I think the core problem is the incentives of the regulators. Groups like the FDA are democratic institutions, but if their only goal is to have the approval of national politicians, the feedback they get is either negative if there's a bad product released, or neutral if there is no terrible product released. The FDA must have done something right - what have they done right? We don't even know. Their incentives are…
Rather ironically, your naive perspective is precisely why “democracy” is a self-evidently failed system and there are clear arguments that it is also a counterproductive, intrinsically unsustainable, and self-defeating system.