> But I think the testing protocol is flawed. As far as I know, long term effect safety studies are only done on animal models. And the benchmark is always illn

> But I think the testing protocol is flawed. As far as I know, long term effect safety studies are only done on animal models. And the benchmark is always illness or disease, not optimal health. Nobody can ask a rat how it feels. And then there's the issue of synergistic effects. The FDA only studies substances in isolation, but there might be adverse effects that only occur if a substance reacts with another substance or process. All of this does sound rational, but without any specific reasons to be concerned it's pointless to spin stories like this. Why? Because we can say the same stuff about anything else on Earth. Singling out some foods and food components for this treatment is illogical. > if I can choose between a product that is "natural" or a product that has mystery substance X in it, I'd choose the natural one Carrageenan is not a mystery. It is to you, sure, because you don't educate yourself very well, but it isn't a mystery to the rest of us. > I'd also prefer it that product B is labelled in a way that I can tell it contains mystery substance X I'd like it if 'dietary supplements' were held to the same standards as the actual medicines they're advertised as being able to replace, but that hasn't happened. And you're wrong: Foods have ingredients lists. Carrageenan is one of the things they have to mention. Ah, but that only applies to processed foods, and not 'natural' foods, where you don't know what they contain. > I have personal experience that it makes my skin flare up, both when I ingest it and when I use it topically (shampoo for example). Really. Assuming you're not lying or mistaken, you're one of a very, very small number of people who has a bad reaction to carrageenan in those products. > I feel better when I eat Haagen Dasz "5", which has none of the funky stuff. Probably because you know it doesn't contain (what you consider to be) funky stuff. How about this: There are people who think casein, a protein naturally found in milk, is toxic to humans. How would you convince one of those people that consuming casein is not a problem, if one of them tried to talk you out of eating ice cream?