In regard to the article "106 Science Claims and a Truck Full of Baloney" I must say that I found the article to be very amusing and very truthful. I am sure that we can all agree that we all have heard several of these same claims before in our daily routine. There were two things that I really found interesting: 1. That Cheerios really has done scientific testing to show that their cereal really does reduce cholesterol. 2. That the majority of scientific claims are made by advertising companies.
I found the Cheerios testing interesting because I actually eat Cheerios, and the claim that it reduces cholesterol is the main reason why I eat them. To actually know that they have and are testing their product to validate their claims really is nice!!! Yay for Proctor and Gambill!!! Someone actually might care about their advertising!
The idea that most scientific claims come from advertising companies interested me because I had never really thought about it before. If you actually do stop to think about that idea it really does make sense. You hear the ads all the time, and I actually will pick one product over another if I feel it has scientific benefits for me.
The two questions that I had were: 1. Why do their appear to be different FDA standards for homeopathic products from prescriptive pharmaceutical medicines?
And 2. Why doesn't the FDA go after some of these companies for false advertising?
There appears to be a double standard. Why aren't the regulations the same for both homeopathic medicines and pharmacuticals? Both are used by humans and both can do harm.
Also, if the federal government can go after people for fraud why doesn't the FDA go after some of these people for false advertising? To me, when it involves things that people will ingest, false advertising is fraud because someone could be seriously injured by it, even fatally harmed. Why is there a double standard?
Ahhh, very good questions. The problem has to do with legislation and the regulatory powers of the FDA and with bureaucracy and the tiny print on the bottom of the package. The FDA only goes after those who blatantly disregard the rules, but there are plenty of ways around that. :/ (My motto: be suspicious of anything that claims to be more than a food. Or be suspicious of any health product whose major goal is to bring in profit).
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