FDA plans de facto ban on vitamins and supplements

[rambone]

That's the effect of the new 'draft' that the FDA has released. Arduous and expensive approval processes will be required for low-profit vitamins and supplements. Patents cannot be obtained for most vitamins and supplements because they are already found in nature. So the effect of new FDA guidelines is the elimination of vitamins and supplements from store shelves.

FDA's New Sneak Attack on Supplements

The FDA already has the power to pull from the market any supplement, whether “grandfathered” or not, if they are unsafe, do not comply with Good Manufacturing Practices, etc. The oft-repeated claim that the supplements market is unregulated or “the Wild West” is patently false. But the FDA cannot pull a grandfathered supplement arbitrarily. They must show cause. What we don’t want is for the FDA to have the power to ban all new supplements arbitrarily. We fear that they will use this power to ban any supplement innovation unless the supplement is turned into a drug and brought through the drug approval process.

Since nobody can afford to pay for the new drug approval process if the substance is not patented, and supplements generally already exist in nature and cannot therefore be patented, to require full new drug approval is to ensure that there will be no new supplements. This should suit the drug industry very well and, based on past behavior, the FDA as well.

FDA unleashes endgame scheme to outlaw virtually all dietary supplements formulated after 1994

In the wake of hundreds of dietary supplements recently being outlawed across the EU, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has quietly unleashed a regulatory scheme that, if fully implemented, could ban virtually all dietary supplements in the USA that were formulated after 1994.

That means nearly all superfoods, multivitamins, detox supplements, and medicinal herbal products we have all come to depend on to prevent disease and boost our immune health could soon be stripped from store shelves and outlawed across the nation.

 

[rambone]

The European Union has already banned most supplements outright.

Controversial EU vitamins ban to go ahead


Here's a way to write to policy makers at the FDA.

Frivolously plead to the FDA

 

[Fletch]

Yeah, I've been hearing this buzz for a while, and it concerns me. I've found quite a few supplements to be very helpful (some even recommended by my doctors), and this is ridiculous. Imagine having to get a prescription and charge your insurance $200 for a $5 bottle of magnesium pills (or whatever). This is one of the reasons why the FDA tops my list of agencies that need to be eliminated.

 

[rambone]

Why would they do this?

The FDA is one of the most evil government agencies. They push bad drugs onto the market and unleash terrorize natural advocates.

In corporatist America, the FDA is just the promoter of the drug industry. If everyone is eating unhealthy food and suffering from tons of degenerative diseases due to lack of nutrition, they will be lifetime customers of Big Pharma.

 

[superjoe76]

This is what happens when the elected body is replaced by a bureaucratic oligarchy.

 

[Lucas156]

So the FDA can ban things like this without any oversight from those who are elected?

 

[Fletch]

So the FDA can ban things like this without any oversight from those who are elected?

I'm not sure how far their power goes, but they have a lot of leeway to essentially legislate by bureaucratic fiat.

 

[sbcman]

So the FDA can ban things like this without any oversight from those who are elected?

Just guessing, but I would say that most determinations the FDA makes are made at the behest of either those who are elected or the companies that sponsor those who are elected.

 

[ATOMonkey]

This is what happens when you give cart blanche regulatory authority to an administration.

FDA, EPA, FCC, the new health care agency that is being developed, etc, all operate with unfettered autonomy, and legally so.

 

[eatsnopaste]

Aren't most of these "vitamins" made by large corporations? You know, the same ones that make the evil prescription drugs? I understand the anger about the over-regulation of everything. However don't we yell and scream about the big Pharma corporations but now we want to just let mom and pop make supplements in their garage?

 

[Westside]

FDA another great name for a convenient store and not a government agency.

 

[rambone]

Aren't most of these "vitamins" made by large corporations?

They are made by companies of all sizes. The low profitability of vitamins means that they don't have the lobbying ability that prescription drugs makers do.

now we want to just let mom and pop make supplements in their garage?

Meh. Why not? Afraid you might buy them?

 

[eatsnopaste]

They are made by companies of all sizes. The low profitability of vitamins means that they don't have the lobbying ability that prescription drugs makers do.


Meh. Why not? Afraid you might buy them?

so if I make some you'll buy and take them? whoohoo, let the allergic reactions roll!

 

[rambone]

so if I make some you'll buy and take them? whoohoo, let the allergic reactions roll!

Just because somebody, somewhere is "allowed" to make a product doesn't mean I'll buy it. I just don't think it should be a banned transaction.

I believe in abolishing the FDA and letting independent, competing free-market companies give their own seal of approval on drugs & foods. The customer can decide if the product meets their expectations of testing & review.

 

[iChokePeople]

If someone starts taking away my supplements, I'm lobbying to shut off their ****** air conditioning. That's all I'm saying.

 

[gunowner930]

I didn't see it in the links, what supplements will be banned? vitamins, exercise supplements like creatine, weight loss pills?

 

[Phil502]

Thats a freaking crime, btw if I remember right our "friend" John Mccain was supporting this mess.

I have been taking this stuff called Vemma, it's not cheap but it's got a ton of vitamins in it.

 

[Fletch]

I didn't see it in the links, what supplements will be banned? vitamins, exercise supplements like creatine, weight loss pills?

Any and all. The FDA basically claims autocratic power over anything human beings eat or drink.

 

[Wwwildthing]

If someone starts taking away my supplements, I'm lobbying to shut off their ****** air conditioning. That's all I'm saying.

What he said.

 

[Movealongmovealong]

It's actually quite easy to OD on certain vitamins (esp fat soluble vitamins A, E, D and K) if you take supplements regularly, and many labels wildly misrepresent the content of their supplements. I think supplements do have a very good place for consumer use, esp in the U.S. where there is an epidemic of overweightness and obesity, and yet many people who have far too much body fat are actually nutritionally deficient due to poor consumption of fruits and vegetables and whole food. My opinion is better quality regulations and stricter enforcement would be the best path, or a voluntary certification of quality program (seal of approval/authenticity, like what the ADA does for dental products) that manufacturers could opt out of.

Some of the bruhaha is probably from some news that was released a while back about this:
Many multivitamins don't have claimed nutrients - Health - Diet and nutrition - msnbc.com

Of course the alternative would be to just let nature take its course and let people suffer the full, unfettered consequences of their actions even when it's impossible for a single person to single-handedly keep track of all of the complexity of our modern lifestyles. However if we did, we'd need to start with not allowing people to go to hospitals and doctors to get emergency care no matter their condition. If we did away with that, then there could be a logical argument for just letting people take their licks and deal with it. Otherwise, it's just stirring water in a pot if you ask me.