Interesting Links for 1-5-2011

[andrewducker]

• Herbal remedies will now have to meet safety and quality standards, and list side-effects.
  (tags: herbal law uk)
• Working memory at age 5 is a better predictor of academic achievement at age 11 than IQ tests.
  (tags: education iq learning memory intelligence psychology)
• Taxi conversation (How Northern Ireland has changed in the last thirty years)
  (tags: taxi catholic protestant sectarianism NorthernIreland)
• Werner Herzog new movie records the oldest known cave paintings, in 3D.
  (tags: 3d movies WernerHerzog history)
• Two Days With Star Wars: The Old Republic
  (tags: starwars mmorpg)
• A look at the effects of privatising mail delivery (using the Netherlands as an example)
  (tags: netherlands uk mail royalmail privatisation)
• “That pretty flat stomach” - a deeply ill person is complimented on their looks.
  (tags: health society weight)

Comments

[supergee]

I remember ephedra being cut from the list of natural herbal remedies when it turned out to work.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

That's an absolute horror story what's happened in the Netherlands after privitising the mail. I can see illegally employed immigrants being given the mail to deliver for a pittance, with all sorts of unpleasant ramifications for organised crime.

[bemused-leftist.livejournal.com]

Re herbal remedies. Who is going to pay for 'safety tests' on a plant that grows wild -- and is not patentable? You pay a large amount for approval -- then anyone can grow and sell it.

[andrewducker]

Personally, in the case of things that have some kind of general acceptance that they are useful, the government should do so.

[bemused-leftist.livejournal.com]

The herb harvesters don't make enough money to hire lobbyists, either, to get such a government service offered.

[andrewducker]

My problem is that I hear a lot of claims about what herbs can do, backed up by nothing much at all. If something is going to be sold to the general public then its claims need to be backed up by solid investigation.

[bemused-leftist.livejournal.com]

There are already limits, at least in the US, to what claims can be made by the manufacturer.

http://www.fda.gov/food/dietarysupplements/consumerinformation/ucm110417.htm

[andrewducker]

Indeed - in the US they can't claim that dietary supplements cure anything. But they can make all sorts of other claims, apparently without proof.

From that article:
Do manufacturers or distributors of dietary supplements have to tell FDA or consumers what evidence they have about their product's safety or what evidence they have to back up the claims they are making for them?

No, except for rules described above that govern "new dietary ingredients," there is no provision under any law or regulation that FDA enforces that requires a firm to disclose to FDA or consumers the information they have about the safety or purported benefits of their dietary supplement products. Likewise, there is no prohibition against them making this information available either to FDA or to their customers. It is up to each firm to set its own policy on disclosure of such information. For more information, see claims that can be made for dietary supplements

[bemused-leftist.livejournal.com]

But the claims that can be made are very limited.

For more information, see claims that can be made for dietary supplements