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mindslightyesterday at 9:07 PM1 replyview on HN

The problem is that you're butting up against the highly profitable cult of ignorance. For instance if something isn't intended to actually treat a disease, then it's basically exempt from FDA regulation as it's a "supplement". Then the seller is free to imply whatever they want, regardless of efficacy.

I'm advocating something that ideally can sit in the middle of the two philosophical/regulatory regimes with more people on board - being able to buy whatever you want, but regulation aimed at preventing companies "innovating" by simply confusing the market. And while I'm sympathetic to extending the scientific-maximalist approach onto the "supplement" industry that is currently harboring copious amounts of straight up fraud, I would also say that throwing down such a gauntlet doesn't seem like a great idea at the moment!


Replies

ryandrakeyesterday at 10:34 PM

Yea don't even get me started on the "supplements" loophole. There are so many problems to solve. Making even small amount of progress towards fixing anything would be miraculous, given the economic forces wanting to make the problems even worse.