Supplements

A detailed Summary of Supplements

The debate topic that I had to preside over was the regulation of drug and herbal supplements. Since I broke the debate into six parts - Pros & Cons of labeling, claiming and advertising, this paper will follow the same format. I am going to go over in great detail the high points of both sides debate. Then the paper will conclude with my own analysis of the case, and which group I thought stated their case more strongly. Except for the fact I will talk about all of the pros and then discuss the cons of the issue.

The debate began with Kerri stating her teams' case as to why the government should step in and place stricter regulations on the entire supplement industry. I totally agree with her in that when people buy goods, the contents inside should be fully disclosed. Unfortunately for the consumer government intervention is not even allowed when the issue deals with dietary supplements. In fact the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 made the dietary supplements untouchable by the FDA. Of course this law does not apply to medical drugs, which fall under a completely different category. The only power granted to the FDA is to pull a product from the shelf due to false labeling, but not

"A statement claims a benefit related to a classical nutrient deficiency disease and discloses the prevalence of such disease in the United States, describes the role of a nutrient or dietary ingredient intended to affect the structure or function in humans, characterizes the documented mechanism by which a nutrient or dietary ingredient acts to maintain such structure or function, or describes general well being from consumption of a nutrient or dietary ingredient."

We have all seen the phrases "rich in," "high in," on many of the products that we purchase on a daily basis. Labels like these are very common when dealing with the supplement market. How can one argue about any claiming or labeling when these two phrases are obvious examples of both?

I am now going summarize some of the high points that the con side brought to the forefront. Following the same format the cons of labeling will be first, then claiming will be discussed and advertising will be at the end.

Currently products in this category carry revised labels that inform consumers on what the fat, cholesterol, and dietary content is of each product. This strategy was implemented to help consumers choose healthier and nutritious diets. Labels of this sort place the responsibility on the consumer and hope that he/she will take the time to research the claims on their own time. All products of this nature offer consumers a toll free number to call and ask questions or address any concerns they may have. I feel that this shows the companies are going out of their way to help their customers and therefore further regulation is not needed by any government agency.

Some common words found in the essay are:
CONS Regulation, Education Act, John's Wort, Opinions Prior, Sidney Wolf, Cost FDA, Drug Administration, PROS Regulation, Pros Cons, , dietary supplements, herbal supplements, supplement market, drug herbal supplements, dietary supplement, drug herbal, supplements drugs, nutrient dietary, false labeling, nutrient dietary ingredient, dietary ingredient, dietary supplement market, cons labeling claiming, supplement market huge, fda presence,

Approximate Word count = 2844
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English