> I've recently had to deal with the medical profession a lot more than in the past and I'm finding this sort of thing everywhere. OTC medicines that by current

> I've recently had to deal with the medical profession a lot more than in the past and I'm finding this sort of thing everywhere. OTC medicines that by current standards would not be made OTC This comment reflects a common, but mistaken, believe that OTC = "essentially medicine, but safe enough to not need a prescription". In most cases, nothing could be further from the truth . OTCs of course do include useful medications such as acetaminophen (eg Tylenol), ibuprofen (eg Advil), Aspirin, and so on. However, OTCs also include miscellaneous and assorted nonsense, such as the heroic quantities of vitamin C that many companies like to sell as somehow beneficial, and the assorted concoctions that fall under the banner of "natural health products". In the United States, a product can pass as an OTC "medication" if it passes under the generally regarded as safe (GRAS) exemption. This basically involves sending documents to the FDA that suggest the product should be safe in humans, without necessarily having to prove it's an effective treatment for anything. Couple that with the fact that manufacturers do lie about how well they tested the safety of their products (many are fly-by-night operations with little to lose), and you end up with the situation described in the article. You can probably blame the pharmaceutical companies for some of this confusion, as it is their wont to mix actual medications with miscellaneous nonsense in the pursuit of profit.