| Open Letter to FDA |

By: Shane Ellison, M.Sc.
Copyright © 2005, All Rights Reserved

An open letter to the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D.

Dear Dr. McClellan,

As commissioner of the FDA you recently banned the natural plant ephedra for human consumption. Using the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994, you have successfully leveraged your power to convince Americans that this dietary supplement presents a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury. Amazingly, you did this by paying the RAND Corporation to publish a SINGLE study showing the immediate danger of ephedra. Never mind that the report would have failed a freshman level science course for its numerous examples of "checkbook science". Still though, it did a great job of convincing medical doctors that this natural herb, which has been used successfully for over 5000 years in Asian medicine, is good for nothing but killing people.

You have not only perverted the truth, but also made an historic hypocritical attack on dietary supplements, which have killed fewer people than bee stings. Sadly, we cannot say the same for your "FDA Approved" drugs, which according to the Journal of the American Medical Associationkill approximately 300 people per day.

Your hypocrisy is derived from the fact that American's can still obtain an "APPROVED", yet inferior form of ephedra from their doctor, which is a man-made version known as ephedrine HCl. Moreover, they can also obtain it for their children via over-the-counter cough syrup, which contains another inferior form known as pseudo ephedrine! Lacking the entire spectrum of ingredients when found in their natural form, these drugs are far more dangerous than ephedra yet you have approved it for use by children!

This is ridiculous to argue about safety and efficacy. This is not about safety and efficacy, it's about money! After all, According to USA Today, over half of the experts you hire have direct financial relationships with the pharmaceutical companies who are losing BILLIONS of dollars from the sales of ephedra. Oh, I stand corrected, who WERE losing billions of dollars.

You even went as far as RAIDING numerous ephedra suppliers and stealing thousands of dollars worth of products from their shelves! You defended this unconstitutional act by stating:

"Consumers must have accurate and truthful health information so they can make informed choices, and the FDA will continue its aggressive enforcement efforts against companies that make misleading claims about their products."

Are you serious? Your cohorts among the pharmaceutical industry have been making "misleading claims" in their drug marketing ads since 1997 and you have not done a SINGLE thing to stop them! In fact, they spend 2-3 billion dollars annually to not just spread lies, but DAMN lies about their man made drugs. Your only action has been a simple letter recommending that they change their ads. You never once stole their products. And you never once filed charges for their blatant disregard for the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) Act, which clearly states that drug ads cannot be false and misleading.

Your hypocrisy is never ending. The FDA as an organization is filled with deliberate, objectively demonstrable lies and highly misleading half truths. Worse, the FDA has completely avoided whole truths with regards to ephedra. Considering that your FDA approved drugs kill about 100,000 per year I vote not to ban ephedra but rather ban the FDA. Perhaps this will become a reality as more people awaken to your hypocrisy and the corruptness of the FDA.

Shane Ellison M.Sc. www.healthmyths.net

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Shane holds a Master's degree in organic chemistry and has first-hand industry experience with drug research, design and synthesis. He understands that Americans want and deserve education rather than prescriptions. He is the author of the controversial and shocking book Health Myths Exposed. To learn more visit www.healthmyths.net. You can get his free eBook What You MUST know about Cholesterol Lowering Drugs at www.health-fx.net.