> The FDA, like other regulatory agencies, exists for a reason: to help prevent people from being ripped off, or worse, by snake oil salesmen.

This is obviously false given the existing supplements business. The idea that we have a way to prevent people from being ripped off is naive. But even so, the "reason" for the FDA doesn't change its incentive structure: allowing a drug that kills a few people will reflect badly on it, while disallowing a drug that would have saved millions of lives likely would have little consequence for the decision makers.