Big Pharma and the FDA vs. Nutritional Supplements
“While the idea of admitting that a bureaucracy is necessary, I must also admit that marketers are liars and if left unregulated will rival politicians in their dishonesty when making product claims. Both admissions shake my libertarian sensibilities to the core.”
First, a free market eventually corrects for the condition of “marketers are liars,” unlike with politicians. Furthermore, not ALL marketers are liars.
Second, what makes you think the FDA or any government bureaucracy for that matter, doesn’t lie? If one thinks we need an FDA, then one should think that we also need an EPA, FED, NLRB, EEOC, and on, and on, and on … further violating your libertarian sensibilities.
The head administrator of the FDA is pretty much a revolving door with Big Pharma.
Why is government regulation always the knee jerk reaction to every ill that affects society? Can you creatively think of some other solutions that don’t violate the Constitution of the United States? Keep reading, and maybe some other ideas will present themselves.
More people die every year from legalized drugs than from taking supplements, not to mention the drugs the FDA eventually gets around to recalling, after they’ve already done their damage. In addition, the FDA is continually pushed by vested interests (Big Pharma and lobbied government officials) to cut corners so that drugs can get to market faster. So much for the efficacy of the FDA! So, you want more of the same?
A lot of medical doctors are in the back pocket of Big Pharma, not to mention the AMA.
You can go here to find out if your particular doctor is on the take.
Of course, Big Pharma would like nothing better than for the FDA to regulate the vitamin and supplement industry. If they did, most supplement manufacturers would go out of business due to the massive costs involved in jumping through all the hoops. At a minimum, the price you pay for your favorite supplement would go through the roof, just like drug prices.
Also, most supplements are not fakes. There is a huge amount of continuing research that supports the stated benefits of various vitamins and supplements — for example, vitamin D, for people who are sunshine deprived, or naturally below normal limits. Of course, a doctor can easily and inexpensively check this condition, but there is no need for an expensive drug to correct the condition. Doctors also prescribe extremely high doses of Vitamin D for special situations, which have been shown by research to potentially impact a particular condition that is being treated. At least with most supplements, people don’t die from an overdose, unlike with drugs. The problem is that Big Pharma cannot make money off these supplements because they can’t patent them.
Although the FDA may not have complete regulatory power over the supplement manufacturers, they do inspect factories, issue warnings, and send letters to the manufacturers indicating noncompliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs). Manufacturers are required by law to follow cGMPs. However, just because there’s a non-compliance, doesn’t mean that there is necessarily anything dangerous to the consumer. For example, an infraction might be “not producing records which included the complete information relating to the production and control of each batch.”
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