Harvey Young Organic foods
Dr. James Harvey Young, emeritus history professor of Emory University, likes to write about quackery as it was and is found in the business of providing nostrums to the general public. His writing is entertaining, informative and just a little biased in favor of the Food and Drug Administration.
Before lending support to his position, one needs to step back from the issue and ask the question: Why does the public seek treatments and/or cures for their ailments outside the medical profession? First and foremost, an individuals problems are personal and real. Second, anyone who has placed themselves in the hands of the medical practitioner begins to doubt their abilities. Third, we are bombarded with information and have limited means of distinguishing between fact and fiction as it is provided by the medical profession, researchers, medical reporters, the general press and charlatans that are interested in profiting from our maladies. And fourth, educated people appear to be the most vulnerable to shams and quackery, perhaps because we believe that we know better than conventional wisdom?
What I find particularly interesting is how little has changed in these 150 or so years since "quackery and shams" became an American industry. Look at this example: In a highly respected biotechnology publication, Genetic Engineering News, saponins are touted as having, and I quote, ability to stimulate the immune system, ward off microbial and fungal infections, lower cholesterol, fight cancer, act as a spermicide, have potential as a sugar substitute, have antifatigue action, increase appetite, improve sleep, improve muscle force, improve memory, reduce articulation, reduce bone pain, reduce arteriosclerosis, improve mental, physical and sexual asthenia (loss of ability to perform) as well as favorable effects on chronic granular angina and bronchial asthma.
Where can I get such a wonder drug, you may ask? Just visit your local health food store and pick up some alfalfa or like products. Do you believe saponins can provide the solution to all these problems? Of course not, at least not in the entirety.
The basis for a SHAM always rest on an element of truth, then you are provided with something that is not quite what it was represented to be. While QUACKERY is pretending that some thing is, while it isn't. So you see saponin therapy is a sham, not quackery per se. And, the FDA should not regulate saponin marketing! If the package says it contains saponin and it doesn't, then FDA should jump in with both feet, that's quackery!
As compared to the quack, the enterprising shamster has a different set of customers to gull. The quack's customer pays the price for his ignorance. Today's shamster finds a ready market for his wares in government, foundations, universities and research organizations, and private and public investors. The promise, in seeking more information, a brighter future is in store for us, IF we will only provide the money to support further research.
Dr. Young is a champion of the Food and Drug Administration. And the FDA has attempted to regulate the areas in which Congress has written Laws calling for regulation and enforcement. Unfortunately, the Food and Drug Administration has not always played the hand as delt and has changed the rules to fit their needs. They have used obstruction as a major means of denying the public access to meaningful products. Case in point: FDA wants to remove many so called natural products from the market because they occasionally do harm to the user. At the same time they defend their position that while physician prescribed drugs kill many more people each year, this is OK because the drugs have been approved by the FDA, i.e., trust your physician and the FDA???
Maybe, just maybe, the Food and Drug is guilty of a sham or worst yet, quackery. Under the guise of improving the nations health, they regulate and take our money but the package is empty --- they don't deliver.