I doubt the FDA is a net killer of people. I'm sure many people die while waiting for the FDA to approve new drugs but many more people would also die, become s

I doubt the FDA is a net killer of people. I'm sure many people die while waiting for the FDA to approve new drugs but many more people would also die, become sick, or have adverse effects if there were no standards. Furthermore the standards the FDA sets for things you put in your body creates the confidence that allows this market to exist in the first place. In a market without the FDA drugs would hit the market faster and be cheaper but still reach far fewer people because public weariness of these products would be too high, and there would be far too many products claiming to do the same thing making it difficult for consumers and doctors to find the most effective treatments. Are FDA regulations 100% optimized? No, I'm sure it's a bureaucratic nightmare. But at this point the best thing we can do is try and further optimize these regulations -- throwing them out completely isn't really an option.