From PRI Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

With American pharmacies now filling 4 billion prescriptions a year, how safe are prescription drugs?

I'm Lawrence O'Donnell, sitting in for Warren Alley, and this is to the point from Public Radio

International, a daily look at the issues Americans care about most. With dozens of people dead

after using a contaminated blood thinner imported from China, the head of the Food and Drug

Administration faced withering cross-examination from a congressional subcommittee this week.

Is the FDA capable of

guaranteeing the safety of prescription drugs? Why can't drug companies be trusted to test their

own products? How do unsafe prescription drugs get through the FDA approval process? On

reporter's notebook later on, how the Democrats and Republicans will have to change their electoral college

strategies in November. First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John

D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation.

I'm Lawrence O'Donnell, sitting in for Warren, only back with To the Point from PRI.

How do unsafe drugs reach the marketplace? Is the Food and Drug Administration simply overwhelmed by the supply and demand for drugs?

Can it really guarantee the safety of the four billion prescriptions our pharmacies will

fill this year? On reporter's notebook, with more states up for grabs in November, the Democrats

and Republicans will have to change their electoral college strategies. First, this news update.

The CIA is showing a video today to congressional committees that reportedly shows North Korean involvement in the construction of a nuclear facility in Syria last summer.

The Israeli government relied on this video evidence in its decision to bomb the facility and destroy it on September 6th.

Let's listen to Congressman Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the

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