South Florida Injury Attorneys Blog
The federal government’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for overseeing the safety of consumable foods and medicines in the United States. While “supplements” occupy a sort of gray area when it comes to regulation, the FDA does still have some regulatory authority.
In a recent article by Reuters, it is reported that many supplements that are still available for sale through online outlets have, in fact, been recalled by the FDA for their links to dangerous conditions such as cancer, heart attacks, and strokes. According to the article, more than half of the supplements tainted with “bad drugs” were still available for sale. The supplements with the most often adulterated pharmaceuticals are weight loss drugs, sports enhancement drugs, and sexual enhancement drugs.
One of the authors of the study told reporters that they tested 27 supplements that had been banned by the FDA for containing some banned ingredient. The researchers purchased the supplements between eight months and four years after the FDA tested the supplements’ make-up and determined that they were unsafe.
In 18 of the 27 tested supplements, there was at least some pharmaceutical adulterant, researchers said. This means that, although the exact recipe of the supplement was condemned by the FDA, the manufacturer either tweaked the recipe or did nothing, leaving the supplement just as dangerous as it was when it was tested by the FDA.
A representative from the FDA told reporters that “dietary supplement manufacturers and distributors are legally responsible for marketing a safe product that is not adulterated, and that complies with FDA’s good manufacturing practice regulations for dietary supplements.”
Legal Liability for Supplement Manufacturers
As mentioned above, the regulatory landscape for supplement manufacturers is somewhat of a gray area. Unlike FDA-approved medications, supplement manufactures do not need to provide the results that they advertise on their labels. However, they are responsible—as the FDA representative said—to create a safe product that does not contain previously banned and unsafe ingredients.
When a supplement manufacturer knowing markets and sells a dangerous product, it may be held liable for any damages that are caused by customers who use and ingest its product. To learn more about how you may be able to recover for injuries you sustained after taking adulterated supplements, speak to a dedicated South Florida personal injury attorney today.
Are You In Need of Legal Representation?
If you or a loved one has recently used any kind of supplement or other drug that resulted in some kind of serious adverse reaction, you may be entitled to monetary damages to help compensate you for your injuries or losses. Supplement manufacturers are known for tweaking their recipes to evade FDA regulation, but they can be held liable in some instances. After all, they are required to release only safe supplements to the public for sale. The dedicated attorneys at Cecere Santana know what it takes to bring a winning case for their clients, having been in the industry for over 20 years. Call 800-753-5529 today to set up a free initial consultation with a dedicated personal injury attorney.