# FDA and Dietary Supplements **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 22, 2000, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fda-and-dietary-supplements/46784 "2000-12-22T00:27:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JDM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/90db22/32.png) [@JDM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDM)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fda-and-dietary-supplements/46784/21 "2000-12-29T00:59:01Z")
You can blame much of this on Orrin Hatch, who has a friend and contributor who is a “supplement” manufacturer. Hatch has led the fight against regulation, although at one point he said he would support a supplements board on the FDA if his friend could head it. Not that there would be any conflict of interest, of course. Hatch is being talked about as a possible Supreme. JDM ---
**Author:** ![peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peace)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fda-and-dietary-supplements/46784/22 "2000-12-29T01:52:47Z")
JDM: **Hatch is being talked about as a possible Supreme.** Unbelievable story. Does he sing? Was Dianna Ross notified? Peace ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fda-and-dietary-supplements/46784/23 "2000-12-29T01:54:38Z")
Jackmannii said: > [@](#): > > , I should mention that Cathy Hainer reported having initially had conventional chemo for metastatic breast cancer with no detectable disease following treatment. Then she went on her Magical Mystery Tour through quackdom This is fairly common. People get treated with real medicine, and then, afterwards (or sometimes at the same time), they get alternative treatment. Then they go around saying how great the alternative treatment was, as if the chemo and radiation and the like were just some meaningless little side thing. ---
**Author:** ![JDM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/90db22/32.png) [@JDM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDM)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fda-and-dietary-supplements/46784/24 "2000-12-29T02:20:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by peace \* > \*\*JDM: **Hatch is being talked about as a possible Supreme.** > Unbelievable story. Does he sing? Was Dianna Ross notified? > > Peace > \*\* Go here for Hatch’s credentials: [http://detnews.com/1998/nation/9805/25/05250022.htm](http://detnews.com/1998/nation/9805/25/05250022.htm) [http://www.hatchmusic.com/songs.html](http://www.hatchmusic.com/songs.html) JDM ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fda-and-dietary-supplements/46784/25 "2000-12-29T02:34:33Z")
Here’s a link to an article by Dr. Dean Edell about how [the supplement industry plays dirty politics](http://www.healthcentral.com/drdean/deanFullTexttopics.cfm?ID=46315&storytype=DeanTopics). Hatch is mentioned, as is Tom Harkin. Also: “In California, a leading diet pill company contributed $100,000 to Governor Gray Davis’ campaign fund. Governor Davis later vetoed the state’s regulation of ephedra.” ---
**Author:** ![peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peace)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fda-and-dietary-supplements/46784/26 "2000-12-29T02:36:11Z")
JDM, unbelievable! My opinion about him (as a senator) was always twofold. I wonder, would we all won, lost, or neither if he sang professionally and were only an amateur politician. Well, singers are easier to judge. Peace ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fda-and-dietary-supplements/46784/27 "2000-12-29T15:17:33Z")
That is a good link, David. I’ve added that site to my Favorites. So now we have DHEA and ephedra which are drugs and ephreda has been shown to have serious side effects. Cholestin contains many of the same active compounds found in statin drugs (to lower cholesterol). In 1998, the FDA ruled that it should be considered an unapproved drug. However, its manufacturer filed suit against FDA, still pending, and it remains available in stores. ((i}Tuftus U. Health & Nutrition Letter\*, Jan 2001) ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2000, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fda-and-dietary-supplements/46784/28 "2000-12-30T03:35:20Z")
Yup, Dr. Dean Edell is one of my favorites. If you read the [Skeptic News](http://www.skepticnews.com), you’ll see me refer to him several times a week, on average. (And if you don’t read the Skeptic News, why the hell not?!) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fda-and-dietary-supplements/46784.md?page=1)