Maggots and leeches: Good medicine By Rita Rubin, USA TODAY Two
medical devices recently approved by the Food and Drug
Administration seem more likely to appear on Fear Factor than
ER. Calling them "devices" is a stretch. But just like
stimulators and stents, prostheses and pacemakers, leeches and
maggots are now classified as FDA-approved medical devices — the
first live animals to earn that distinction. No question, the
thought of getting up close and personal with leeches or maggots
is enough to make most healthy people feel ill. But patients who
have been treated with these "devices," as well as their
doctors, credit them with restoring health to tissue when high-
tech medicine could not. Although a French firm's leeches were
approved only last week and a California doctor's maggots were
cleared in January, the creatures have long medical track
records. Companies that were already selling leeches before the
Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act became law in 1976 were
grandfathered in and did not need FDA approval.