Let the FDA Perform Its Job

* The FDA is planning to restrict health claims of nutritional supplements such as we find in health food stores and pharmacies. Currently, a vitamin or food supplement can (and frequently does) make healing claims that have absolutely no scientific evidence to support them. Remarkably, the FDA has been able to do nothing to stop this. Why? Because our congressman, Elton Gallegly, authored and pushed successfully a bill to prohibit the FDA from doing the job it should do. He authored a bill that prohibited the FDA from taking stronger steps to protect the public for a one-year period. Now the Gallegly Health Freedom Act of 1993 wants to tie the hands of the FDA permanently by renewing that legislation.

In my discussions with Mr. Gallegly, he seems to see no problem in waiting to correct mislabeling on potentially harmful products until after a problem is discovered. Isn’t that a bit late? It was for my wife, who is seriously injured from badly made L-tryptophan and for 40 people who died because of this toxic product that the FDA never looked at.

When a congressional hearing was held on the L-tryptophan problem, Mr. Gallegly put into the record a clear call for stronger FDA regulation to prevent health disasters. Now he is reversing his position and proposing that the FDA be prohibited from doing a better job of protecting the public.

If his legislation passes again, caveat emptor takes on the new meaning of “Let the buyer beware for his health,” and he aids unscrupulous makers of unneeded or dangerous products in the name of the free enterprise system.

ROBERT W. DINGMAN

Westlake Village