The FDA - Food and Drug Administration...

The FDA does not have authority, and I do not wish it to have authority, over my health care decisions, supplement use, or health standards of care.

If the FDA wants to regulate the supplement and alternative medicine industries, I suggest they start with what they are worst at, and try to improve - quality control.

Assure the public that drugs coming from the pharmaceutical companies are safe! Ensure that regulations, trial periods, and testing is thorough.

For supplements, assure us that the products are pure, and that the label states the accurate strength of the supplement. Tell us about any other components in the packaging or product that may affect our health. Some people have allergies to the simplest things, and this kind of disclosure would be helpful.

This kind of regulation is all to the good. But being the gatekeeper for supplements, telling practitioners how to use them, and otherwise keeping them from the public, is not part of their job.

If over-zealous regulation ever becomes part of the FDAs job, big-pharma will usurp control, and do away with all vitamins and supplements unless the odd person can somehow grow the source and extract the elements in their garage. This leads to further contamination and the strength of the supplement cannot be assured.

And only big-pharma will produce vitamins for mass distribution - using unclean and mercury- or arsenic-conataminated sources. Big-pharma does not care about our health. Big-pharma cares about making a profit.

I am only discussing this small issue today. The FDA is broken and misguided. But this segment can be repaired easily.