Dietary Supplements: Caveat Emptor Redux

Bravender expresses insights about the importance of letting the buyer be ware at least for dietary supplements. The dangers of patent medicines in the late 19th century were well documented, and later reforms led to entirely new government regulations that were designed to end the old concept of caveat emptor or let the buyer beware. One of the most important of these regulatory agencies was an early version of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), created by the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. More than 100 years later, with extensive FDA safety hurdles in place for bringing new medications to market, it would be reasonable to think that the risky days of patent medicine were long behind humanity.