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FDA Hearts Cheerios
Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat
Cereal=Lipitor? The FDA says yes, the editorial board of The
Washington Times says no:
The latest verdict from the Food and Drug Administration is that Cheerios is a drug. Parents, then, must be drug pushers.
The FDA sent a warning to Cheerios maker General Mills Inc. that it is in serious violation of federal rules.
"Based on claims made on your product's label, we have determined that your Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug because the product is intended for use in the prevention, mitigation, and treatment of disease" the FDA letter said. "[Cheerios] may not be legally marketed with the above claims in the United States without an approved new drug application."
The kicker? The FDA doesn't actually contest Cheerios' cholesterol-lowering claims. This is all just bureaucratic turf defense. No one contends that General Mills is lying, or that people are being misled—well, no one except the folks at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, who exercised their usual rhetorical restraint and called Cheerios "21st-century version of snake oil." But someone at the FDA got a bee in their bonnet (maybe that bee that advertises Honey Nut Cheerios?) and now General Mills will have to spend many, many thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours to defend their right to publish a true claim on their own cereal boxes.
Jeff P|6.22.09 @ 5:49PM|#
I spent four days once weening a buddy off the "Big C." That shit ain't pretty man.
Gilbert Martin|6.22.09 @ 5:52PM|#
Quaker Oats boxes say the same thing and I'm sure other cereals
do as well.
Why are they singling out Cheerios to pick on?
|6.22.09 @ 5:54PM|#
"Based on claims made on your product's label, we have determined that your Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug because the product is intended for use in the prevention, mitigation, and treatment of disease" the FDA letter said. "[Cheerios] may not be legally marketed with the above claims in the United States without an approved new drug application."
Using this FDA's turf protecting reasoning this press release or
advertisement
Limes! Proven to be effective in the prevention and treatment of scurvy.
would require a new drug application.
Can we please remove all enforcement provisions from the FDA and
make it an organization similr to Underwriters Laboratories? Unless
what General Mills is saying is false the FDA needs to STFU!
|6.22.09 @ 6:01PM|#
Why are they singling out Cheerios to pick on?
If you had ever seen a Cheerios overdose, you wouldn't be asking
that question.
|6.22.09 @ 6:10PM|#
Why are they singling out Cheerios to pick on?
I believe that Cheerios both used a larger font and committed the
cardinal sin of including numbers with their claim (and a cite to a
small-scale research study.) They have since redesigned the box
front a copy of times in order to minimize the FDA's wrath; the
picture with the post is one of the designs that did not
prominently feature a number.
This is one case where the election apparently did make a
difference.
Tricky Prickears|6.22.09 @ 6:12PM|#
Stupid.
Pursuant to the DSHEA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
regulates dietary supplements as foods, and not as drugs. While
pharmaceutical companies are required to obtain FDA approval
proving the safety or effectiveness of their products prior to
their entry into the market, dietary supplements, like food, do not
need to be pre-approved by FDA before they can enter the
market.[5]
|6.22.09 @ 6:24PM|#
Is this country run by nothing than nut-fuck idiots? Really,
Cheerios is a drug. Do these people have absolutely any idea how
fucking stupid this sounds? Obviously, criminalization is the next
step.
"What are in here for?"
"Oh, I was moveing a pound of heroin a month, what are you in here
for?"
"Well, I was selling 32 oz. boxes of Cheerios in a school zone,
invoking the mandatory minimum of 5 years."
|6.22.09 @ 6:25PM|#
maybe that bee that advertises Honey Nut
Cheerios?
It won't be so funny when that bee and his gang are pushing drugs
on your kids, sipping nectar out of paper bags on street corners,
and listening to that gangster rap, with it's misogynistic
depiction of "honeys."
|6.22.09 @ 6:26PM|#
I have not yet seen definitive evidence that CSPI is or is not a
center.
So, on the truth of their four letters, they remain 0 for 3 with 1
yet to be determined.
|6.22.09 @ 6:32PM|#
You'd think the FDA would love Cherrios considering how many of the bureaucrat scumfucks use them as cockrings.
BakedPenguin|6.22.09 @ 6:34PM|#
Dagny beat me to the "bee pusher" joke. Damn maple sucking puck slapper.
|6.22.09 @ 6:34PM|#
TAO,
That's Troy, not Tony. If the comment is even slightly funny or
relevant or coherent, it's usually a tip-off that Tony had nothing
to do with it.
monkey on juice|6.22.09 @ 6:37PM|#
"Is this country run by nothing than nut-fuck idiots?"
You don't really want an answer to that do you?
|6.22.09 @ 6:39PM|#
BakedPenguin,
Guess I deserved the anti-Canuck slurs, what with my faux-racism
against certain winged anthropods.
