Waxman Fights for Sense in Supplements

[HuckleB]

http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=1923

"...

Recently Congressman Henry Waxman introduced a bill that would hold vitamin sellers accountable for the health claims that they make. This would be a sensible change to the current regulations in the US, which essentially amount to a free-for-all with a thin veneer of accountability. Right now there is almost no pre-marketing requirements for the supplement industry.

Thanks to DSHEA, companies (which increasingly include pharmaceutical companies – so forget your homey image of a mom-and-pop vitamin store) are free to sell vitamins and “supplements” (which can include herbs used as drugs) without any requirement to provide evidence of safety and efficacy. They are even allowed to make pseudo health claims – so-called “structure and function” claims.

Recently John McCain and others tried to introduce the supplement safety act which would update DSHEA and add some sorely needed protections for consumers but he was squashed by Tom Harkin and the supplement industry – so that effort appears to be dead for now.

Now Henry Waxman, who is a consistent voice of science and reason in the Congress, wants to require vitamin companies to defend their health claims with actual evidence. This does not mean they will be held to the same standard as pharmaceuticals, but simply that they just cannot claim whatever they want without providing evidence. Right now the only line of protection is the FTC, but they can only scratch the surface of fraudulent and misleading claims in this industry. Waxman would give them more power to actually do their job – since the effort to empower the FDA with McCain’s bill failed.

..."



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Kudos Rep. Waxman. May you succeed in bringing logic and a little bit of accountability to an arena in dire need of both.

[truedelphi]

1. Waxman has long been p'wned by the Big Pharma interests in this nation.

He's owned lock, stock and barrel by those interests.

[HuckleB]

6. The BIG PHARMA excuse doesn't have anything to do with some basic, and very much needed, regulation.

[truedelphi]

24. If he wanted to do the American public a huge favor

He would see to it that we had better testing of medical devices and pharmaceutical drugs before they were put on market and injured and/or sickened Americans.

He'd see to it that the FDA pulls the benzene out of so many pharmaceutical products.

He'd see to it that personal care products like shampoo and hair gels did not contain benzene, or formaldehyde.

And just maybe once he started becoming aware of the real problems out there, he'd stand up to Monsanto. The Big Agro company that is about to irrevocably alter our food to the point of inedibility.

As far as vitamins, their content, etc. I trust the vitamin companies that are top grade (like GNC and Twin Labs) a whole lot more than the Big Pharma prescription medication con artists.

[HuckleB]

27. That's hilarious.

Yes, more regulation would be better for all areas in terms of improving health.

That hardly means regulating supplements is not needed. You can trust all you want. Blind faith doesn't do it.

[Beetwasher]

9. Wow, You Are Out Of Your Fuckign Mind. You Have A Problem With This Legislation???

What exactly is the problem with this legislation? Should people selling supplements be able to make any idiotic claim about their products that they want?

And Henry Waxman is bought???? On what fucking planet. Holy shit.

[Posteritatis]

18. Do you think supplement producers should not be legally prevented from lying? (nt)

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Apparently they cannot read their own scientific research, for example:

Rev Diabet Stud. 2009 Winter;6(4):230-6. Epub 2009 Dec 30.
Alpha-lipoic Acid and diabetic neuropathy.
Vallianou N, Evangelopoulos A, Koutalas P.
Department of Internal Medicine, Polykliniki General Hospital, 3 Pireos Str., 10552 Athens, Greece.
Abstract

Diabetic neuropathy presents a major public health problem. It is defined by the symptoms and signs of peripheral nerve dysfunction in diabetic patients, in whom other causes of neuropathy have been excluded. Pathogenetic mechanisms that have been implicated in diabetic neuropathy are: a) increased flux through the polyol pathway, leading to accumulation of sorbitol, a reduction in myo-inositol, and an associated reduced Na+-K+-ATPase activity, and b) endoneurial microvascular damage and hypoxia due to nitric oxide inactivation by increased oxygen free radical activity. Alpha-lipoic acid seems to delay or reverse peripheral diabetic neuropathy through its multiple antioxidant properties. Treatment with alpha-lipoic acid increases reduced glutathione, an important endogenous antioxidant. In clinical trials, 600 mg alpha-lipoic acid has been shown to improve neuropathic deficits. This review focuses on the relationship of alpha-lipoic acid and auto-oxidative glycosylation. It discusses the impact of alpha-lipoic acid on hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress, and examines the role of alpha-lipoic acid in preventing glycation process and nerve hypoxia.

