I was so happy to read this email this morning...had to share with all of you. Love, Lynn (Reno, NV) FDA gets a taste of its own medicine
It's about time someone stood up and said, "Enough's enough." The Food and Drug Administration is being sued for censorship and is accused of being in contempt of a court order. This has been a long time coming. The accusations stem from the FDA's constant meddling with the language it will allow to describe the health claims of vitamins and supplements -- even when there are clear studies that back up their effectiveness. Back in June, the FDA pulled 13 claims it had previously allowed. Then, it rewrote four others to the point where they were completely useless. The law firm that filed the suit has represented supplement makers and physicians over the years. They say the FDA's recent actions violate federal court rulings issued in 1999 and 2002, which declare that disclosure must be favored over suppression. Right now, the FDA's main game is suppression -- and it has a willing partner in the Federal Trade Commission, which also engages in the harsh censorship of good scientific information. Both organizations now find themselves in court, with the FTC on the losing end of a decision in August. The FTC sought $24 million in fines from a supplement maker, but a federal judge found that the company had "clearly offered support and substantiation for the claims regarding their products." The FTC and FDA like to play the bully -- they hope their threats will force vitamin and supplement makers to back down before the case ever reaches a judge, but in this case the company didn't. When they got to court, the FTC was all bark and no bite -- its own experts couldn't say that the products in question were ineffective, nor could they say that they harmed consumers -- the two main complaints made by the FTC against the company. There's no doubt that there needs to be some mechanism in place to prevent unscrupulous firms from making unproven claims about their products. And it goes without saying that you need to be smart about whom you buy your supplements from and stick to reputable companies. But there's also no doubt in my mind that the FDA has overstepped its bounds, and its priority is protecting Big Pharma's big drugs rather than making sure patients have accurate information about vitamins, nutrients and supplements. The FDA has for years had an incredible double standard when it comes to prescription drugs and vitamins. Vitamins often require long disclaimers, even when there is solid evidence of their effectiveness. Many prescription meds don't work nearly as well as some of these nutrients, and yet Big Pharma is rarely required to put the same kinds of disclaimers on its drug bottles. Some major antidepressants were found to be no better than placebos in a landmark 2008 study -- yet the FDA has not forced the inclusion of this very real data onto antidepressant pill bottles or even in their marketing literature. In fact, it usually takes some pretty serious side effects or even deaths before the FDA will consider a warning on the more dangerous meds -- too little, too late. It's time for someone to put an end to this nonsense and let people speak honestly about effective vitamins and nutrients. Enough's enough.
