Why does the food and drug administration not allow certain unorthodox or unproven treatments to be used?

Question

If, for example, injections of mistletoe extract has shown to halt certain cancers in testing in other countries.....why not allow this as an alternative particularly if the patient sees that other forms of treatment are not working? It is the person suffering from the disease that is taking the chance so why does the FDA have to interfere? Furthermore, why are trials not being done or being done fast enough to see if any of these experimental methods may or may not work? Why do so many people have to die when so much money is donated to cancer research per year? Where is all this money going to when it seems nothing new is being discovered?

Answer 1

Lawsuits...Insurance Companies...

Endless reruns on T.V...

It's all connected somehow, and when I figure it all out...

You and I are gonna go to Vegas and do a little "experimentation of our own," if you will, and I know you won't...(smiles)

Answer 2

This may help you.Im reading a book Dr Brian O` Leary

Christopher Bird

Jeane Manning

Barry Lynes and others

Called Suppressed Inventions and other Discoveries

The ISBN No 0-9583334-7-5

You and others will find the book very interesting.

Answer 3

Because the FDA is run by the US government, who are in the financial stranglehold of the big pharmaceutical companies.

We're having a similar fight in the UK - on the grounds of the uselessness of animal experiments as well as on behalf of patients who want to use their own intelligence to manage their own condition.

Answer 4

let's suppose i have a pill that contains poison.

maybe not a lot, just a little.

as long as you don't take too much, you'll be okay.

then i put articles in papers in other countries, maybe i pay to put them there.

then i offer to sell you the stuff.

since all you can tell is what i've put in those other papers, why would you not buy my pills.

i mean, you are desperate, and my pills are the only thing that will save you.

as for trials, pharmaceutical companies pay for them.

let's suppose salt water will cure something.

how much to you think a company will pay to test whether that's true?

i mean, there's no profit, you're just gonna get some water at the beach.

in fact, next time you have an infection, maybe in your hand.

try running hot water over it 3-4 times a day, for 5-10 mines each time.

(don't burn yourself, not that hot.)

you'll find it heals fairly quickly.

but who's going to pay to test that?

the water company?

i don't think so.

a pharmaceutical company?

no.  they want to sell you some ointment or other.

SO, why doesn't the government do these studies?

they're expensive.

and there's a reasonably good chance that these "experimental" remedies won't work.

and when the government does spend all that money, and get no results, then you'll be complaining about all the money they wasted.

ya just can't win for losing.

surely things do move slowly.

if you're young, read up on thalidomide.

the government messed up and ruined thousands of peoples lives permanently.

Answer 5

They are trying to prevent harm from untested drugs or treatments.  They also are trying to limit treatment in a scientific way to things that are proven to work.  Otherwise you get all sorts of people trying to sell garbage.  They still do it, they just can't say it cures cancer for example.