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The market, relying on individual initiatives, gener-

ates new institutions to spread information through the

economy.  The other key accomplishment of the market is that

it induces and sustains such institutions without coercion,

with minimal resource cost, and with a maximum of personal

freedom.

Market-created institutions produce and disperse a vast

volume of information about safety and quality every day.

For example, Consumer Reports and the Washington Checklist

tell prospective shoppers about best buys; the American

National Standards Institute (ANSI) provides manufacturers

with standards for manufacturing and safety so the consumer

knows that "brand X FM tuner" will work with "brand Y ampli-

fier."  There is no compelling reason to believe that the

market would not induce that same information flow about the

safety and performance of medical devices.

There are reassuring working examples of market solu-

tions to the same types of issues addressed by the FDA.  The

best-known example is Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL),

which has been certifying product safety for more than 100

years--longer than the FDA has been in existence.

Like the FDA, UL is committed to public safety.  Both

organizations work to safeguard the public from dangerous

products.  Both are staffed by expert scientists and techni-

cians.  UL's actions, like the FDA's, affect millions of

consumers and involve products worth billions of dollars.

· Every day, the public buys and uses products that are

UL listed or FDA approved.

· We put on our FDA-approved cosmetics after drying our

hair with our UL-listed hair dryers.

· We pour FDA-approved vitamin-enhanced milk over the

breakfast cereal we cooked on UL-listed stove tops.

· Driving home from work, we take FDA-approved aspirin

while cooling off with UL-listed automotive air-condi-

tioners.

Only the number of products the market produces limits the

parallels.

But there are some significant differences.  The FDA is

a tax-funded public agency, given legal monopoly power over

market access and the dissemination of information.  Its