Study urges more oversight of dietary products
More than half of all adults in the United States, or at least 14 million people, use dietary supplements like diet pills, vitamin pills, herbs, and energy drinks as per a government audit.
But things do not appear to be any better in the near future since the FDA does not have enough control for ensuring that these dietary products are safe. More oversight is required to change things for the better.
From NYTimes.com:
Although the G.A.O. cannot compel the drug regulators to act, an F.D.A. spokeswoman said her agency welcomed the report as a way of “calling attention to the challenges that the agency faces with respect to regulating dietary supplements.”
The audit of dietary supplements was commissioned by several members of Congress, including Representative Henry A. Waxman, a Democrat of California who has been investigating the safety of certain prescription drugs as chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The market for dietary supplements is growing. Americans spent an estimated $25 billion on such products last year — up from about $23.7 billion in 2007 — according to Nutrition Business Journal, which covers the industry.
The F.D.A. currently regulates dietary supplements as ingestible nonfood substances, but it does not have the same authority over the products as it does with drugs. The agency, for example, lacks basic information about the supplement industry: although dietary supplement makers are required to register with the F.D.A. as food manufacturers, they do not have to identify themselves as makers of specific supplements or supply the agency with product information, the report said.
It was acknowledged by the new report from the Federal Government Accountability Office that the FDA had taken some steps in the last few years to supervise the supplement industry more closely though the steps had not gone far enough.
Tags: diet pills, dietary supplement makers, dietary supplements, energy drinks, herbs, prescription drugs, supplement industry, vitamin pills
Recent Comments