Proving even further that John McCain is hardly a Republican advocating more and more government intrusion into the private lives of citizens and restricting personal choice, he (along with Byron Dorgan) has introduced another crappy bill restricting access to dietary supplements, claiming:

All Americans should know the exact ingredients of any dietary supplement they use and the FDA must have the tools necessary to ensure the safety of dietary supplements.

This legislation would require dietary supplement manufactures to register with the FDA and fully disclose the ingredients contained in the supplement.  Surveys have found that a majority of dietary supplement users believe the FDA approves the safety of dietary supplements prior to market introduction.  However, that is not the case.  In fact, dietary supplement manufacturers’ advertised claims of safety and effectiveness are not reviewed or approved by the FDA.

The FDA has hardly proved itself capable of preventing life threatening and other gravely harmful drugs from being approved, including Vioxx and many others. MSN has  nice section on the FDA hall of shame. Now, McCain wants the FDA to take control of dietary supplements.

If the FDA can’t do its job now, relatively limited as it is, how the heck can we expect it to do any better with more on its plate?