The Need for Increased FDA Regulation of the Dietary Supplement Industry : Scientific Evidence, Federal Oversight and Unsupported Claims ( Pages 1 • 2 • 3 )

 

 

Other essays and articles in the Arguments and Random Archives related to this topic include : The Full Extent of Damaging Representations of Women in the Media    Cognitive Therapy and the Treatment of Eating Disorders

 

In Weed’s article “106 Science Claims and a Truckful of Baloney” the author records tha many times throughout the average day that is he is bombarded with messages about products and their supposed health benefits. According to his own assessment, through the many forms of media available on a typical day, he was exposed to “one science claim every 10 minutes, on average” (Weed 272). While the article by Weed “106 Science Claims and a Truckful of Baloney” is somewhat of a tongue-in-cheek review of the many product-related claims the average American is exposed to and the “real” truth behind these claims, it is nonetheless and important article for examining the way we, as Americans, seem to accept blindly the messages we hear about how certain products, especially those without oversight or regulation by the FDA from the dietary supplement industry, can create certain results.

 

As the article by Weed entitled, “106 Science Claims and a Truckful of Baloney” points out, there is an incredible level of dishonesty and a number of rampantly unsupported claims made on the basis of false science about diet pills. It almost seems as though we have heard so many of these claims throughout the media (especially now when it is almost impossible not to be exposed to radio, television, the internet, etc) that we have become desensitized to them.  To compound this problem of constant advertising of scientific claims in the dietary supplement industry (many of which have not been validated) “A 1994 federal law took the teeth out of the FDA’s dietary supplement regulations, which cover products that are neither food nor drugs, such as CortiSlim and AllGoode teas. The FDA can yank a product off the shelves if it proves to be harmful (as it did to Ephedra) and it can prohibit companies from claiming to cure specific diseases” (Weed 276). In other words, these companies can promote their products using any number of scientific (or scientific-sounding) claims to support their product and encourage consumers to buy.

 

One of the problems that allows this kind of rampant false advertising using “science” or modern medicine to sell products, it that most people think that if it’s scientific, it must have been overseen by the FDA or a related government or research institution. As Weed points out in “106 Science Claims and a Truckful of Baloney”.. “The national Science Board survey found that although 90 percent of Americans consider themselves ‘interested’ in science, only 15 percent consider themselves well informed” (Weed 274).  In other words, while many people want to think they have a complex understanding of hard science, the truth is that this is more of a passing interest as opposed to a genuine understanding of data and ability (or desire) to apply that data to the overwhelming number of product claims. If there was more federal oversight by the FDA of these companies, there might be less of an incentive for people to just passively take in these claims (especially since they are confronted with so many on a daily basis) and actually pay attention to them because they know that they have been validated by a credible institution.

 

In short, there are two problems with the fact that there is no current FDA regulation or enforcement of standards on dietary or other supplements in the United States. First of all, this allows “science” to be used a commodity—there is little value in data and thus true facts become drowned in the sea of false information. A second problem is that with this air of medical or scientific authenticity, many people can be easily and falsely lured into the use of a product that is dangerous, does not even work, or even worse, proves itself to be fatal. The best way to change this culture of false and misleading information, especially as it relates to products that might even be dangerous or unhealthy for people to take whoever they wish, is to require that the Food and Drug Administration takes immediate action and holds these companies accountable for their information as well as the safety, validity, and honesty that goes behind their products. This is an important measure to take before all data becomes lost and meaningless because people finally understanding that no data is pure, regulated, or related to truth.

 

The article about the diet industry by Michael Spector, “Miracle in a Bottle” can be found at http://www.michaelspecter.com/pdf/miracle.pdf

The article regarding dietary supplements by Weed, “106 Science Claims and a Truckful of Baloney” can be found at http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-05/106-science-claims-and-truckful-baloney

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