The Angry Optimist|6.22.09 @ 6:48PM|#
dammit all. I thought Our Gal Tony had something antigovernment to say. Oh wells.
|6.22.09 @ 6:53PM|#
So, let me see if I understand this correctly. Attacking and possibly fining the manufacturer of a product that is actually healthy and that is making substantiated claims is a good thing.
|6.22.09 @ 6:58PM|#
Please tell me this is a midsummer day hoax.
The seasons must be weird in Canada.
|6.22.09 @ 6:59PM|#
No, no, no, it isn't hate. It's Cheerios withdraw.... and I am so pissed they let the cat out of the bag. I haven't had my Cheerios fix since yesterday. I am getting shakey and my bowel movements are getting more strenuous.
|6.22.09 @ 7:06PM|#
You watch, when they make this a schedule two drug, there are going to be a lot of unhappy, stuffy colons out there. And the thought of tens of millions of baby boomers even more full of shit sends shivers down my spine.
Jennifer|6.22.09 @ 7:08PM|#
Shouldn't someone go after the milk cabal regarding their claims that regular consumption of their products will reduce my personal chances of getting osteoporosis in my old age?
Paul|6.22.09 @ 7:09PM|#
The FDA regulates tobacco. Need we say anymore about the legitimacy of the FDA?
|6.22.09 @ 7:14PM|#
Er, here's what Cheerios actually says (now) on their web
site.
"Eating Cheerios each day, as part of a diet low in saturated fat
and cholesterol, can help lower your cholesterol, and that could
help reduce your risk of heart disease."
http://www.cheerios.com/ourcereals/cheerios/cheeriosandcholesterol.aspx
I think Cheerios is basically saying they're low in fat and high in
fiber, which (generally speaking) is supposed to be good for
lowering cholesterol. And they even included the ultimate wiggle
word -- "as part of a diet" -- meaning, really, if you just eat a
bunch of healthier foods along with your Cheerios, you'll be
healthier. Duh.
dfd|6.22.09 @ 7:20PM|#
Please tell me this is a midsummer day hoax.
The seasons must be weird in Canada.
Well, of course lots of things are weird in Canada but that's not one of
them.
|6.22.09 @ 7:26PM|#
Limes! Proven to be effective in the prevention and
treatment of scurvy.
Shouldn't someone go after the milk cabal regarding their
claims that regular consumption of their products will reduce my
personal chances of getting osteoporosis in my old age?
These are both claims that a certain product will prevent a
condition from arising. What Cheerios was doing is saying that it
can reverse an existing condition and, as much as we don't like the
Food and Drug Act, the FDA's interpretation is consistent with that
law.
The defense that the claim is true is also irrelevant. According to
the law, there is a process by which these claims are to be
confirmed or refuted, and Cheerios did not follow that process. It
would be impossible for the FDA to fulfill its statutory
responsibilities if it had to track down every claim made on a
cereal box and confirm its validity on its own initiative.
|6.22.09 @ 7:49PM|#
"Why are they singling out Cheerios to pick on?"
Maybe because General Mills didn't fork over enough to the Obama
campaign. We are becoming more like some corrupt third-world shit
hole everyday.
|6.22.09 @ 7:59PM|#
Well if the Lime Council (is there such a thing?) made such a claim publicly, it would be subject to FDA penalties. But a message saying that limes contain vitamin C which can prevent scurvy would be OK. I'm not a lawyer of course, this is just an educated layman's interpretation.
Rich|6.22.09 @ 7:59PM|#
Can't Cheerios just display the standard disclaimer: "This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease"? Seriously, this stuff is truly bizarre. And I wanna job making up serving sizes (I mean, dosages)!
False!|6.22.09 @ 8:06PM|#
Well, presumably one can also reverse scurvy by eating
limes.
I've been eating limes for years and have yet to see it reverse a
single Congressman.
|6.22.09 @ 8:08PM|#
A week's supply of Cheerios for the cost of a postage stamp! If Cheerios didn't do something pretty amazing, could General Mills afford to do this?
jtuf|6.22.09 @ 10:34PM|#
If I ever sell food, the packaging will advertise that it prevents malnutrition.
anarch|6.22.09 @ 10:42PM|#
...if used in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions; failure to follow directions presents hazards of choking, slippage, scalding, tooth decay, obesity...
|6.23.09 @ 12:28AM|#
It's for the safety and welfare of the children.
Won't someone think of the children?
strat|6.23.09 @ 2:26AM|#
Don't you start, Malto. I have it on good authority that one of your disaccharide cousins is deeply involved in the illicit drug trade.
radar|6.23.09 @ 2:57AM|#
In other news, the FDA has revealed that Cinnamon Toast Crunch is not, in fact, baked by the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bakers, as well as the fact that "Cap'n Crunch" is a fraud who actually left the service as a petty officer third class.
