What do you think about the New York Attorney General ordering GNC, Wal-Mart, and others to stop selling certain store brand herbal supplements that it says don’t contain all the herbal ingredient on the label?

Why do we feel that it is ok for any industry to “police itself”? Isn’t that an inherent conflict of interest?

Once again, the question of government regulation. Anyone who believes that the market will guarantee that “you get what you pay for” in a container without government monitoring, should simply review the practices common in this country prior to government regulation.

Yes, maybe a reading of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle about the meatpacking industry in Chicago is in order.

Do you think there should be government regulations against fraud?

Frankly, this has been known for a while. Several scientific studies have shown this to be the case again and again. Because of DSHEA, the FDA is specifically prohibited from regulating these products. The fact that this idea was ever considered, much less enshrined in law, is a national embarrassment.

I am glad for the attention this is getting, and that an office with real clout is looking into it. But to think this is unusual is incorrect.

@janbb It and a variety of other muckraking classics should be REQUIRED reading in the school curriculum of ANY person deemed “educated”. We are a people of such dismally short memories, that there really is no alternative to learning the history of our country.

Interesting conundrum.

I think that most of those herbal supplements and ‘natural’ alternatives are crap and ineffective. I personally wouldn’t take them.

But if you (or anyone else) wants to, then I won’t stand in your way. Go for it.

The real problem – and this is what the FDA is about—is that if the bottle says it has chemical XYZ in it, it really needs to have chemical XYZ. And apparently these don’t.

So the issue has nothing do with whether you believe in natural medicinal remedies or not – it has to do with truth in labelling.

They are a perfect example of why nutritional supplements need to be regulated by the FDA.

I agree with @elbanditoroso . Right now as things stand, there is no consistency in most herbal supplements. Some will have a large amount of the herb, and some only have trace amounts. Both brands can sit side by side on the shelf and people think they are the same product, just with different prices or names.

Also, people could have allergies to the additives. Taking the supplements could be needlessly dangerous or uncomfortable in the least if people don’t know there is an allergen in their supplement.

There needs to be more regulation in this industry. There is so much fraud and snake oil being passed as pure genuine stuff. This is proof that the market does NOT regulate itself. People will do ANYTHING to save a buck in production, turn around and make a huge profit.

Imagine if Apple started selling iPhones and all there was inside the box was gravel.

Do you think this should be legal?

@ragingloli—What is that? I don’t get it.

It is a fake USB stick, instead of an actual USB stick, you just get the end of a USB cable in a stick case.

haha. I see it now. For some reason, that confounded me.

The fact that this is an issue is proof that the industry does not police itself.

What? You have to sell what you’re claiming to sell? Where’s the free market in that? This is a Democratic campaign to cripple America.

I have no problem with government trying to do something about false advertisement and false labeling.

Just muddles the supplement debate even further.

You bought a purported supplement (or did you?) and it did/didn’t work for you. Sounds more like snake oil all the time.

Sounds like maybe the government needs to pull the whole house of cards down and allow the industry to rebuild (or not) on the basis of some sort of mutually agreed and verifiable standards. Definitely a blow to the supplements industry. Well deserved.

I’m not sure where I stand regarding pulling the whole house of cards down, all I know is when I take a pill I want what is supposed to be in it to be in it. I saw a small study where they tested vitamin D OTC pills and the amount if D in the pills varied quite a but from what was written on the bottle.

Another thing that peeves me is that the herbal supplement industry frequently makes up their own official sounding lingo that people assume actually means something.

Essential oil sellers like DoTerra make a big deal about their products being “therapeutic grade” oils. This means NOTHING. It was made up by the Young Living brand of essential oils (which DoTerra was once the same company and a seller branched off and started their own company)

Most essential oils you can buy in health food stores cost between 5–15 dollars for ¼th of an ounce, depending on the oil—how hard it is to grow or process affects the price. DoTerra and Young Living oils START at 35$ for ¼th of an ounce. People could be paying much lower prices for practically identical products but think they have to shell out the big bucks to get the best product. This is just a scam.

I believe somewhat in aromatherapy and use of essential oils. But I am a big proponent of using the cheaper brands you can find in healthfood and some drug stores. If there was more regulation of this industry, we could learn more about the quality and purity of these products. Right now, it’s just a black box and you have no idea what you are paying for.

That’s what I mean by knocking down the house of cards and rebuilding, @keobooks @keobooks. If everybody is using self-proclaimed standards how can there be a standard. The terminology and testing standards have to have some common base.

I’ve known the supplements are unregulated and that most of their claims are based on invalid studies (such as: anecdotal evidence, small sample size, funded by the manufacturer, not double-blind, not replicated by valid studies, etc.) for over 20 years; what I don’t understand is why it took so long to become an issue.

I wish I had the photo handy… I was shopping for allergy medicine some time ago, and saw something baffling.

On the shelf was Primatine Mist, an epinephrine inhaler that members of my family have relied on for years to stop asthma attacks in their tracks.

Next to that medical product was called something like EZ-Breathe inhaler. In tiny little letters it said “homeopathic” on the bottom of the box. A bottle of sugar water, priced almost as high as the Primatine refills.

Guess which product has been pulled from the shelves?

Yep. Primatine. Because it’s CFC propelled and single handedly causing the hole in the ozone layer. Or something.

But you can still inhale sugar water. Good luck with your anaphylaxis.