GlaxsoSmithKline Petitions FDA for Tighter Dietary Supplement Stds

If you don't mind involuntary discharges into your underwear, you may not mind the fat-blocking supplement, Alli, the first FDA-approved weight loss formulation in history. Manufacturer, GSK warns that soiling is one of the unpleasant side-effects of this product if you exceed 15 grams of fat per day while taking this product. Remember potato chips with a special fat blocking feature? They didn't last long on the market, did they?

In its latest financial report GSK indicates that it fell a million short in its sales in its first year of sales with Alli. Don't imagine users liked the messy side-effect.

So, to solidify its tenuous position, GSK has petitioned the FDA to place stringent testing requirement on all dietary supplements to prove safety and effectiveness.

Products like EasySlimRX, a weight loss pill with virtually no side-effects might be pulled from the market in order to undergo years of laboratory testing.

Now, certainly, we want to make sure anything we put in our bodies is safe to consume. Extensive research has gone into each ingredient to make sure that it is safe to use. No claims can be made by a dietary supplement on effectiveness scientifically, and we are very careful not to make such claims.

However, there is heuristic evidence from satisfied customers that products such as EasySlimRX, with its combination of appetite suppressants that have been used for human consumption for hundreds or thousand of years for the purpose of weight loss, are beneficial for many of the people taking these products.

Over-regulating dietary supplements will unnecessarily limit the choice the public has on the products it chooses to use for weight loss. It will virtually place a monopoly on the field with Alli as the only contender. People who would otherwise choose not to put up with the diarrhea sometimes caused by this product will have little choice if they wish to use a dietary supplement. One can imaging that with a monopoly prices will soar for any product that manages to get through the long and involved FDA approval process.

You can send your comment to the FDA RE this proposed regulation change to:
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=SubmitComment&o=0900006480511d9b
Liz Nichols