Looks Like Somebody At the FDA Has Lost All Common Sense

Here’s a reminder about how far some will go to keep us separated from the full story about our food. Thanks to CathyBurt at TimberJay.com for the alert on the FDA losing it’s mind.

  The FDA has sent a warning letter to the president and CEO of Diamond Foods stating that the  firm’s packages of shelled walnuts are “in violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act”. Why?

Because Diamond Foods dared to list some of the health benefits of walnuts on its website. Health benefits which have been scientifically researched and proven. The FDA says that the walnuts are being “promoted for conditions that cause them to be drugs because these products are intended for use in the prevention, mitigation and treatment of disease”.

In other words, if you say that a food is healthy and may help protect against heart disease, diabetes, or arthritis, your words have magically changed that food into a drug. And, guess what, that’s illegal. Now you’ve created an illegal drug and that’s a crime

Common sense alone should tell you that walnuts, cherries, pomegranates and green tea are foods, not drugs.

Even though potato chips are mostly a deep fried snack food, with no scientifically proven health benefits, the FDA has no problem with FritoLay listing on its website some of what they claim are the health benefits of potato chips. We all know that carbohydrates fried in fat and covered with salt are just not healthy to eat. Plus, you find any mention of GMO Free on the many product options they have to satisfy consumer health concerns.

This certainly seems like a FDA double standard and it is just not acceptable for a government agency to disregard its own mission of educating the public and promoting health.

The Free Speech about Science Act (HR 4913)  was a bipartisan bill introduced into the House of Representatives on March 23, 2010. This legislation would have protected basic free speech rights, ending censorship of science and enabling the natural foods and health products community to share peer-reviewed scientific findings with the public.

The bill had the potential to educate the public about the real science behind natural health. This would have enabled the public to have access to credible information that they can use to make wise dietary choices. It died. It was reintroduced. It died again.

Perhaps big food is a little spooked right now. Consumer awareness about their food is outstripping companies’ ability to obscure the full story about what we eat. As a result, markets are rapidly changing to higher nutritional value foods. Whether snacking or dining, the story is spreading and that’s how we’re going to get what we want – a clean, sustainable, healthy and delicious food supply.

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