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Festival Of Idiots #1 - Orrin Hatch For Exempting Dietary Supplements From FDA Approval
By Josh Witten | January 28th 2009 10:30 PM | 6 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
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About Josh Witten

100% of this the rugbyologist's revenue is donated to Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres). A click on one of my articles is a click that helps bring high quality medical care to the... Full Bio

SENATOR ORRIN HATCH (R-UTAH)Senator Orrin Hatch from Wikipedia (Public Domain)
Known for his various musical talents and having all his shirts custom made to fit an impossibly narrow neck, Hatch does not join the Festival of Idiots because he lost the Republican Presidential nomination to W. 

Senator Orrin Hatch wrote and strongly supported the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA).  DSHEA stopped the previous FDA method of  dietary supplement regulation (banning "unapproved food additives"). 

Now, dietary supplements are not required to prove that they either are safe or effective before going to market.  DSHEA does not allow dietary supplements to make "disease" claims, but does allow vague and unsubtantiated "structure and function claims" like "immune-boosting" or "maintains a healthy circulatory system". 

The FDA cannot even monitor that dietary supplements contain the ingredients they claim until a safety problem is reported. 

For endangering the health of his fellow Americans through his legislative efforts, we thank you, Senator Orrin Hatch.

Orrin Hatch website:  http://hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Home.Home
Contact: http://hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Offices.Contact
Voting Record: http://hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Legislation.VotingRe...

Comments

Sen. Orrin Hatch is one of the finest senators money can buy . His scruples beyond impugning if there s no lobbyist money involved . Human intelligence and dignity has yet to breach the Mississippi river in a westward direction . The Bush family , the Reagan family , even to a degree the Johnson family , seems to have lost their moral sense of good crossing the mighty Miss .We ve been plagued in recent decades with the southern type of pultroon in politics and I guess the west is the new cradle of the politically stillborn .

harold nichols (not verified) | 01/29/09 | 15:34 PM
jtwitten's picture
I live west of the Mississippi (approximately 10 miles).  This creates a bit of a dilemma.  How can I recognize Hatch's foolishness from my disadvantaged geographic position?  Perhaps it is more of a diffusion problem than a firm barrier?  Doesn't this imply that human dignity could be leaking in north of Lake Itasca in Canada?

Josh Witten | 01/29/09 | 16:56 PM
Orrin Hatch hales (originally) from the fine state of Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh, born and bred.

Jay (not verified) | 08/02/09 | 09:34 AM
Its a really GOOD thing that dietary supplements are FDA exempt, proof the effectiveness of a supplement takes 100 millions of dollars, and many years, to go though the regulatory process. Most supplements are generic, have no owners or share holders to pay for such a process. If dietry supplement were to come under the FDA process, suddenly, thousands of health food products, many of which have reasonable evidence of being helpful to health, and which are reasonably cheap, are suddenly off the market. This would make a lot of people less healthy, and to what end.

Dr BDOAdams (not verified) | 06/29/09 | 01:10 AM
jtwitten's picture
They also do not have to prove safety before going to market.  The lack of regulations also means that oversight to make sure these products meet minimal standards is poor.

Your argument is wanting it both ways.  You do not want to prove the efficacy of the supplements, but you want to advertise them based on those "supposed" benefits. 

Josh Witten | 06/29/09 | 09:46 AM
The tragic irony in all of this is the reason for the FDA's creation was to certify and protect us all from snake oil vendors and landmark cases of utterly toxic (eg radioactive) elements branded and sold as health elixirs. How and why these loopholes have expanded and circumvented any rational guidelines for public safety is tragic.

Understandably the argument for some "as yet unproven" herbal folk remedies being marketed as "hearsay" products only increases the risks for the consumer and rewards for the charlatans.

Medical weight loss under physician supervision continues to be the only legitimate form of prescribed weight loss supplements. We are often engaged in detangling the myths of "exotic elixirs" and the dangers poised by them:
http://weightlossnyc.com/weight-loss-ny/faq/weight-loss-medications.php
http://weightlossnyc.com/news/2009/06/confused-about-weight-loss.html
http://weightlossnyc.com/news/2009/05/fda-is-warning-people-against-taki...
http://weightlossnyc.com/news/2009/05/over-eating-not-lack-of-exercise-c...

weight loss doctor (not verified) | 07/22/09 | 11:24 AM

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