DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS: KNOCKED DOWN AND COUNTING . . . ONLY 90 DAYS LEFT
By Bill Sardi
Knowledge of Health, Inc.
July 10, 2011
The dietary-supplement industry has only 90 days to comment on the FDA's new
dietary ingredient guidelines,[1] which would require many supplements
currently on the market (since 1994 when the Dietary Supplement Health &
Education Act was passed) to undergo onerous and expensive safety testing.
Some of the animal testing would require three years to complete. It is
difficult to ascertain the cost of meeting these new requirements but it appears
to be in the millions of dollars for each ingredient. It would take three years
before any new dietary ingredient could be introduced as well. Essentially,
the only way these natural medicines would remain on the market is to make them
expensive prescription drugs. You are talking about many well-known supplements
such as resveratrol, hyaluronic acid, piperine, curcumin, etc.
Some companies with broad product lines would have to spend $20 million to $100
million in order to keep existing products on the market. All this to just get
paperwork in order as there is no clear and present danger to consumers posed by
dietary supplements.
The entire 47-page document issued by the FDA is so overwhelming as to throw a
mortal blow to the supplement industry. It is not known whether public outcry
will influence the FDA as it is an aloof organization that is obviously
responsible for protecting America's pharmaceutical industry to the point of
recklessly approving prescription drugs that, like Vioxx, have killed thousands.
The supplement industry is recoiling, ready to make pleas to politicians. In
other words, beg for mercy. The supplement industry could be forced to take 17
steps backward in time, to 1994, and utilize only those molecules and processes
that were in existence then. The fact that the FDA dropped this guidance upon
the industry like a bomb instead of gaining their input prior to its writing
suggests the FDA knows what it is doing ? creating a doomsday document. RIP
dietary supplements unless something is done soon.
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the opinion of the author and is provided for educational purposes only.
It is not to be construed as medical advice. Only a licensed medical doctor
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