Better Labeling for Diet Supplements

Re “Texas Delays Diet Supplement Rules,” Sept. 6: Why are healthy young men dying after taking ephedrine? Because the 1994 nutritional labeling act is a toothless scam on a trusting public. It allows nutritional supplement companies to police themselves, which is like hiring foxes as security patrols for the henhouses. Truth is, we know more about what goes into a potato chip than we do about supplements that promise us health, beauty, athletic prowess and longer life. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has no power to check for ingredient content, purity and possible side effects.

It’s appalling that the Bush administration has backed off from the very mildest attempt to inform the public through an FDA hotline, and the Davis administration in California seems equally inclined to do the same. We should insist on a cleanup of the entire nutritional supplement industry--and demand labeling that is accurate, informative and in the public interest.

Cynthia Lawrence

Toluca Lake