On June 10th, President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order creating the “National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council.” Obviously, the authors of this Order have never heard of the Law of Unintended Consequences...

Despite official government and mainstream-media pronouncements, and our own best hopes, the economy is not getting better.

“There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.”
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

First, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) threw Warning Letters at three companies marketing dietary-supplement drinks in sizes too large and with names too suggestive. A few days later, the FDA’s draft Guidance on this same issue was cast upon the world. Confusion now reigns as the magic words on the label seem to have lost their protective powers.

Just prior to its summer recess, the House of Representatives passed the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 (H.R.2749), which had been launched by industry nemesis Representative John Dingell (D-MI) and amended by equally repugnant Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA). This bill replaced other food “safety” bills about which this column reported previously (see “Goon Squad on the March” June 2009).

The United States, like Great Britain, is seeing its food laws come under increasing pressure to harmonize and conform to international standards.