Miscellaneous

This is yet another tangled tale of unintended consequences. Action Alert! Full spectrum light is a more natural light, more similar to what we receive in the sun. It has numerous health benefits including less stress and anxiety, improved attitude, and in classroom settings, improved health and attendance along with increased performance and academic achievement. Natural daylight reduces anxiety, helps […]

Last week saw an inter-agency power grab. It begins with the weakening of organic standards—and could end with the term “organic” becoming practically meaningless. Action Alert! In September, the USDA announced changes to its interpretation of the “sunset” provision in the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), an incredibly important piece of legislation that Congress passed […]

Patent protection means you get to charge whatever the market will bear. In this case, it bears a 935% increase in the price tag. Xyrem is the brand name for sodium oxybate. Sodium oxybate is the sodium salt of γ-hydroxybutyric acid, or GHB—the “date rape drug.” It’s an old drug—even older than aspirin—and it’s FDA-approved […]

…and turn supplements into drugs. What is this agency thinking? Action Alert! What the FDA does about supplements is usually complicated—we think intentionally so, in order to confuse Congress and critics. Bear with us as we try to disentangle the threads. We need to get this story out now because the FDA has just opened a […]

Don’t cheer yet—they’re spending all that money to get Pepsi to develop some processed food snacks for the kids! Bloomberg reports that India’s government is seeking help from an unlikely partner to improve the diets of 107 million of its hungriest children: PepsiCo. The current government has been in power for only three months, but […]

Amazing—the little “Like” button has the power to magically turn supplements into drugs. Action Alert! You will recall how the FDA threatened cherry growers and walnut producers with jail if they opened their mouths about the curative powers of these foods. Now the FDA has issued a warning letter to the Utah nutritional supplement company […]

A new lawsuit filed by a “consumer watchdog” group says most Americans are not vitamin deficient and don’t benefit from supplements. Huh? Earlier this month we told you about international pharmaceutical company Bayer AG’s battle with the Federal Trade Commission over whether its marketing statements about its probiotic colon supplement are unsubstantiated disease claims (not […]