FROM ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE on MSNBC dot com

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Standards urged for dietary supplements

Panel says tougher regulations needed to ensure safety

The Associated Press

Updated: 11:34 a.m. ET Jan. 12, 2005

 

 

WASHINGTON - With nearly one-fifth of Americans taking dietary supplements, the

Institute of Medicine on Wednesday called for tougher regulations to make sure

the products are safe and do what they claim.

 

The institute expressed concern about the quality of dietary supplements, saying

“there is little product reliability.”

 

This makes it difficult for health professionals to guide patients in use of

supplements, the report said. The panel urged that Congress take steps to

require improved quality control of supplements and to provide incentives to

study the efficacy of the products.

 

“Reliable and standardized products are needed,” Dr. Stuart Bondurant, chairman

of the committee that prepared the report, said at a briefing Wednesday.

 

In a 327-page report, the institute also urged that complimentary and

alternative medical procedures, such as herbal remedies and acupuncture, be

required to meet the same standards of effectiveness as conventional medical

treatments.

 

Dr. Stephen E. Straus, director of the government’s National Center for

Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, said requiring the same research

standards “will further the scientific investigation of this new field, increase

its legitimacy as a research area and ultimately improve public health.”

 

 

 

Unlike drugs, which must be proven safe before they can be sold, the Dietary

Supplement Health and Education Act allows sale of supplements unless the Food

and Drug Administration can prove them harmful. The law also does not require

manufacturers to report adverse reactions, as drug companies must.

 

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who has pressed for more FDA attention to supplements,

believes that manufacturers should be required to report adverse events and

continues to urge action against false or misleading claims, according to

spokeswoman Allison Dobson.

 

The Institute of Medicine report said 18.9 percent of Americans reported in 2004

that they had taken a dietary supplement in the past year. The industry was

responsible for $18.7 billion in sales in 2002.

 

A study by researchers at Harvard Medical School, also being released Wednesday,

found that about 35 percent of Americans have used some form of alternative

medicine

 

Dr. Hilary Tindle, lead author of that report, said such widespread use shows

the necessity of studying the safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of these

approaches.

 

The biggest change was an increase in use of herbal supplements over the five

years, the study said. The practice of yoga also increased.

 

Doctors should be notified

The Harvard report, published in the journal Alternative Therapies in Health and

Medicine, said use of therapies such as acupuncture, biofeedback, energy healing

and hypnosis remained essentially unchanged between 1997 and 2002, while the use

of homeopathy, high-dose vitamins, chiropractic and massage therapy declined

slightly.

 

Both the Harvard and IOM reports cited a failure of a majority of consumers

using supplements to tell their doctors.

 

“This is especially critical as more becomes known about the adverse effects

associated with individual dietary supplements as well as their interactions

with prescription drugs,” said Harvard’s Tindle.

 

The Federal Trade Commission has reported a flurry of unfounded or exaggerated

claims for supplements, the IOM report notes. It calls on Congress and federal

agencies to set standards for manufacturing quality.

 

The Institute of Medicine is a part of the National Academy of Science, an

independent organization chartered by Congress to advise the government on

scientific matters. The National Center for Complimentary and Alternative

Medicine, which requested the IOM study, is part of the National Institutes of

Health.

 

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First public chiropractic school nixed

State board calls technique 'pseudoscience'

The Associated Press

Updated: 4:21 p.m. ET Jan. 27, 2005

 

 

GAINSVILLE, Fla. - The state of Florida killed a proposal Thursday to create

what would have been the first chiropractic school at an American public

university.

 

The Board of Governors, which oversees Florida’s 11 public universities, voted

down the idea 10-3 after a bitter debate in which faculty members at Florida

State University, where the school would have been, ridiculed chiropractic

medicine as pseudoscience.

 

Board members objected that the idea was being driven by lawmakers rather than

by the faculty and the university’s trustees. Other board members questioned

whether the school was needed.

 

“I am not convinced the school fits the FSU mission,” said board member Rolland

Heiser. “I think there are more pressing needs in the state university system,

considering our limited resources.”

 

Chiropractic focuses on manipulating the spine to lessen back pain and improve

health. It has won wider acceptance over the years, as evidenced by its coverage

in most health insurance plans.

 

But in the 110 years since the chiropractic profession was created, the

established medical community has largely boycotted it, challenging its

scientific validity in courts and legislative bodies. In 1990, a federal appeals

court found that the American Medical Association had conspired to destroy the

profession.

 

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