FEDERAL STATUTORY LAW EXERCISE
(do not use for Fall 2003)
1. Find the enabling legislation for the Federal Food and Drug Administration in the following sources.
a. Either Lexis or Westlaw. Keep track of your successful and unsuccessful searches.
b. Locate the statute's legislative history.
c. The World Wide Web. Find at least two sources on the web for the legislation. Keep track of your search strategy.
d. Find the agency home page on the web.
2. After reading the article on Metabolife, determine why the FDA wants additional power to regulate Metabolife.
a. Locate the statute that seems relevant to this case. To what extent can the FDA regulate products like those Metabolife markets?
b. Locate the legislative history for the statute.
3. What agency regulates the advertising of products like Metabolife?
a. Find its enabling legislation in 1) either Lexis or Westlaw (keeping track of your search strategy) and 2) the World Wide Web.
b. Find the agency's home page on the web.
4. What arguments might support the FDA's case that Metabolife and similar products should be further regulated?
a. Search for a comprehensive newspaper or magazine article about the controversy over Metabolife in MEDLINE (notice that MEDLINE is available through several different gateways). Examine the "MESH" (Medical Subject Headings). Select the heading Anti obesity agents adverse effects. Search on it and examine the resulting hits.
b. Search Medline with the term "herbal supplements." Examine your hits. Look at the text of the article by Robert Bonakdar. What does it suggest about the statute you found in question #2?