The FDA should regulate herbal supplements as it ensures safety for the consumer. If taken properly, herbal supplements have great benefits. The problem is that there simply is not enough regulation of the herbal supplements. Many herbal supplements can be dangerous if taken incorrectly. What’s worse, people simply do not have enough information about the benefits and risks of herbal supplements. A great example of the lack of regulation is overuse of Ephedra. A while back, people started taking mass amounts of Ephedra in order to lose weight. It ended in a great amount of deaths, causing the FDA to take measures against makers of medicines containing Ephedra. Because it was considered an herbal supplement, it did not have the same scrutiny as synthetic drugs. Herbal supplements can be just as powerful as synthetic drugs, so the same vigilance in regulation should apply.
Also, harmful ingredients sometimes end up in herbal supplements, which present an entirely new risk. If herbal supplements were more closely monitored, there would be a better chance of preventing this from happening. Because of the lack of regulation, consumers do not have any assurance that what they are buying is safe. Consumers need that assurance, especially when it comes to health products.
There also is not very much awareness about herbal supplements. People do not realize how powerful some herbal supplements are. Many people hold the mistaken belief that herbal supplements are safe because they are ‘natural.’ That simply is not true. Arsenic is a natural substance, and nobody would consider that safe, showing that simply being natural does not guarantee any measure of safety. If there was more awareness of the effects, it would lessen misuse. Regulating them ensures that things like proper warnings are displayed prominently. Herbal supplements have been used for centuries and are the foundation for modern medicine. But like traditional medicine, it needs to be regulated in order to allow consumers to enjoy the benefits.
i've never thought that herbal stuff can have such an effect. i've always thought: pants, take as much as you can, they'll neved do you any harm. it seems like it's not quite like this.
Yeah, I actually believed that for awhile too. I think it is because modern medicine tries to play it down by saying how it's not that effective. So people think it doesn't have a very strong effect. But some of the herbal drugs can be very powerful. I mean, and sometimes, when you are buying herbal supplements, you may think it is, let's say, green tea extract, but in reality it is something else. Since there is no regulation at all, there's no way for the consumer to be completely sure that the ingredients in the pills are exactly what the label says. Before medicine was regulated, pills often had no effect (were a placebo) or were even poisonous. So taking medicine was a gamble. That is why the government decided to regulate medicine. So that consumers could feel safe and confident about taking medicine.
thansk i take some of these
You are probably right, some herbal supplements should come with a certain awareness for those who consume them and that makes me think about the ignorance herbal providers can have. Most people see herbal supplements as being most useful for different health conditions and this is true, it's just that we need to be more careful in using them. I found real results in tri-dophilus and my medic supported me all along and of course I had no bad incidents about it.