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Every year there is a regulate supplements as drugs bill in congress. Every year it fails. Mainly because their is a lot of grass roots support for keeping su

Every year there is a regulate supplements as drugs bill in congress. Every year it fails. Mainly because their is a lot of grass roots support for keeping supplements legal and the industry has developed to a point where it can effectively lobby. The constatnt onslaught of anti-supplement bills almost reminds me of the RIAAs continuous lobbying onslaught of draconian copyright bills (sopa, pipa, protectip, etc). Just like too many people are using the internet for the most disturbing copyright bills to pass, there are too many people taking nutritional supplements for the pharma industry "we're all going to die" anti-supplement fud to be effective. Interestingly enough, given all the anti-supplement fud going around in articles like these, prescription drug overdoses now kill more people now than car crashes (http://www.voanews.com/content/article/171721.html http://www.voanews.com/content/article/171721.html).

dalke 14y ago
I have tried to track down information about the statement "prescription drug overdoses now kill more people now than car crashes." What I found was "In 2007, approximately 27,000 unintentional drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States" from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6101a3.htm http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6101a3.htm . I then found "According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) early projections, the number of traffic fatalities fell three percent between 2009 and 2010, from 33,808 to 32,788." http://www.nhtsa.gov/PR/NHTSA-05-11 http://www.nhtsa.gov/PR/NHTSA-05-11 . Which means about 20% more people die from car crashes than from overdoses. The most common overdose was painkillers. "Overdoses of prescription painkillers have more than tripled in the past 20 years, leading to 14,800 deaths in the United States in 2008" says http://www.cdc.gov/injury/about/focus-rx.html http://www.cdc.gov/injury/about/focus-rx.html. Which means 1/2 of the prescription drug overdoses is from pain killers. Moreover, "Almost one-third of prescription painkiller overdose deaths involve methadone. Six times as many people died of methadone overdoses in 2009 than a decade before." from http://www.cdc.gov/Features/VitalSigns/MethadoneOverdoses/index.html http://www.cdc.gov/Features/VitalSigns/MethadoneOverdoses/in... . The problem, of course, is that there are benefits to methadone, so it's not as simple as banning methadone. BTW, acetaminophen is a relatively dangerous drug. It causes "450 deaths and 56,000 emergency-room visits a year" says http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203577304574272292331942618.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020357730457427... . While reading http://www.nature.com/ajg/journal/v102/n11/full/ajg2007481a.html http://www.nature.com/ajg/journal/v102/n11/full/ajg2007481a.... the estimate is about 650. Anyway, you say "The constant onslaught of anti-supplement bills almost reminds me of the RIAAs continuous lobbying onslaught of draconian copyright bills" and I say the defense of supplements almost reminds me of the tobacco industry's defense of selling and promoting tobacco.

dalke 14y ago

I have tried to track down information about the statement "prescription drug overdoses now kill more people now than car crashes." What I found was "In 2007, approximately 27,000 unintentional drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States" from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6101a3.htm http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6101a3.htm . I then found "According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) early projections, the number of traffic fatalities fell three percent between 2009 and 2010, from 33,808 to 32,788." http://www.nhtsa.gov/PR/NHTSA-05-11 http://www.nhtsa.gov/PR/NHTSA-05-11 . Which means about 20% more people die from car crashes than from overdoses. The most common overdose was painkillers. "Overdoses of prescription painkillers have more than tripled in the past 20 years, leading to 14,800 deaths in the United States in 2008" says http://www.cdc.gov/injury/about/focus-rx.html http://www.cdc.gov/injury/about/focus-rx.html. Which means 1/2 of the prescription drug overdoses is from pain killers. Moreover, "Almost one-third of prescription painkiller overdose deaths involve methadone. Six times as many people died of methadone overdoses in 2009 than a decade before." from http://www.cdc.gov/Features/VitalSigns/MethadoneOverdoses/index.html http://www.cdc.gov/Features/VitalSigns/MethadoneOverdoses/in... . The problem, of course, is that there are benefits to methadone, so it's not as simple as banning methadone. BTW, acetaminophen is a relatively dangerous drug. It causes "450 deaths and 56,000 emergency-room visits a year" says http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203577304574272292331942618.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020357730457427... . While reading http://www.nature.com/ajg/journal/v102/n11/full/ajg2007481a.html http://www.nature.com/ajg/journal/v102/n11/full/ajg2007481a.... the estimate is about 650. Anyway, you say "The constant onslaught of anti-supplement bills almost reminds me of the RIAAs continuous lobbying onslaught of draconian copyright bills" and I say the defense of supplements almost reminds me of the tobacco industry's defense of selling and promoting tobacco.