Health at Gunpoint: The FDA’s Silent War Against Health Freedom
By James J. Gormley
What forces and interests direct the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and why is this out-of-control law enforcement agency working so hard to take dietary supplements out of our hands?
These are the central questions explored in Health at Gunpoint: The FDA’s Silent War Against Health Freedom, what I hope you will consider to be a groundbreaking book that brings into clear focus the silent war now being waged by the FDA against all of us: American consumers.
The FDA was established in 1906 to protect the U.S. public from misbranded and adulterated foods, drinks and drugs. While the original intent may have been honorable, over the years the execution of this mission has become tainted by lobbyists and money.
In Health at Gunpoint, I present a history of both the natural foods movement and of this over-reaching Federal agency and examine how the agency has changed over the years. I then look at the FDA’s most controversial decisions and the troubling reasons behind them.
Why did the FDA try to shut down the supplements industry by getting most supplements classified as drugs? Why did the FDA drag its feet on folic acid fortification while thousands of babies were born with devastating birth defects? Why did the FDA try to get life stages (such as pregancy and aging) and normal discomforts (such as headaches) classified as diseases?
Why are irradiated and genetically-altered food not labeled as such? Why does the FDA favor synthetic additives and dangerous drugs over natural ingredients and dietary supplements? Why did the FDA propose a guidance that would cripple the health food industry as we know it today?
Health at Gunpoint not only shines a light on how and why health foods and dietary supplements have been attacked since the early 1900s, but it also provides an international context for how, we as Americans, can view the future of dietary supplements and natural foods as part of enlightened approaches to optimal health.
In many European countries, nutritional supplements are now available by prescription only. If you don’t think that harmonization-friendly, anti-consumer, regulations can be put in place here, you may be in for a rude awakening.
Health at Gunpoint shows ways that our government agencies can work with Americans and not stand in the way of their full access to (and information about) health and health food products.
