GAO lobbying for increased regulation on supplements?

[Jarod]

Agency was supposed to build digital reporting system for adverse events - four years ago. Consumers still at danger, GAO warns.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not captured all reports on dangerous reactions to bad supplements, leaving consumers potentially vulnerable to health dangers.
"FDA may not have received information on all adverse events that are associated with dietary supplements because consumers and others may not be voluntarily reporting them,"said a report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress' watchdog arm.

FDA officials said they are working with the organization to try to get a complete picture of all bad reactions from dietary supplements.

http://www.washingtonguardian.com/holes-dietary-safety-net

 

[*GG*]

Not sure if I like more gov't involvement in supplements! What do they do well?

GG

 

[Jarod]

Slippery slope folks. Could we inadvertantly regulate supplements right out of existance????

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Book raises alarms about alternative medicine

The 12-year-old girl arrived at the hospital wracked with abdominal pain.
Doctors diagnosed her with acute pancreatitis, in which pancreatic enzymes begin digesting not just food, but the pancreas itself.
The most likely cause of the girl's condition: toxic side effects from more than 80 dietary supplements, which the girl's mother carried in a shopping bag, says Sarah Erush, clinical pharmacy manager at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where the girl was treated last summer.

About 50% of Americans use alternative medicine, and 10% use it on their children, notes Paul Offit, Children's Hospital's chief of infectious disease.
The girl's story illustrates the serious but often little-known risks posed by some forms of alternative medicine, a loosely regulated industry that includes everything from herbal supplements to crystal healing and acupuncture, says Offit

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who has long fought for stricter regulation of supplements, says the alternative medicine industry is "as tough as any industry I've seen lobby in Washington.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...es-alarms-about-alternative-medicine/2429385/

 

[natasa778]

Paul Offit, millionaire (by own admission 'patenting vaccine is like winning a lottery') rotavirus vaccine patent holder and the media go-to guy whenever slamming of anything 'alternative' is desired.