Here’s an interesting news item from today’s Boston Globe, further evidence (as if we needed more) of the chronic incompetence, mismanagement, and insufficient oversight that have come to typify the various agencies and departments of the Bush administration:

Probe finds federal prescription drug directory incomplete, inaccurate

A federal prescription drug directory fails to list more than 9,000 medications but catalogs tens of thousands more that are no longer on the market, according to a report Monday.

The Food and Drug Administration directory is neither complete nor accurate, according to the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The omissions and errors limit the usefulness of the directory, which is meant to help the FDA and other government agencies in handling recalls, identifying medication errors and controlling imports, the IG’s report said….

Most of the omissions and inaccuracies are related to the failure of drug companies to comply with mandatory listing requirements, the report found. While unlisted drugs are considered “misbranded� as of August 2005, the FDA had not subjected any manufacturer to criminal or regulatory action solely because it failed to list a product, according to the report.

The directory has more than tripled in size since 1990, when it listed just 39,000 prescription drugs. [full text]

FDA bumbling aside, that last line about the 300+ percent increase in the number of prescription drugs since 1990 boggles the mind. Apparently, in 21st century America, not only is war the answer but so are drugs. It makes me sick.