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6 Ind. Health L. Rev. 203 (2009)
Slaying the Hydra: The History of Quack Medicine, the Obesity Epidemic and the FDA's Battle to Regulate Dietary Supplements Marketed as Weight Loss Aids

handle is hein.journals/inhealr6 and id is 239 raw text is: SLAYING THE HYDRA: THE HISTORY OF QUACK MEDICINE, THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC AND THE FDA'S BATTLE TO REGULATE DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS MARKETED AS WEIGHT LOSS AIDS Katharine A. Van Tassel* I. IN TRODU CTION ............................................................................... 204 II. THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC AND THE STATUS OF BEING OVERWEIGHT AS A SIGNIFICANT, INDEPENDENT RISK FACTOR FOR CHRONIC D ISEA SE .......................................................................................... 208 A. Being Overweight as a Significant Risk Factor for Type II Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer ....................... 209 1. Type I D iabetes ................................................................. 209 2. P re-D iabetes ...................................................................... 2 11 3. Cardiovascular D isease ..................................................... 211 4. C ancer ............................................................................... 2 12 III. THE GROWTH OF THE WEIGHT LOSS SUPPLEMENT INDUSTRY ..... 213 IV. A HISTORY OF FDA REGULATION OF DECEPTIVE AND UNSAFE PRODUCTS: THE TRANSITION FROM POST-MARKET POLICING TO PRE-M ARKET PREVENTION ............................................................215 A. The Rise of the Quack Remedy ................................................. 218 B. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906: A Victory for Predatory Com m ercial Interests ............................................................... 220 1. Sham Weight Loss Supplements Under the 1906 Act ........ 222 a. M arm ola I ................................................................... 222 C. The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938: The Public Health Costs of the Post-Market Policing of Deceptive and Unsafe P rod ucts ................................................................................... 22 3 1. Safety and Efficacy under the FDCA of 1938 .................... 224 2. Misrepresentations under the FDCA of 1938 .................... 225 3. Sham Weight Loss Supplements under the FDCA of 19 3 8 ............................................................................... 22 6 a. M arm ola I .................................................................. 227 * Professor of Law, Western New England College School of Law. B.S.N., Case West- ern Reserve University; J.D., Case Western Reserve University School of Law; M.P.H., Harvard School of Public Health. This Article was prepared while visiting as a Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Author contact information: Western New England College School of Law, 1215 Wilbraham Rd., Springfield, MA 01108. Phone: 413-782-1428. Email: kvantassel@law.wnec.edu. I would like to thank Professor Anne Schiff of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Dean Jim Chen of the University of Louisville, Louis D. Bran- deis School of Law for their thoughtful comments on this Article.

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