Of Course it’s Safe… It’s “All Natural.”
“All natural” is meaningless marketing term used by retailers and manufacturers to shroud their customers in a blanket of good feelings and comfort, making them feel confident in their non-pharmaceutical approach to health and wellness. But the truth is “all natural” does not mean safe, as we’ve pointed out many, many times. And as this article from Science Based Pharmacy points out, it’s an argument used to minimize the amount of regulatory oversight such products receive. This is a problem for a number of reasons, the least of which not being the fact that weak regulation can lead to fake and contaminated herbal supplements.
It’s well worth a read, and I encourage you to do so. Here’s an excerpt…
One of the most pervasive yet appealing health myths is the idea that natural equals safe. It’s a statement that’s repeated constantly by manufacturers of supplements and “natural” health products. It’s been the primary argument used, with considerable success, to give these products completely different regulatory structures than exist for drug products. Weaker regulation of supplements and natural health products has been a boon to manufacturers, but the same can’t be said for consumer protection. It’s effectively a buyer-beware marketplace in most parts of the world…
