First, I’d like to thank Rachel, Jon, and Izzy for commenting on the last post about this. My intention is to continue to research and provide whatever information I can on the whole thing, and to encourage people to do the same.

I do feel that sending letters and such can help us gather more information. Countless times, both here in NY and when I lived in FL, did I send emails to government “higher ups” with my concerns, and would receive a response regarding the validity of my issues (be they valid or not) and the standings of the senator/governor/assembly person whom I wrote to.

I am still concerned about this issue… Vioxx isn’t the only drug that’s been approved by the FDA as safe when it wasn’t, and then recalled by the same agency. What about Phen-Fen? Crestor? There are many others whose names you might not recognize - but have gone through the same process.

Jon speaks about Ephedra - the “herbal” drug that was used in many diet pills until banned by the FDA. I’m okay with that (as is he) - despite the fact that when it’s taken properly, it never caused the problems (in fact, it actually worked!), and only was found to blame for the deaths of less than a dozen people. Think about this: If I went and took a whole bottle of Bayer aspirin - it’d kill me too. People don’t realize that an overdose is an overdose - and overdosing on anything is harmful - even water! My concern with this whole thing is that the FDA may be getting a little too “big brother” on us. I’d rather see them police things that are guaranteed to be harmful, rather than things that only have a small potential, like vegetable juice or vitamins. Where’s that ban on trans-fats we’ve all been hearing about? How come melamine made it’s way into this country’s pet foods, and now potentially into foods meant for human consumption?

That said, here’s a list of links I’d like to provide for my readers to do their own research and come to their own conclusions. I’m not militant about people agreeing with me - in fact, I love a good debate - and if you have related information in the opposing direction, please do give the link in the comments and I’ll be happy to post it in an update.

Statement Before the Institute of Medicine Committee Assessing the U.S. Drug Safety System (HRG Publication #1759) - From Citizen.Org - a public interest group
An Attorney Chimes In Re: Docket No. 2006D-0480 - An attorney’s response to Jon’s post
FDA Fails to Protect Americans from Dangerous Drugs and Unsafe Foods - From CSPInet.Org - another public interest group
Jon’s own rebuttal - to himself? - Where there’s smoke, there’s fire - yet yelling “SMOKE!” doesn’t do what yelling “FIRE!” does. Please read this one (as well as the others) with an open, clear mind. Jon’s not saying he was wrong… and I agree that he wasn’t.

Believe me - I had my doubts when I first saw Jon’s post yesterday. I personally think that the FDA needs to stomp its proverbial feet on pe.nis pills and “lose 900 pounds in 10 minutes” scams (so does Jon). But most of my suspicions came from the fact that I own an online marketing company, and what he did could very well be classified as what we call “link baiting” in the industry… Writing a huge controversial piece with a title and headlines to get people to link to it, which then raises your site’s popularity, blah blah blah. However I’ve been reading Jon for YEARS. I mean, YEARS. And I know that he’s doing what he does because he truly wants to help people, and keep them aware. Jon tells us to drink vegetable juice, and states that he takes cherry extract for joint pain. He doesn’t deserve to be fined by the FDA for that. (And for what it’s worth, he’s not involved in any diet supplement schemes, but he does endorse Shawn Phillips’ meal replacement shakes with a link on his own site.)

My bottom line?

There are lots of things this US government gets money for and spends money on that I don’t approve of. Things I’ve never been able to vote on. Things I’ve only found out about after the fact.

There are drugs that have been approved by the FDA that I’ve taken, family members have taken, and we’ve had our medical issues as a result of taking them.

I hold issue with doctors who have little to no knowledge of nutrition (since they’re only required to take less than 8 credit hours on the topic to get their degree) and would rather blame an overweight body on a thyroid issue or genetics and give me a drug than a plan based on one’s specific body’s needs. (Or worse, like with my stomach pains issues, where after $3,000 worth of uninsured testing, the doctor shrugged his shoulders and said, “I really have no idea what’s wrong with you.”)

I think holistics have a good place in our world - just not yet a proper one.