Libertarians have disagreements over what government agencies should and should not exist. One such agency is the food and drug administration. Here are some thoughts about how libertarians would change it to make it suitable to the libertarian philosophy (from my perspective).
Organization: Most libertarians believe in the free market approach to things. This means that if the people can decide what is unsafe for them, then the institution like the FDA does not need to regulate it. So, things like drinking raw unpasteurized milk would be left up to consumers. Thus much of the FDA's activities could be limited to more specific jobs regarding food and drug testing.
At current, the FDA, its agencies and other bodies of government do similar things such as an agency to oversee the feed that are given to chickens, another to turkeys and so on. Then there are offices that are dedicated to each bird’s living conditions and another set that oversee how each bird is slaughtered. In a libertarian world, these agencies that governed these birds living, food and slaughter conditions would be merged into one along with any other similar animal species. Same with respect to plants that we ingest for food or medications, anything that works the same way or can be merged to improve efficiency. Obviously we need something like the FDA, but how it operates should not be onerous to the people.
Negative reinforcement: In a libertarian version of the FDA, it would use negative reinforcement to provide for any rules and regulations. So basically, the FDA would list what cannot be done with what and at what stage of the process of food prep, or drug making/testing. Whatever is not listed is allowed to be done. As such, if the FDA bans certain chemicals in food, then only those foods that have those chemicals would not be allowed to be used. Simple and easy to follow rules, but with justifications for each banning being based on science and technology.
Which government: Now we get to the level of government that should run the FDA. I will say clearly that the Federal Government should not be the one to do it unless the Constitution is suitably amended to allow it. Instead of another amendment, it should be a series of offices at the local level and State level of governments. Most local government charters and State constitutions allow for such tasks to be accomplished which solves the legality issues. This also makes it harder for one government to influence this larger body as it would be run on consensus rather than politicians saying that something is banned on their own. Also, these agencies should be separate and distinct from the local and State governments by way of acting independently. As such, it would be a body that operates at both the national through local levels of government, but independent from politics so as to avoid corruption. So funding would come through donations from the people and contributions from each local/State government to fund the activities. However, in order to maintain independence from the corrupting force of politics this new FDA would need to be organized in such a way that they could survive on little to no money at all. This could mean teaming up with various museums and colleges to gather funds and have access to research needed to stay up to date and financially and intellectually independent.
Conclusion: Libertarians want something like the FDA, but don't want to violate the Constitution, or have the negative influence (corruption) of politics. So separating it from government as much as possible and giving it over to the people seems like a logical conclusion to me. Though of course the idea that we control our bodies still stands and as such we would be allowed to drink raw milk or try drugs still in testing if we so choose. That is the kind of freedom we want and desire from a libertarian version of the FDA.
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