Photo by Lee Snyder.

CHICAGO—Prevent Blindness America, based here, is the latest optical organization to voice its opposition to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recently proposed changes to its long-standing guidelines for lens impact testing. Although a coalition of optical industry groups also opposes the FDA’s proposed changes to the guidelines, PBA is the first consumer optical organization to do so.

In a May 12 letter to FDA officials, PBA chairperson John D. O’Neill, Jr., and Hugh R. Parry, the organization’s president and CEO, said the FDA’s updated draft guidelines for impact-resistant lenses “would increase cost [for consumers] without an increase in safety.”

The letter questioned whether the FDA update “provides added safety in light of modern lens technology and the current experience of the industry,” noting that it could add extra costs to the consumer and potentially increase the time to complete prescriptions.

“The main reason we decided to join in is that as a patient advocate group, this wasn’t high on our radar until it was brought to us by some other organizations,” Jeff Todd, senior vice president of PBA, told VMail. “We have a stake in insuring that vision care remains at a low cost and that cost not be added to vision care unnecessarily. Based on the information our scientific advisors reviewed, we didn’t see any evidence that an increase in safety would override any increases in cost.

In addition to PBA, the other optical groups opposed to the FDA’s proposed changes to the guidelines include the American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Optometric Association, Opticians Association of America, Optical Laboratories Association, Sunglass Association of America, International Standard Organization TC 72/SC7, National Academy of Opticianry and The Vision Council. Last month, the group submitted a revised draft of the guidelines to the FDA containing its own recommendations, which reflect current industry practices and testing methods.

“This is good news and I believe it helps our position a great deal to have a consumer group that is specifically interested in eye safety support our efforts,” said Ed Greene, CEO of The Vision Council.

View a PDF of Prevent Blindness America’s letter to FDA.

View a PDF of the optical industry coalitions revised draft of the FDA’s guidelines for lens impact testing.