Health Options Alan Titchenal  & Joannie Dobbs                    Wednesday, July 18, 2001

Supplements can be harmful

Today, the marketing of health goes well beyond the promotion of a healthy diet. Many pills and elixirs made from non-food plants and medicinal herbs contain powerful chemicals that offer potential benefits.

But since the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act was passed in 1994, there has been little or no regulation of supplements. It is virtually impossible for the average person to know which products are beneficial, potentially harmful, or just a scam.

Most people assume that the Food and Drug administration regulates supplements like food products. Logically but naively, people expect it would be illegal to sell a herbal product untested for safety and efficacy.

The Dietary Supplet Act essentially left FDA with no legal teeth. Over the last few years fraudulent claims for natural products have increased at an alarmingly rapid rate. At time television stations airing herbal supplement infomercials seem to out number those offering news or entertainment.

Now, at last, a federal agency is peaking out and has the teeth to back up its bark: the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC's mission, is “directed toward stopping actions that threaten consumers' opportunities to exercise informed choice.” The commission works to “eliminate practices that are unfair or deceptive.”

It is not just a consumer watchdog. Another key mission is to “ensure that the nation's markets function competitively, and are vigorous, efficient, and free of undue restrictions”

HERE ARE THREE recent ex­amples of the FTC at work:

1. The commission announced enforcement actions targeted at Internet dietary supplement companies making false claims, including safety claims. The prod­ucts of most concern claim cures/benefits for medical conditions such as cancer arthritis, diabetes, AIDS and Alzheimer's disease.

These supplements can be dangerous when taken in combination with medications commonly taken by people with these conditions. Some of the products making false claims contained colloidal silver, St. John's Wort and numerous other herbal ingredients.

2. The FTC went after two com­panies marketing the herb comfrey via the Web. Comfrey has been shown to contain toxic substances that can cause serious liver damage.

3. Last week the FTC carged the nation's third lagest home shop­ping network, ValueVision, with selling five dietary supplement products that make unsubstantiated claims, including weight loss and hair growth. The commission proposed that ValueVision provide scientific evidence to sub­stantiate health product claims and send a letter to everyone who purchased one of those question­able products since February 2000.

The FTC doesn't handle indi­vidual complaints, but does ac­cept leads on unfair or misleading business practices. Visit the FTC Web site: www.ftc.gov or call, toll free, (877) FTC-HELP. The mailing address is: Consumer Response Center Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW , Washington , DC 20580