FDA says no to over-the-counter sales – for now.

In a letter to Barr, the FDA said it had rejected the over-the-counter proposal because the company did not provide enough evidence that young girls could use the Plan B pills safely without medical supervision.

A panel of outside scientists that advises the FDA voted 23-4 in favor of over-the-counter sales last December.

By going against that advice, “the White House is putting its own political interests ahead of sound medical policies that have broad support,” said Phil Singer, a spokesman for Sen. John Kerry (news – web sites), the likely Democratic challenger to President Bush (news – web sites) in the November election.

The FDA’s Plan B decision is “a shocking, unprecedented triumph of politics over science,” said Kirsten Moore, president of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project.