Kessler's real trump card, however, is a contaminated batch of the amino acid L-tryptophan, linked to 38 deaths and 1,500 injuries in the United States. For Kessler, L-tryptophan is the new thalidomide, the 1950s-era drug that caused hideous birth defects in Europe and led to a huge expansion of FDA power (even though the FDA's regulatory authority was strong enough at the time that thalidomide was never approved for sale in the United States).
Kessler repeatedly cites the L-tryptophan incident, despite convincing evidence that the contaminant was solely to blame. The agency now goes so far as to say that the essential amino acid itself could be the culprit. Blumberg, the Tufts nutrition professor, himself no devotee of amino acids, says the FDA position is "very hard to understand. I have not seen any evidence, none, zero, and the FDA hasn't put any forth. They've just made this speculation." Indeed, the FDA continues to allow L-tryptophan in infant formulas and hospital intravenous feeding--presumably because the ingestion of this suspected "toxin" is essential to maintaining health.
At each congressional hearing on supplements, several unfortunate victims of the L-tryptophan incident testify to the members, who cannot fail to be moved by their tragic stories (each of them linked only to the contaminated batch). As Connecticut Democrat Rosa DeLauro leans forward to nod in sympathy, as committee chairmen John Dingell and Henry Waxman warn darkly of the dangers of unregulated snake oils, as the weather vane Washington Post runs its piece on how Utah Republican Orrin Hatch, the FDA's chief opponent in the vitamin wars, is a paid-off stooge for the vitamin industry, one has to admire David Kessler's masterful performance.
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