FDA asks Senate for authority

Sandra Kweder, the FDA’s deputy director for new drugs has asked a Senate panel for the authority to dictate what changes must be made to drug labels. Kweder said that that authority would help to get important warnings out to consumers without the oft-times slow process of negotiating with drug companies about how to word a warning.

The Supreme Court rules juvenile death sentencing unconstitutional

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that it is unconstitutionally cruel for juvenile killers, under the age of 18, to suffer the death penalty. In a 5-4 ruling, it was decided the executions violate the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that society sees juveniles “as categorically less culpable than the average criminal.” The death penalty for defendants 15 years of age or younger was previously banned. Justices Clarence Thomas, Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist voted for the executions. The execution of mentally retarded people was banned in 2002.

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