I get fan mail sometimes, and sometimes it’s really really great. Today, I got an email from a longtime reader who clearly knows me very well. They sent me a lovely article about how the FDA is proposing some new regulations making it more difficult for homeopathic nonsense to land into the hands of consumers. If it goes through, it’ll have a big impact on companies like Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, which I’ve actually joked about before. This could really damage the brand, if the regulation goes through in… wait, hang on.
So, this is where things got interesting. That article linked above is dated December of 2017. And my reading of the FDA’s website has updates on this proposal up until about April of this year. The FDA has posted several notices to companies warning them that they’re selling snake oil, but as far as I can tell they haven’t actually adopted these regulations yet and it’s been nearly two years since they were first proposed.
I suppose I’m frustrated by this, but society hasn’t quite adopted evidence-based-governance yet. The science may be in, but knowledge is no match for bureaucracy. We can only hope these take effect soon, for the sake of the end consumer.
In the meantime, I guess I’ll just keep this jade egg in my vagina. You never know, it could really cleanse me!
We both need some serious cleansing (from Goop)!