Journal editor attacks nutraceutical industry

Mark Ridinger, editor of the scientific journal Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, a publication of the esteemed Nature group, has launched a stinging attack on the nutraceutical industry, which he refers to as the “nutraceutical-industrial [N-I] complex”. He’s effected the attack through the pages of the very journal of which he is editor – call it editorial license if you like. The good news is it likely means that our failure to stop taking our nutrients, herbs and other natural concoctions with which we have evolved over thousands of years is really starting to get on the goat of those who’d like us to submit to what they seem to profess is ‘pharmaceutical heaven’.

To read Ridinger’s full paper, click here [this paper will only remain online for a short period so you might want to drop the text into a word processor document and save it on your system for future reference].

Ridinger’s assault, as you will see, leaves no holes barred. It’s the sort of fodder that seeps into the subconscious mind of scientists and doctors who wish to remain close minded about investigating alternatives to the new-to-nature, patented pharmaceutical fodder of mainstream medicine. This sort of stuff is also fed to the media and generates more negative headlines once fuelled by pharma-funded PR companies.  Victims of Ridinger’s frenzied attack included vitamin C (said to be no more effective than placebo), glucosamine (said to be completely ineffective along with chondroitin as the molecules were too big to be absorbed by the body) and MLM companies (who were all depicted as being unscrupulous).

It is people like Ridinger who are pushing to kill off the very law, the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act of 1994, that has allowed so many Americans to benefit from natural health. Ridinger says: “The American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and other groups are challenging the DSHEA, calling for five changes to the act, which severely limits the FDA’s power over the N-I complex and puts the burden of proof of a nutraceutical’s safety on the agency.”

We hope you have the time to read Ridinger’s whole piece, but once you’ve done that, take a look at what we had to say about it at the ANH. Download our 6 page PDF document, make yourself a herbal tea, pop some vitamins and enjoy. Just remember, Ridinger is not alone. His viewpoints are seemingly identical to numerous others. They are as off-key as we’ve seen from someone who professes to be the editor of a mainstream pharmacology journal, and may or may not be a singer/songwriter as well (as you’ll see when you read our article). 

ANH full response at:

http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/_docs/ANHwebsiteDoc_283.pdf