FDA attempting to control Vitamins and Minerals

FDA Website ^ | 4-11-07 | Halgr

[jas3]

No, it's not. The consumer, unless htey have access to a million dollar lab, would never be able to know what's in the supplements they buy, particularly the herbal ones. Is it really an herbal supplement, or just dried out and ground up Romaine lettuce? And what about consistency from batch to batch. Even if it is the herb in question, the manufacturer may have no idea what the level of the active ingredients are from plant to plant.

Every consumer has access to such labs. All you need to do is buy a batch of a supplement and send in a sample. Most tests are quite cheap. You can test a 10KG batch for a couple hundred bucks. If you decide not to do so, that's your call. But don't prohibit me from buying what I want just because some people are too lazy to test what they ingest or are too lazy to have it tested by others.

jas3

[Gabz]

You can sell parsley as a decorative item without FDA regulation. If you market it as food it comes under food regulation and has to be safe.

Oh, great.........I've got parsley growing that I am planning to sell...

All kidding aside, I see what you are saying, but since these products aren't currently under FDA control, I would have thought that the FTC would be involved. i was obviously wrong.

[gondramB]

>>Oh, great.........I’ve got parsley growing that I am planning to sell...<<

Well, you can always call it “decorative parsley” and wink when somebody buys it. :)

[Gabz]

I don’t think the government would go along with that when I’m talking about 400+ plants, do you?

[Darnright]

Ping

[Red Badger]

http://www.newstarget.com/011425.html

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/opinion/story.html?id=01b3c988-b73d-40ce-8c4d-9376d7ce6394

http://www.health-n-energy.com/Editorials/editorialsupplementfraud.htm

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2001/06/cureall.htm

http://www.healthcastle.com/coralcalcium-scam.shtml

[TigersEye]

You have proved the point I made in spades. Look how easy it was to get info on alleged health supplement scams. This shows just how well the private sector is at regulating itself. It still takes some intelligence on the part of the individual however, in regards to consuming these expose articles, as more than half of these articles make claims that are less well documented than the claims of the products themselves. A close inspection of what these articles complain about reveals more speculation than analysis, more irrelevance than substance and very little proof of a scientific nature. But some of it is indeed useful as, for example, if one were looking for Hoodia they would quickly find six brands with 100% authentic material in them.

[Red Badger]

But not everybody does or can research the I’net for every particular. “As seen on TV” is good enough an endorsement for your average citizen, unfortunately. Many people already believe the government “inspects” these things, and thus, if it’s sold in Wal-mart or on HSN it must be okay............