Recalled, drug-tainted dietary supplements still available for purchase years later

Dietary supplements continue to contain illegal drugs even after recalls

Reuters Top News
Doctors are urging the FDA to be more proactive in regulating supplement manufacturers that fail to follow the agency’s own guidelines.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) bans the use of class I drugs in dietary supplements when products have the reasonable possibility of causing serious adverse health consequences or death. Recently, the FDA has used class I drug recalls in an effort to remove dietary supplements adulterated with pharmaceutical ingredients from US markets.

A recent study found this ruling is largely ignored by drug manufacturers ; many dietary supplements that have been recalled can still be purchased years later, and they often contain the same banned ingredients that led to their recall in the first place…

Sources and more information:
  • Presence of Banned Drugs in Dietary Supplements Following FDA Recalls, JAMA, 1917421 2014;312(16):1691-1693. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.10308.
  • Recalled, drug-tainted supplements still available for purchase, Reuters, Oct 21, 2014.
  • Dietary supplements continue to contain illegal drugs even after recalls, MNN, Oct 22, 2014.
  • FDA’s Dietary Supplement Recall Continues To Be Ignored: What Dangers Do Banned Ingredients Pose?, Medical Daily, Oct 22, 2014.

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