Pepe|6.23.09 @ 4:33AM|#
My God, doesn't the FDA have better things to worry about?
Thousands of Americans are going coo coo for coco puffs every day
and this is what they spend their time on.
Xeones|6.23.09 @ 9:00AM|#
If I ever sell food, the packaging will advertise that it
prevents malnutrition.
Better get FDA approval on that first.
Jennifer|6.23.09 @ 11:15AM|#
What Cheerios was doing is saying that it can reverse an
existing condition and, as much as we don't like the Food and Drug
Act, the FDA's interpretation is consistent with that
law.
Then they can go after the cranberry-industrial complex for its
claims that cranberry juice can reverse existing conditions like
kidney stones and urinary tract infections. For that matter, citrus
companies can tout their scurvy-prevention claims, but God forbid
they mention that citrus can reverse an already-existent case of
scurvy.
I give it five years before hunger and thirst are classified as
medical conditions, so that all food and drinks become "drugs"
instead.
|6.23.09 @ 11:25AM|#
I have dreams sometimes of cutting off all funding to the FDA,
watching them shrivel slowly, and laughing as the MSNBC night hosts
flip out, day after day, concerning my "Big Business" or "Big
Pharma" interests.
Then, when there are like five people left working for the FDA, I
sell their building (do they have a building?) to a hash
bakery.
|6.23.09 @ 12:08PM|#
This is nothing new...
"...According to the FDA, when cherry companies disseminate
this information, the cherries become unapproved drugs subject to
seizure. The FDA warns that if those involved in cherry trafficking
continue to inform consumers about these scientific studies,
criminal prosecutions will ensue.17..."
FDA
Threatens To Raid Cherry Orchards
Invisible Finger|6.23.09 @ 12:14PM|#
Before all the regulations, idiots died.
Thanks to regulation, idiots are now living longer and have now
outnumbered the non-idiots, thus ruining democracy.
|6.23.09 @ 12:18PM|#
I give it five years before hunger and thirst are classified
as medical conditions, so that all food and drinks become "drugs"
instead.
That would only work against food producers who make a claim that
their food reverses hunger. I haven't seen any ads to that
effect.
MattXIV|6.23.09 @ 12:24PM|#
By the FDA's standards, anything that claims to have any specific impact on human health is a drug. For example, if the packaging for a bran muffin suggests eating it with a cup of coffee to reduce constipation, it becomes a drug. Of course, if you make sufficiently vague claims for the impact of your product, the FDA doesn't care. In the bran muffin example, say it "promotes regularity" and it's good. This also allows a lot of obviously bullshit supplement claims to get by on pure vagueness. So, you can claim your dietary suplement "boost the immune system" with absolutely no evidence, but if you do a study examining the impact of your supplement on cold recovery times and mention the results as evidence that your supplement "boost the immune system", it becomes a drug and the FDA is on your ass. So we have a regime where supplying evidence that your product works is a legal liability. Fucking geniuses our regulators are.
Jennifer|6.23.09 @ 1:23PM|#
That would only work against food producers who make a claim
that their food reverses hunger. I haven't seen any ads to that
effect.
IHOP: Come hungry. Leave happy.
The FDA needs to regulate pancakes!
|6.23.09 @ 3:36PM|#
The only thing that the 9/11 hijackers did wrong was that they
crashed into the wrong buildings.
We are paying the salaries of the nitwits who make these moronic
pronouncements. Next they'll classify music as a drug because it
has mood altering capabilties.Sex will have to be dispensed with a
prescription as it clearly impacts health. You'll need pre-surgical
testring prior to playing a round of golf because the heat might
affect you.
YIKES, are these people wacos!
|6.23.09 @ 5:52PM|#
"""Is this country run by nothing than nut-fuck idiots? Really,
Cheerios is a drug."""
Pretty much has been as long as I can remember.
If Cheerios is a drug, expect school kids to get suspended for
bring some to school.
|6.24.09 @ 1:52PM|#
"Shouldn't someone go after the milk cabal regarding their
claims that regular consumption of their products will reduce my
personal chances of getting osteoporosis in my old age?"
Someone already has: http://www.encpress.com/MM.html
After reading that book, I switched to soy milk. No FDA stamp of
approval on the carton in front of me, but it does promise that "25
grams of soy protein per day, as part of a diet low in saturated
fat and cholesterol, may reduce your risk of heart disease."
I have to say that I love the idea of Cheerios being considered as
a drug. Seriously, what could be more dangerous to the American
public than toasted circles? What's next, regulating Cheetos?
Outlawing fruit due to the natural sugar inside?
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