If it walks like a duck ...

With all the talk about healthcare reform going around Washington, one thing that has been overlooked is an industry in which tens of billions of dollars is spent annually with relatively limited federal oversight—namely dietary supplements, or "complimentary medicine." The passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), in 1994, represented an attempt by Congress to regulate the burgeoning marketplace in "natural" health remedies. The intent was to protect consumers from snake-oil salesman while allowing access to a large and legitimate category of health options. The most important reform in DSHEA established that dietary supplements would be regulated as foods rather than medicines. For that reason alone, it's time to review the shortcomings of DSHEA.

Are these products foods or medicines? Well, to quote the great Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley, "If it walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck."

To those who would peddle dietary supplements as medicine, the message must be that FDA has the authority to stop you if and when you cross the line. And to Congress, the message is that if FDA is to embrace a "safety first" philosophy, then DSHEA needs to be reformed—because the line has been crossed too many times. This oversight must be corrected immediately.

For the rest of the story, check out this piece from Pharmaceutical Executive Magazine.