Over 60 Billion Doses a Year and Not ONE Death, But Still Not Safe?

By Dr. Mercola

Vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements have a tremendously safe track record, yet they are often singled out as being potentially dangerous by government agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

This – the notion that dietary supplements are unsafe -- is the premise behind the FDA's Draft Guidance on New Dietary Ingredients, which would require the supplement industry to prove the safety of natural ingredients that, in many cases, have been on the market and used safely for decades.

As new research from the American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poison Data System reveals, there were zero deaths linked to nutritional supplements in 2010, the most current data available.

Zero Deaths Linked to Vitamin Supplements

However, in the FDA's new Draft Guidance, the FDA is essentially claiming that dietary supplements are unsafe, and implying that in order to "protect consumers" the agency must place a stranglehold on the dietary supplement industry by requesting exorbitant safety testing.

These ludicrous safety thresholds are in excess of those required by pharmaceutical drugs -- despite extensive toxicological data showing supplements are far safer than drugs.

The most recent data comes from the U.S. National Poison Data System's annual report, which tracked data from 57 U.S. poison centers and showed vitamin and mineral supplements caused zero deaths in 2010.ⁱ

As noted by Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, Americans easily take more than 60 billion doses of nutritional supplements every year, and with zero related deaths this is an outstanding safety record:

"Well over half of the U.S. population takes daily nutritional supplements. Even if each of those people took only one single tablet daily, that makes 165,000,000 individual doses per day, for a total of over 60 billion doses annually. Since many persons take far more than just one single vitamin or mineral tablet, actual consumption is considerably higher, and the safety of nutritional supplements is all the more remarkable.

Over 60 billion doses of vitamin and mineral supplements per year in the USA, and not a single fatality. Not one. If vitamin and mineral supplements are allegedly so "dangerous," as the FDA and news media so often claim, then where are the bodies?"

In striking contrast, drugs are known to cause well over 125,000 deaths per year when taken correctly as prescribed – yet the FDA allows "fast-track" approvals and countless new additions to the marketplace. So why are dietary supplements on the chopping block?

For the rest of this article:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/04/23/defend-your-rig...

See also:

Forget the Headlines - Keep Taking Your Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements

AMA ‘junk science’ study used to falsely label vitamins and minerals as dangerous