Massachusetts Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

FDA Needs Authority Over Diet Supplements

    Massachusetts attorney Thomas M. Kiley, concentrates on legal issues regarding defective products.  Over half of all Americans use some kind of dietary supplements such as vitamin pills, diet pills, herbs, and energy drinks, according to a recent article in the New York Times.  The numbers are huge—Americans spent close to $25 billion on dietary supplements last year, according to the Nutrition Business Journal.      But a new study shows that the Federal Food and Drug Administration, (FDA), cannot guarantee these products are safe because it does not have enough authority to oversee their production. 

    This is becoming a bigger problem with more and more supplements being produced in other countries without the same safety standards as in the US.  And some of those products are proving to be unsafe.  In 2008, the FDA received 948 reports of health problems related to dietary supplements; of those there were 9 deaths, 64 life-threatening illnesses, and 234 people admitted to the hospital.   The report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says those numbers don't include everyone—the problems are underreported.  The GAO report suggests that Congress give the FDA the authority they need to oversee these dietary supplements that don't currently have approval by the FDA.