Following complaints I made to the FDA and the FDC, the myspace page and the homepage of the vendors of a dietary supplement, PolyMVA (that was being marketed as a cancer drug), were removed. I then found that the supplement was being sold on a website called “Only Nature Finest” – which was also selling supplements for heart attacks (Goji berries and CoQ10, since you ask) and hosting articles about treating AIDS with nutrition. And I quote:
If HIV-1 causes AIDS by depressing body selenium, cysteine, glutamine and tryptophan then the way to treat this disorder is obviously diets enriched in these nutrients
Yes, obviously. “The vile and exploitative scumbags [I was quite angry], they’ve not only circumvented the FDA’s action against their illegal marketing activities by switching websites - they are now also hand-in-glove with people selling food supplement pills to AIDS sufferers and Goji berries to heart attack victims”, I thought to myself. I promptly reported the website to the FDA’s special page: Reporting Unlawful Sales of Medical Products on the Internet and, I am delighted to say, the pages are no longer showing when I click any of the Only Nature’s Finest links I gave in the comments thread on this post. I hope this means they’ve been taken down by the FDA. If you see an American company advertising inappropriate medical- or pseudo-medical products for serious conditions on the internet, feel free to leave a comment here or (even better), report them to the FDA using the link I gave above. Personally, I will be scouting the internets looking for websites selling PolyMVA and reporting each and every one. I’ll keep an eye out for Only Nature’s Finest, too. And props to the FDA for taking prompt action against these dodgy websites.
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September 12, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Congrats on the result. I keep telling myself no to whinge but complain. It may seem a bit quixotic, but if we don’t try the nonsense will win; OK win by a bigger margin!
September 12, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Cheers for the encouragement. I see Ben Goldacre and the Guardian have had a win of their own – Rath has dropped a $1m legal case against them.
January 29, 2009 at 9:16 am
it is not for you to decide what cancer victims buy an ingest to try and help themselve as far i am concerned
you sound like a monkey trying to speak while chewing on diarrhea flavored bubble gum
on a more thought provoking note you bunghole(jdc325)
why are waisting time fighting possible cancer prevention and treament suppliments instead of teaching them thar dummies that you some how must be smarter than.
ABOUT THE DANGERS OF ASPERTAME ITS PROBABLY IN THINGS YOU INGEST AN IS KNOWN TO CAUSE CANCER ITS IN TONS OF STUFF WORLD WIDE YOU MORRON LIKE DIET SOFT DRINKS, CANDY, DIET EVRYTHING, ORIENTEL SNACKS,SUGAR ALTERNATIVES ETC…………………………….. COME ON GET A LIFE JDC325 AND TAKE YOUR THUMB OUT OF YOUR BUTT HOLE I THINK ITS CUTTING OF CURCILATION TO YOUR BRAIN
YOU REALLY SHOULD FIGHTING CANCER CAUSING THINGS IN OUR FOOD OR ARE YOU A CHICKEN FLAVORED NIPPLE BISCUIT
ASPERTAME IS THE BIG KILLER NOT WHAT YOU WANTED HEAR OH WELL THE FDA APPROVED IT BUTT YOU ARE TO CHICKEN SHIT TO TALK ABOUT THAT
YOU PROBABLY GOT LIP EXTENTIONS SO YOU CAN KISS THE FDA BUNGHOLE FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY
LOTS OF THINGS GET APPROVED BY THE FDA THAT HARM LOTS OF PEOPLE HOW COME YOUR NOT BLOGGING ABOUT THE LIST OF THINGS IT MUST BE MILES LONG
OH YA YOUR A COWARD I JUST REMEMBERED FAT FACE
January 29, 2009 at 9:17 am
HEY CHI CHI BOY it is not for you to decide what cancer victims buy an ingest to try and help themselve as far i am concerned
you sound like a monkey trying to speak while chewing on diarrhea flavored bubble gum
on a more thought provoking note you bunghole(jdc325)
why are waisting time fighting possible cancer prevention and treament suppliments instead of teaching them thar dummies that you some how must be smarter than.
