Consumer Reports Calls for F.D.A. Regulation of Supplements

Thomas Corriher

There was a political firestorm over dietary supplements and herbs in the early 1990’s.  Natural medicines in the U.S. were about to be regulated out of existence by the government, and all supplements would need F.D.A. approval that required the same prohibitively expensive testing process as pharmaceutical drugs.  Thankfully, enough concerned citizens stood up for their right to have unfettered access to dietary supplements.  No government has a right to regulate God’s natural medicines or to prevent nutrition.  Because of the selfless work of our community, The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 was passed.  Since then, there have been periodic threats to our health freedoms; all of which have been quashed.

Reuters has reported that Consumer Reports is screaming that dietary supplements need more regulations.  According to Consumer Reports, some supplements are tainted with pharmaceuticals, and that the F.D.A. doesn’t have enough authority to regulate them.  They argue that the F.D.A. needs to have more control over supplements.

Of course, the F.D.A. already has the power to regulate any product which contains pharmaceuticals.  That is, in fact, what we expect for them to be doing; instead of harassing cherry growers.  There is, however, another possibility.  When we consider that a large portion of pharmaceuticals are based upon old herbal medicines, then what Consumer Reports detected as ‘pharmaceuticals’ could actually be the natural makeup of the herbs.  In other words, instead of pharmaceuticals being put inside herbs, perhaps the pharmaceuticals were derived from, and rely on the same compounds that are inside herbs.  It would be an unintentional, yet glowing endorsement of the power of herbal medicine.  To take a history trip into where some of the herb-based pharmaceuticals really came from, then just take a browse through the Pharmacopoeia of 1909.

— Consumer Reports

The F.D.A. does not need more power to inspect factories for contamination.  It just needs the resolve to actually do its tasks, which is another issue entirely.  Consumer Reports is quite obviously grasping at straws in an attempt to support the FDA in getting more authority than it needs.  If the F.D.A. can’t do its job correctly now, then giving it more responsibilities is about as logical as spending to escape debt.