Saturday, March 1, 2008

FDA Approval For Natural Cures: Don't Hold Your Breath.

It's funny when you pick up any bottle containing a natural herb or supplement and read the little message at the bottom: "These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration."

Ever wonder when the FDA is going to get around to evaluating them? After all, they have only been used for thousands of years.

People all through time have reaped the benefits of these natural cures but the FDA doesn't seem too interested.

On the other hand, the FDA seems to implement a virtual approval stamping machine when it comes to brand new prescription drugs.

Toward the end of the 1980's The FDA got slammed by AIDS advocacy groups who felt that the approval process for potentially life saving drugs was too long. The FDA responded in recent years by putting new policies in place that would speed this process up. The FDA has gone even further by offering incentives to drug companies to develop new drugs faster.

There was also the controversial Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) of 1992 which helped bolster the FDA budget by collecting fees from industry user fees.

The problem with natural cures is that since they are natural, they can't be patented. There is no big profit to be made off of something that can be copied distributed by everyone and their brother so no one can afford to pay these tremendous fees to the FDA to get them approved.

And with no FDA approval, they can't be prescribed by an MD. Very interesting how it all works.

There are also reported incentives given to panelists on the FDA from Drug companies. For example back in 2005, It was reported in the Associated Press that a study was done by Toward the end of the 1980's The FDA got slammed by AIDS advocacy groups who felt that the approval process for potentially life saving drugs was too long. The FDA responded in recent years by putting new policies in place that would speed this process up. The FDA has gone even further by offering incentives to drug companies to develop new drugs faster.

There have also been reports of incentives given to advisory panelists on the FDA by drug companies. For example, back in 2005, a study that was done by the Center For Science in the Public Interest revealed that 10 out of 32 FDA panelists who voted on whether or not to keep some controversial pain killers including Vioxx on the market received incentives from their manufacturers including consulting fees and research support. The 10 panelists were reported to have voted 9-1 in favor of keeping the drug Vioxx on the market and 10-0 in favor of the other drugs. Vioxx was pulled off the market a short time later by the manufacturer to to the report of heart problems of some patients. Without these 10 votes in favor of keeping the drug, they would all been pulled off the market.

A study in USA Today by Dennis Cauchon reported that “More than half of the experts hired to advise the government on the safety and effectiveness of medicine have financial relationships with the pharmaceutical companies that will be helped or hurt by their decisions."

The report goes on to say: "Federal law generally prohibits the FDA from using experts with financial conflicts of interest, but the FDA has waived the restriction more than 800 times since 1998."

Wow 8oo times. Makes you wonder.

I think the message is very clear here . . .

Money Talks.

Actually, natural plant-based cures got kicked to the curb in the early part of the 20th century when pharmaceutical companies gained considerable influence over medical schools with generous funding.

The health-care industry is one of the largest industries in the world and it only grows exponentially in profits as the population continues to grow and the baby-boom generation gets older.

There is simply not enough profit in natural cures for them to get the same consideration by government as a the gigantic pharmaceutical health care industry.

It is also important to note that there is no real profit in you getting healthy or staying that way.

If you are interested in learning more about these natural cures, you are invited to check out the following website. http://www.morenaturalcuresonline.com In addition to getting more vital information you can learn how to stay cold free all year round the natural way for free.

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