The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has called on the FDA and FTC to gag Dr. Joseph Mercola. Action Alert!
Riding the government’s wave of censorship, CSPI wrote letters to the FDA and FTC calling for “enforcement proceedings” against Dr. Mercola. Enforcement of what? Reading the letters, it appears that CSPI objects to Dr. Mercola’s efforts to inform the public about how natural medicine can help treat and prevent COVID-19. There have been 5.5 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 170,000 deaths in the US, with no pharmaceutical treatment and no vaccine. There is good evidence that natural medicines can help, but the federal government and now apparently CSPI don’t want you to know about these treatments. This censorship needs to stop. Please sign our petition to stop government censorship of natural treatments that cannot, and will never be able to, go through the billion-dollar FDA-approval process.
CSPI has been attacking natural medicine for a long time. A few years ago, they asked the FDA to abolish structure/function claims and qualified health claims for supplements. ANH and allies were able to defeat the FDA in court to allow for qualified health claims. These claims are important, as they provide consumers with vital information about the health benefits of natural products—especially as federal law prohibits supplements from making more substantial health claims, no matter how well-supported by the science, since only FDA-approved drugs have that privilege. (An example of a structure/function claims is, “calcium builds strong bones,” or “fiber maintains bowel regularity.” An example of a qualified health claim is “Vitamin E may reduce the risk of bladder cancer.”)
The nutrition experts we trust the most also believe that CSPI has gotten it wrong on nutrition, as we’ve detailed in previous coverage. CSPI called for the retraction of a British Medical Journal article that criticized low-fat diets and described the benefits of saturated fats. In fact, the letter CSPI sent calling for retraction was signed by a number of “experts” whose work had been criticized by the BMJ article’s author, giving said “experts” an opportunity to exact revenge.
As far as Dr. Mercola is concerned, the internet censors have already been waging an all-out war on his and many other natural health sites. Earlier this year we detailed how effective this censorship had been: Google traffic to mercola.com fell 99 percent over the span of a few weeks after Google changed their search algorithm based on the determination of “quality raters.” Apparently, this censorship isn’t enough for CSPI, who now wants the federal government involved.
Dr. Mercola’s website is a vast repository of natural health information, yet the tech monopolists are blocking access to this vital information. We must support Dr. Mercola. You can follow this link to opt-in to Dr. Mercola’s newsletter.
The attack on some of the most basic natural health information is deeply concerning. As we have pointed out, doctors are being gagged by the FTC and FDA and told they cannot tell patients about natural treatments because they are not FDA approved. The regulators know perfectly well that it is impossible to pay billions to win FDA approval for an unpatentable treatment. It is bad enough that this wink and nod system ruled before COVID, but now it is quite clear that it is killing people who could have been saved with natural treatments.
Action Alert! If you haven’t already, sign our petition to protect natural medicine and reform healthcare in this country. Please send your message immediately.
