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SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California where a nutritional firm is the focus of a global steroid scandal, opposes government regulation of dietary supplements, his office said Monday.
Makers of supplements such as vitamins, herbs and minerals do not have to prove the products are safe and effective before they can be sold.
Yet after a government ban on supplements containing ephedra starting next month and indictments against San Francisco-area nutritional lab BALCO for distributing steroids, some officials say the Food and Drug Administration should step up its regulatory role.
Schwarzenegger, who has admitted to using steroids as a bodybuilding champion, told his Arnold Fitness Weekend in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday that such oversight was unnecessary.
"I have always campaigned against the FDA getting involved in food supplements," he said in quotes confirmed by his office Monday. "I have very rarely seen the government do anything that was effective."
The FDA announced a ban on ephedra in December 2003, saying it is a stimulant that raises blood pressure and stresses the circulatory system, effects that have been linked to serious heart problems, strokes and deaths.
Some public health officials have complained that present regulations do not provide enough oversight of firms such as BALCO, which markets a zinc supplement. A federal grand jury has indicted the top two officials at BALCO on charges of distributing illegal steroids.
A government informant in the BALCO case and a man named as a possible source of the steroids are both involved in the dietary supplement business, officials say.
Under present rules, the government must show a supplement presents an "unreasonable" risk to order it off the market.
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Makers of supplements such as vitamins, herbs and minerals do not have to prove the products are safe and effective before they can be sold.
Yet after a government ban on supplements containing ephedra starting next month and indictments against San Francisco-area nutritional lab BALCO for distributing steroids, some officials say the Food and Drug Administration should step up its regulatory role.
Schwarzenegger, who has admitted to using steroids as a bodybuilding champion, told his Arnold Fitness Weekend in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday that such oversight was unnecessary.
"I have always campaigned against the FDA getting involved in food supplements," he said in quotes confirmed by his office Monday. "I have very rarely seen the government do anything that was effective."
The FDA announced a ban on ephedra in December 2003, saying it is a stimulant that raises blood pressure and stresses the circulatory system, effects that have been linked to serious heart problems, strokes and deaths.
Some public health officials have complained that present regulations do not provide enough oversight of firms such as BALCO, which markets a zinc supplement. A federal grand jury has indicted the top two officials at BALCO on charges of distributing illegal steroids.
A government informant in the BALCO case and a man named as a possible source of the steroids are both involved in the dietary supplement business, officials say.
Under present rules, the government must show a supplement presents an "unreasonable" risk to order it off the market.
link
