Friday, January 14, 2011

The Anosmia Case

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/opinion/14fri3.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=the%20anosmia%20case&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, Jan 14, 2011 at 9:17 AM
Subject: re: The Anosmia Case
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:
  The anosmia case cries out for a remedy that we've already had. Until 1994, anyone peddling a remedy for a cold had to get by the FDA. Only in that year did congress create a new classification that is neither "food" nor "drug" and therefore available to the consumer without having first shown safety and efficacy. Nutriceuticals account for billions of dollars in trade annually; most of that money is spent on products that are both harmless and useless. For the sake of the few that turn out to be dangerous, the federal government has a compelling interest in regulating them all.
Barry Levine

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