[HuckleB]

7. And that has what to do with basic regulation of supplements?

:eyes:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

15. They say there is no validation for the "health claims" of many supplements

meanwhile there is a wealth of research that shows exactly the opposite... not only health claims, but direct treatment of DISEASE CONDITIONS SUCCESSFULLY. They don't care for this all that much.

[HuckleB]

16. Small studies and anecdotes do not equate to validation.

Even if it did, it doesn't explain why a legitimate supplement company would fear legitimate regulation.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

17. Well howdy then, you need to tell European docs to stop treating

DISEASE with nutrition and supplements.

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/extract/281/19/1852

Assuming that "natural" remedies must be safe, 60 million Americans spent $3.24 billion medicating themselves with herbals in 1996. Yet there are reports within the last two decades of more than 100 herbiogenic deaths1(pp1799-1880) and dozens of serious complications—eg, those that required renal dialysis,2-5 renal transplantation,6 or liver transplantation,6-8 after taking botanicals. Dangerous herbs are less likely to be sold in Germany, thanks to strict surveillance by the German Commission E, founded in 1978. Of the 129 herbal drugs disapproved in Germany, the risky ones were immediately withdrawn, while others deemed nontoxic parvenus without "plausible evidence of efficacy" will be phased out by 2004.

This book documents how phytotherapy in Germany has become rational, responsible, and well integrated with conventional medicine. Herbal medicines comprise 30% of all drugs sold in German pharmacies. More than half these botanicals are prescribed by physicians and paid for by health insurance.

[HuckleB]

21. Go to Europe.

In the meantime, your assumptions have no basis.

Thanks for the laughs and the kicks!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

23. Meh.... healthcare in Europe is so backwards.... and the longevity

infant mortality is so much worse than here. :sarcasm:

[HuckleB]

26. So you're saying unregulated supplements don't help.

Got it.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

29. You win that one. I've never been so wrong.... good job. n/t

[Posteritatis]

19. You're arguing with an electric-universe cosmologist

Your blood pressure will probably want you to quit while you're ahead here.

[HuckleB]

22. Oh, I know.

I don't take him seriously.

[WinkyDink]

3. The medieval powers went after herbalists, too, burning them as witches. Follow the $$$.

[HuckleB]

8. WOW! That's quite the red herring.

:rofl:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Exactly, follow thhe $$$.

The herbalist industry is a big scam.

[Th1onein]

4. McCain's bill would have gutted DSHEA

And Waxman is no better. Leave the supplements alone, for God's sake.

[HuckleB]

5. Both bills are common sense.

[Beetwasher]

10. Why Do You Have A Problem With Them Have To DEFEND THEIR HEALTH CLAIMS??

If what they claim their products do is true, what's the problem.

They are NOT being forbidden to sell their products, but if they say it grows hair, or prevents colds, or cure's toenail fungus, they have to provide the evidence. REAL evidence, like scientific studies.

What's the problem with that?

[Posteritatis]

20. The freakouts are great, aren't they?

A similar bill came up here in Canada a couple of years ago and people were screaming about how it would "ban herbs" when it only imposed meaningful penalties on companies who lie about what their products can do.

[truedelphi]

25. + 1 !!

[AngryAmish]

11. Well overdue reform

For example Enzyte is marketing their drugs to make men's penises larger and have better erections. Enzyte ads don't say that - they have that Smiling Bob guy do various things, have his wife smile and the other ladies gawk at his dick.

So, does Enzyte really make dicks bigger and harder? Of course not. But as long as they say they are a supplement then they can make hundreds of millions of dollars off of this crap and never be held responsible.

And it is not just enzyte. Rush Limbaugh advertises phony zinc and homeopathic (!) cold medicine. AIrborne! is crap - yet many folks here on DU say t works for them.

We spend billions on these things that don't work. And we do it happily.

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. One thing I am concerned about is whether or not supplements would interact badly with

my meds, so I avoid taking them. My pharmacist has a database that keeps track of whether any of my prescriptions would be bad together. Wish they could add supplements to that database too, then I would know whether or not I could take something.

[HuckleB]

13. Good point. That would be helpful to everyone I think.

[superduperfarleft]

28. Sure are a lot of shills for Big Supplement here.

You know, that billion-dollar industry that's allowed to operate with little to no oversight or regulation.