ABOUT THE DANGERS OF ASPERTAME ITS PROBABLY IN THINGS YOU INGEST AN IS KNOWN TO CAUSE CANCER ITS IN TONS OF STUFF WORLD WIDE YOU MORRON LIKE DIET SOFT DRINKS, CANDY, DIET EVRYTHING, ORIENTEL SNACKS,SUGAR ALTERNATIVES ETC…………………………….. COME ON GET A LIFE JDC325 AND TAKE YOUR THUMB OUT OF YOUR BUTT HOLE I THINK ITS CUTTING OF CURCILATION TO YOUR BRAIN
YOU REALLY SHOULD FIGHTING CANCER CAUSING THINGS IN OUR FOOD OR ARE YOU A CHICKEN FLAVORED NIPPLE BISCUIT
ASPERTAME IS THE BIG KILLER NOT WHAT YOU WANTED HEAR OH WELL THE FDA APPROVED IT BUTT YOU ARE TO CHICKEN SHIT TO TALK ABOUT THAT
YOU PROBABLY GOT LIP EXTENTIONS SO YOU CAN KISS THE FDA BUNGHOLE FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY
LOTS OF THINGS GET APPROVED BY THE FDA THAT HARM LOTS OF PEOPLE HOW COME YOUR NOT BLOGGING ABOUT THE LIST OF THINGS IT MUST BE MILES LONG
OH YA YOUR A COWARD I JUST REMEMBERED FAT FACE
January 29, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Great job! And the trolling of your blog… classic stuff! I only hope that the world learns more about “leemers” due to the high intelligence and humanitarian world view of your troller!
January 29, 2009 at 6:42 pm
I’d like to do more, but I’m just a chicken-flavoured nipple biscuit kissing the FDA’s bung hole.
January 29, 2009 at 7:46 pm
A bit OT but the FDA has recently warned about dodgy weightloss supplements which contain undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients. One way of making them work, I suppose!
January 29, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Thanks Claire. When I read your comment, I remembered reading something about dodgy “herbal” weightloss pills containing pharmaceutical ingredients but I couldn’t for the life of me remember where I read it. It turned out it was a story I’d written about and forgotten. [The Daily Fail had a piece about "fat-busting drugs" last year - "Nearly all were found to contain sibutramine, a powerful appetite suppressant similar to amphetamines." Sibutramine is the same ingredient the FDA are warning about now.]
There were also some similar, older stories about red yeast rice being used as an alternative to statins (hint: red yeast rice contains something called lovastatin).
It seems there is a choice: you can either take natural remedies that don’t work or spiked “natural” remedies that do, but are potentially dangerous. The other choice, I guess, would be between “take pills” and “eat food, not too much, mostly plants”. I think I prefer Pollan’s take on things.
January 29, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Yes, the Way of Pollan is definitely more appealing, especially in the light of this disconcertingly long list of tainted supplements issued recently by the FDA.
June 23, 2009 at 8:59 pm
“COME ON GET A LIFE JDC325 AND TAKE YOUR THUMB OUT OF YOUR BUTT HOLE I THINK ITS CUTTING OF CURCILATION TO YOUR BRAIN”
Advice that should be taken oh so seriously……Defo an anatomy major.
You get all the fun weirdos.
June 23, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Ah, CAPS, how they expose thee.
June 23, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Your All Caps-phile commenter might be interested in the news that Andrew Wadge of the FSA is actively soliciting anecdotes about aspartame sensitivity to guide the design of a new trial.
June 24, 2009 at 5:21 pm
@Dr* T – I was having trouble deciding between anatomy amd english literature. Could be anatomy as you say, but he writes so well…
@Naomi Mc – thanks. I like that (enough that I may steal it and claim it as my own).
@dvnutrix – I saw that (possibly on the HW blog or twitter). I’m a bit surprised that they’re doing this given the previous reviews conducted into aspartame. I remember reading a long SCF report from about 2002 and Briffa complaining about a more recent review.
July 7, 2009 at 3:05 pm
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