- Thu Sep 15, 2011 1:03 pm
#17491
It's happened before with individual products, but that wasn't quite enough for "Big Pharma." They want to take away our right to affordable health and quality of life by heavily regulating supplements, which will drive up prices or force us to turn to the even higher-priced, artificial, chemical-laden prescription medication that they sell!
The fact is that supplements, with natural ingredients, are a huge source of competition to prescription medication. Medications that aim to cure or treat serious diseases must obviously be heavily researched and tested, and of course they must be available by prescription only, because misuse could kill a person. The vast majority of supplements, however, simply help your body stay healthy on a regular basis. They work on the basis of prevention, rather than cure, which is a concept Big Pharma hates, because it "robs" them of their hundreds of millions in profits. They want to make supplements only available by prescription, just like their potentially dangerous drugs. This is ridiculous, because when was the last time you saw a natural health supplement with as many risks for serious side effects as a prescription drug?
Dangerous substances should be regulated, but safe ones shouldn't be. Substances that can potentially result in addiction should be regulated, of course. Most supplements do not fall under those categories, and so should not be prescription-only items. Of course, if it is found that a company is marketing something potentially dangerous, than it could no longer be called a supplement, and would have to be re-categorized as a drug and regulated. The point is not to expose people to danger, but to give them a choice between the extortionist prices of Big Pharma and something that is a little more reasonable.
The fact is that supplements, with natural ingredients, are a huge source of competition to prescription medication. Medications that aim to cure or treat serious diseases must obviously be heavily researched and tested, and of course they must be available by prescription only, because misuse could kill a person. The vast majority of supplements, however, simply help your body stay healthy on a regular basis. They work on the basis of prevention, rather than cure, which is a concept Big Pharma hates, because it "robs" them of their hundreds of millions in profits. They want to make supplements only available by prescription, just like their potentially dangerous drugs. This is ridiculous, because when was the last time you saw a natural health supplement with as many risks for serious side effects as a prescription drug?
Dangerous substances should be regulated, but safe ones shouldn't be. Substances that can potentially result in addiction should be regulated, of course. Most supplements do not fall under those categories, and so should not be prescription-only items. Of course, if it is found that a company is marketing something potentially dangerous, than it could no longer be called a supplement, and would have to be re-categorized as a drug and regulated. The point is not to expose people to danger, but to give them a choice between the extortionist prices of Big Pharma and something that is a little more reasonable.
