The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) can require drug companies to spend more time and money testing the safety of new drugs. With more testing, fewer bad drugs (drugs that do not work or have harmful effects) will be permitted to be sold in the United States.

However, with more testing, fewer good drugs (drugs that save lives and improve health) will be introduced as quickly. Draw the production possibility curve facing the FDA (with “Lives saved with good drugs” on the vertical axis, and “Lives saved by preventing bad drugs” on the horizontal axis). Which way does the FDA move when it requires more extensive testing? Are the following statements normative or positive:

(a) “Requiring more extensive testing kills ten people (by preventing good drugs) for every one person saved (by preventing bad drugs),”

(b) “This is too high a cost, so the FDA should reduce extensive drug testing”?