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Author Topic:   Safety and Effectiveness of Herbs and Pharmaceuticals
subbie
Member (Idle past 1255 days)
Posts: 3509
Joined: 02-26-2006


Message 60 of 209 (448266)
01-12-2008 7:26 PM
Reply to: Message 59 by purpledawn
01-12-2008 7:04 PM


Re: Banning Herbals
I agree that any product made available to the general public for consumption should be tested and shown safe and effective for its proposed use.
I don't think it's any legitimate use of governmental power to prevent anyone from taking anything for their health, welfare and happiness that they wish to. Caveat emptor!
A fool and his money will soon be parted, and no effort on the part of the government will stop this law of nature. Let it be so.

Those who would sacrifice an essential liberty for a temporary security will lose both, and deserve neither. -- Benjamin Franklin
We see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- Phat

This message is a reply to:
 Message 59 by purpledawn, posted 01-12-2008 7:04 PM purpledawn has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 61 by Granny Magda, posted 01-12-2008 10:12 PM subbie has replied
 Message 66 by nator, posted 01-13-2008 7:52 AM subbie has not replied

  
subbie
Member (Idle past 1255 days)
Posts: 3509
Joined: 02-26-2006


Message 62 of 209 (448328)
01-12-2008 11:49 PM
Reply to: Message 61 by Granny Magda
01-12-2008 10:12 PM


Re: Banning Herbals
Greetings, Granny! I don't think we've run into one another before.
the fact is that a great many fools have held onto their money, thanks to legislation that forces Big Pharma to prove the efficacy of its wares.
You say that as if it's a good thing. I say it's not.
So Big Pharma hasn't cheated them out of their money. That also means that they haven't had a chance to learn from a foolish mistake. As a result, they simply lost their money to some other scam. No improvement, as far as I can see. In fact, I'd say that the fact that we have this Big Brother agency making everyone think that medicine is safe just makes it easier for those on the fringes to take the fools' money. Effective by association, as it were.
What makes you think that regulation of herbals would play out differently?
I never said that I thought it would. I said I thought that would be bad.
Let people buy and use whatever nonsense they want to. What's it to you? Morons are going to waste their money somewhere or other. Why should the government protect them from some frauds but not others?
So we start to regulate herbals. What's next? Magnet therapy? Aroma therapy? Copper bracelets? Gimmick diets? Cosmetics claims of younger-looking skin? There is virtually no end to quack remedies out there, and if the government is going to try to regulate it all in the same way that they do with drugs, the FDA would quickly become the biggest bureaucracy in the history of human civilization, probably eating up half the federal budget or more.
Much better to spend that money to teach people how to evaluate claims of effectiveness and how to critically examine evidence, if you think it's the government's job to protect idiots from their idiocy.

Those who would sacrifice an essential liberty for a temporary security will lose both, and deserve neither. -- Benjamin Franklin
We see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- Phat

This message is a reply to:
 Message 61 by Granny Magda, posted 01-12-2008 10:12 PM Granny Magda has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 63 by Rrhain, posted 01-13-2008 12:08 AM subbie has replied
 Message 67 by nator, posted 01-13-2008 8:06 AM subbie has not replied
 Message 68 by Granny Magda, posted 01-13-2008 8:49 PM subbie has not replied
 Message 71 by nator, posted 01-19-2008 1:06 PM subbie has not replied

  
subbie
Member (Idle past 1255 days)
Posts: 3509
Joined: 02-26-2006


Message 64 of 209 (448339)
01-13-2008 12:34 AM
Reply to: Message 63 by Rrhain
01-13-2008 12:08 AM


Re: Banning Herbals
Well, the very disclaimer that you quote shows that the FDA doesn't perform the same kind of testing for products bearing the disclaimer as it does on drugs.
As for your whine of "Why should the government protect them from some frauds but not others?" it is because the average person is not in a position to test the efficacy of chemotherapy. Somebody has to.
This is not a license to consumers to turn their brains off, though. They still need to do their research, but the governmental activity is to help people make informed decisions.
Whine? Nice.
If it were only to give people information, then the sale of untested drugs, or drugs that were tested but not approved, wouldn't be illegal. Instead, the government would require companies to inform people that the drugs haven't been tested, or that testing failed to confirm the claims that the companies make for the drugs.
No, FDA regulation is far more than just a full disclosure program for informed decision making. The FDA makes the decisions itself, then makes it a federal crime for anyone to prescribe the drug contrary to FDA decree.
You are correct that the average person is not in a position to test the efficacy of just about any medical treatment. Of course, it doesn't follow from that fact that the government has to do it. There are hundreds, thousands of sources of information that people can turn to to see what those with informed opinions have to say about virtually anything. Learning how to investigate and evaluate claims would be of considerably more value to people than for them to rely on someone else to simply outlaw bad decisions.

Those who would sacrifice an essential liberty for a temporary security will lose both, and deserve neither. -- Benjamin Franklin
We see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- Phat

This message is a reply to:
 Message 63 by Rrhain, posted 01-13-2008 12:08 AM Rrhain has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 65 by Rrhain, posted 01-13-2008 1:29 AM subbie has not replied

  
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