yes. yes, I do.

(OTOH, the guy in those “Airborne” ads makes me physically ill. There’s someone who needs to be “specially rendered” to Gitmo, where I can’t see his bloated pseudo-hipster face.)

On a side note, re: the movie reference, does anyone else think Susan Sarandon’s still really hot?

Anyway…

The thing is, you can’t patent a naturally occuring substance. Therefore, there’s only so much money that any one producer can make off of it. So, there’s no real financial incentive to pour gobs of money into researching it’s effectiveness. Does that automatically mean it isn’t effective? No. But, does that mean it is? No. Are there some useless “supplements” on the market? Obviously.

BUT, if FDA approval was required for the over the counter sale of “supplements”, many of these products wouldn’t be on the market. Not because they couldn’t get approved, but because nobody’s gonna want to shell out the money for the studies, if once it’s approved, anybody else can start producing and selling it.

So, in the absence of large scale studies to prove it’s effectiveness, how do we know if the stuff works? Mostly based on anecdotal accounts. Your friend/sister/coworker uses it and swers that it lessens the severity/duration of their cold. So, you try it, and sure enough, your cold is gone in half the usual time. Well, then, heck, I guess it works. It’s not going to hurt you, so all you’ve really got to lose is a couple of bucks if it doesn’t work.

And, as far as people putting more trust into something that’s not been scientifically tested, I just don’t see it. Sure there are some new age-ey types out there who insist on only using “natural” cures, but they’re the exception, not the rule. If someone buys some supplement like Airborne, and it doesn’t do anything, most people aren’t gonna waste their money buying it again and again.

On the other hand, I can’t even begin to tell you how many people are taking pharmaceuticals that have been “proven effective”, but they come in the pharmacy whining about how they don’t even think it’s really doing anything for them, then they shell out for month after month, cause their doctor or their TV tells them it works. There’s definitely an element of buyer beware involved. If you don’t want to throw you’re money away on stuff that doesn’t work, you might have to do a little research, and then use your head. If you’ve been on Paxil for 6 months (for example), but you’re still depressed, maybe you should think about that.

“Not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any didsease” is not something that you can just slap on your package to avoid FDA oversight. It’s actually something that the FDA makes you put on there so that consumers know that this isn’t a drug. They make them put it on there to protect you, the consumer.

Actually, big pharma is notorious for planting these kind of stories, in an attempt to turn consumers off of products where they don’t stand to make any money. The line “Consumer groups paint the pharma giants as shameless profiteers. ‘We’re losing the battle for consumer trust,’ a top Bayer executive confessed” tells me all I need to know about which way this article is slanted.

Personally, I think the whole “created by a school teacher” thing is kind of cheesy, and not really a selling point. But I do buy and use Airborne, because it does seem to help keep me from getting sick. If it didn’t, I wouldn’t buy it, no matter who created it.

Plus, a Natural substance is not a Drug, and vice versa. Vioxx is a drug. It can olny be sold as a drug. And the FDA does step in when a “supplement” is found to contain something potentially dangerous. Remember Metabolife?

Anways, I would recommend consumers always try to err on the side of caution. Don’t put ANYTHING into your body that you don’t need to, or if you can’t be reasonably sure of what it’s effects and risks are.

Interestingly, I saw a program a while ago (Frontline, maybe?) about all these alternative, herbal, dietary supplement products, and one of the main supporters of the legislation allowing these things to be sold without proof of efficacy was none other than that old hippie, Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch.

BTW, whose to say that Big Pharma doesn’t already have a piece of the “supplement” pie? It’d be pretty easy to either buy shares in or set up a shell company to sell herbal remedies etc.