Tag: Food and Drug Administration

FDA warns companies selling illegal hangover remedies

The FDA recently warned seven companies not to claim that their dietary supplements can prevent, treat, or cure a hangover, because only FDA-approved drugs can make such claims. The agency also warned that NAC, a popular supplement ingredient, cannot legally be used in dietary supplements.

/ September 10, 2020

FDA Decision on Oleandra

FDA rejects the application for oleandrin as a new dietary ingredient, but flaws in the regulations remain.

/ September 9, 2020

Trump administration announces some COVID-19 tests can skip FDA review, providing new opportunities for dubious lab tests

The Trump administration unexpectedly announced that the FDA will no longer regulate some lab tests, including those for COVID-19. In addition to potentially allowing unreliable COVID tests on the market, the decision creates an opening for more bogus CAM tests.

/ August 27, 2020

Does convalescent plasma work against COVID-19? Who knows?

Last night, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19, even though there are no randomized clinical trials demonstrating efficacy and safety. Does this plasma work? Who knows? But that didn't stop the FDA from issuing the EUA, almost certainly as a result of intense political pressure from the Trump Administration.

/ August 24, 2020

Consumer groups urge feds to act against Mercola and his false COVID-19 claims

Consumer rights organizations urge the FDA and FTC to take action against Joseph Mercola and his businesses over their false, misleading, and dangerous claims that their products will prevent, treat or cure COVID-19.

/ August 13, 2020

FTC settles false advertising suit against low-level light therapy marketer with $22 million judgment

Per a settlement with the FTC, the marketers of Willow Curve, a low-level light therapy device costing hundreds of dollars, will have to stop making deceptive claims that the device treats chronic, severe pain and associated inflammation. Any health claims made for the device must be supported by "competent and reliable scientific evidence".

/ July 2, 2020

Homeopathy is Worthless and Not Always Harmless

More cases of homeopathic contamination remind us that it is beyond time to properly regulate this pseudoscience.

/ June 17, 2020

FDA issues new CBD safety warnings, calls for more research to guide regulation

The FDA recently warned the public about CBD health risks and urged further research. Meanwhile, special interest groups are pressing Congress and the FDA for quick action to allow CBD in dietary supplements and other consumer products.

/ April 23, 2020

Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin versus COVID-19: Grift, conspiracy theories, and another bad study by Didier Raoult

On Friday, Prof. Didier Raoult posted another study of azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine used against COVID-19. It is a single arm observational study of patients with mostly mild (or even asymptomatic) disease that is painfully uninformative with respect to the question of this treatment's effectiveness. That didn't stop America's Quack Dr. Oz and other grifters from touting Raoult's study, as well as a...

/ March 30, 2020

FDA warns public about exosome treatments

The FDA and Nebraska health authorities issued warnings after patients became seriously ill following treatment with exosomes, an unproven, potentially risky and, per the FDA, illegal product being promoted by dubious stem cell clinics.

/ December 19, 2019