“FDA Went Too Far,” Says Judge
March 22, 2012 A court has stopped FDA’s latest attempt to censor food and supplement science.
An FDA disclaimer about green tea and the risk of cancer is so strongly worded that it “effectively negates” the manufacturer’s qualified health claim (QHC) and violates the First Amendment, according to US District Court Judge Vanessa L. Bryant.
QHCs enable companies to make a health claim about a substance in relation to a disease or condition when the supporting science fails to meet the FDA’s “significant scientific agreement” standard, so long as that health claim is “qualified” in such a way as to not mislead consumers. QHCs have been permitted in the US since the 1999 landmark case of Pearson v. Shalala [3] (brought against the FDA by attorney Jonathan Emord on behalf of Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw, ANH-USA, and others.
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