Supplements and Gov. Testing

The government and AMA are always telling us that we have no way of knowing what is in supplements. Am I the only one that thinks if the government or AMA really gave a good damn about us they'd do random testing on supplements and publish the results?

It does strike me as VERY ODD that these things are allowed to be sold without testing.

The guvment would not make any money testing supplements. Drug companies would make no money testing them. There are some good name brands of supplements out there, and so I try to stick with just a few I have used for a long time. Don't think I can mention them here (?)

However the guvment will subsidize farmers to keep plowing and planting on depleted land....

The guvment would not make any money testing supplements. Drug companies would make no money testing them. There are some good name brands of supplements out there, and so I try to stick with just a few I have used for a long time. Don't think I can mention them here (?)

However the guvment will subsidize farmers to keep plowing and planting on depleted land....
SO TRUE...It's ALL about the $$. If they started testing, they would turn them into prescription drugs only so they could make $$. You wouldn't be able to buy any over the counter supplements anymore.

You all make good points.

I understand that the FDA is jockeying for position and that may be why the warnings are always coming out about problems with ingredients not listed and ingredients listed that aren't in the product but they seldom tell us which products and or manufacturers. The government has two modes of operation: 1) Put your mind in the drawer and trust us; or 2) You're on your own!

I guess I'd rather gamble on the integrity of the name brand manufacturers than the government, but when the do this "testing", I sure would appreciate it if they would tell us which manufucturers.

I am NOT talking about efficacy testing. Every time they test a natural supplement for efficacy, they deliberately do it wrong: not a high enough dose; test it on problems that it doesn't claim to cover; one scientist that conducted a Sam-E study that showed no results said, "But, we were using out-of-date product (Sam-E loses efficacy if not used by the sell-by date).
I'm just asking that they test for the ingredients in the amounts that they're listed and publish the results.

LenCarol, I'm quite sure that you are allowed to list brand names here (without the website address where they sell them).