The FDA's Charter is Limited

The Food and Drug Agency is a regulatory body of the U.S. government charged with, you would think, safeguarding the health of the American public. How then, do you explain the fact that the American food supply is laced with pernicious ingredients like partially hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup?

The answer, as it turns out, is that the FDA is not allowed to regulate those ingredients.

In his excellent lecture, Sugar: The Bitter Truth, Dr. Lustig reads from the FDA charter, and points out that the FDA has a mandate to regulate acute poisons (those that cause immediate harm), but not chronic poisons (those that cause long term harm), even when the FDA knows for a fact that the substances do in fact, produce chronic obesity and disease.

In short, the FDA has no mandate to safeguard your long-term health. The FDA is only concerned with cases of acute food poisoning--not chronic, long-term damage.

In short:

• The FDA's charter does not permit them to regulate substances that cause long-term harm.
• They are only allowed to regulate substances that cause immediate, acute injury.

Their Charter is Intentionally Limited

In other words, according to the FDA charter, the FDA can do nothing at all. Who controls that charter? American government! And who controls American government? Corporate money!

The FDA is charter is determined by our legislators. But they, in turn, are pretty much at the whim of corporate lobbyists, because they need that money to compete in American elections.

So, until the principle of Separation of Corporation and State is firmly established in American goverment, the American public is at risk.

When they say "it is a matter of personal responsibility", they are right--because they made it so, in order to protect their profits. In short, it's up to you--because what you don't know will kill you.

Resources

Lecture:

• Sugar: The Bitter Truth, Dr. Lustig
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

Articles:

• What's Wrong with Partially Hydrogenated Oils?
  http://treelight.com/health/nutrition/PartiallyHydrogenatedOils.html

• What's Wrong with High Fructose Corn Syrup?
  http://treelight.com/health/nutrition/HFCS.html

• What's Wrong with American Foods?
  http://treelight.com/health/nutrition/AmericanFoods.html

• What's Wrong with American Corporations?
  http://www.treelight.com/health/society/Corporations.html