Re: Big Pharma Advertising and Studies versus Supplements

I don't trust the pharmaceutical industry to do its job without proper oversight. There are some good people working in it, but the emphasis on the bottom line in this particular type of business means that serious consequences can occur without good regulation.

What I don't understand is how so many herb/supplement users have allowed themselves to be buffaloed into thinking that better regulation of the supplement industry poses a mortal threat to "health freedom". Every time there is a proposal (phantom or otherwise) that would protect consumers by increasing industry oversight, these businesses and their clients beat the drums to mobilize grass roots opposition. They say "Jump!" and many of us respond "How high?".

"The dietary supplement industry was pretty much created by ordinary people..."

Whatever may have been the case many years ago is certainly not true now. The only ordinary people are those at the bottom of the financial pyramid, such as entry-level participants in multilevel marketing schemes and franchise sellers. There's nothing ordinary about the huge sums of money made by the top execs.

The bottom line for me is that I want potent and safe herbal products and supplements, whether U.S. or imported, and under the current system I can't be sure I'm getting them.