Japan moved closer to ending a ban on food products from cloned animals this month as a panel of their experts concluded they are as safe to eat as those from conventionally bred livestock. In the US, the FDA has announced a new, open process for the approval of foods and drugs from genetically engineered […]
A recent report in the Wall Street Journal said that healthcare spending grew at its lowest rate in nearly a decade in 2007, yet it swallowed an ever bigger portion of our country’s gross national product, not to mention the budgets of American families. Because of a trend toward generic medications, prescription drug spending was […]
In the December 23, 2008, issue of Pulse of Health Freedom, we reported on new data from the government-funded Women’s Health Initiative. Now, two studies from the arm of the WHI Study that favors using synthetic hormone replacement therapy by prescription have been published in the January 13 issue of Neurology. The studies sought to […]
The US Dept of Health and Human Services inspector general’s report published January 12 said FDA’s screening system is “unreliable” because of researchers’ conflicts of interest. The report focused on 118 new drug applications approved by the FDA in 2007.
In December 2008, the FDA published its guidance regarding structure/function claims for dietary supplements in the form of non-binding recommendations to supplement industry manufacturers. Contrary to the oft-repeated notion that dietary supplements are unregulated, under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, the “FDA has exclusive jurisdiction over the safety, and primary jurisdiction […]
Updates published on the FDA’s website reveals more products for infants that are contaminated with melamine. A December Pulse of Health Freedom article reported on the contradictory action taken by the FDA after baby formula was found to be contaminated with melamine, a compound first synthesized in 1834. Melamine is sometimes illegally added to food […]
On December 18, a petition was filed with the FDA by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. It asks the FDA to require that diabetic medications in the thiazolidinedione class of drugs like Avandia include labeling that states a low-fat vegan diet has been shown to be as effective or more effective than medications taken […]
The governments of the US and Canada stand in sharp contrast to sixty other countries around the world, including the European Union, Russia, and China, by not requiring foods that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to be so labeled. They do so despite good evidence that GMOs could have negative health implications for humans and […]
The FDA invited comment about how to interpret Section 912, Provision 301 of the FDA Amendments Act of 2007.
Melamine was first synthesized by a German chemist in 1834, and melamine resin is used in Formica for countertops and dry erase boards as well as flame retardants. A 1958 patent described the use of melamine as a non-protein nitrogen (NPN) for cattle. Melamine is sometimes illegally added to food products in order to increase the apparent protein content. Standard tests that estimate protein levels by measuring the nitrogen content can be misled by adding nitrogen-rich compounds such as melamine.