom, groping along the skin of his forehead, trying to figure out where to glue the electrodes.
By PAGAN KENNEDY | February 07, 2007

Nailing the GOP

New England Congressmen are sitting on some key committees
New England Congressmen are sitting on some key committees
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 24, 2007

The Pah-ty's ovah

Congressional reps from New England are poised to lead the attack on Republican waste and fraud
For the past six years, the Republican-run federal government has been free to waste money, reward friends, and act incompetently, knowing that their misdeeds would go unexposed by the legislative branch. Nailing the GOP: New England Congressmen are sitting on some key committees. By David S. Bernstein
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 24, 2007

Grains make you whole

Eat better — without the pain or mess
Every New Year, my mother resolved to give up whalemeat sandwiches.
By JESSICA PORTER | January 03, 2007

Technopolis lost

A development dream that didn’t come true
It was a grand vision. Maybe even a noble one. “TECHNOPOLIS.”
By MARTY D. WOLFAND | December 06, 2006

Crazy talk

Feeling much better, thank you
Part horror story, part psychological thriller, part radical feminist statement, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper has been adapted for the stage as a one-woman show.
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | June 19, 2006

The Pill + Me

Pill pressure and reproductive rights
My story with the Pill begins at the vulnerable age of 18; I’ll begin at the point when I knew something was wrong.
By CAITLIN SHETTERLY | May 09, 2006

Med school drug pushers

How scientists are selling out to drug companies
You may have heard of a little ongoing row about a Merck drug called Vioxx, which was pulled from the market in 2004 due to evidence that it caused serious heart problems in some users.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 28, 2010

Grow jobs

Why penis enlargement is poised to become the next big thing
Until a few years ago, Tom Hubbard didn't put much stock in penis enlargement.
By CHRIS WRIGHT | October 27, 2008