Why is selling fake medicine legal in the USA?

Submitted ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Buttflapper@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

www.tiktok.com/t/ZTFxS8UeJ/

This user appears on my TikTok feed all the time selling some product that she claims helps with acid reflux. As someone who has acid reflux, I have done a massive amount of research, and even read research papers and research studies on the subject to aid in my treatment of the illness. It’s a pretty serious illness, and it’s definitely not easy to treat or come up with a treatment plan, which is why there are so few medicines that are actually FDA approved for it…

But this lady is out here pushing her medicine claiming it’s a miracle cure to acid reflux. There are lots of these nowadays, not only on TikTok but on Facebook as well. People pushing these alternative treatments and making such ridiculous claims, half of them probably false.

What I want to know is this. Why is this legal in the USA? Surely there should be some sort of governing body that prevents people from doing this and makes it illegal to spread this kind of misinformation?

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Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Consumer protections are very lacking in the US. Corporate profits always have priority.

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JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I remember when people were marketing horse dewormers as a cure for covid. People bought it too.

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- JovialMicrobial@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  It’s still insane to me that people were actually doing that. I know meds like ivermectin and pyrantel are used in humans but still… Horses have BIG organs, and that paste is a suspension dosed specifically to get rid of equine intestinal worms. It’s not the same as the pill you get from a pharmacy.
  
  Even if those people who ate horse dewormer felt no ill effects I bet there’s some organ damage in there. I’d hazard a guess that human livers and kidneys don’t like high doses of that stuff.
  
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  - match@pawb.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    but imagine all the brain worms they accidentally killed
    
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Carrolade@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
The internet creates a bit of a whack-a-mole problem with this one. Reminds me of certain bracelets and other consumer products sold as emitting some sort of “negative ion energy” for health benefits. Testing found they had Thorium, and were significantly radioactive.

If I recall correctly the Dept of Energy got involved with that one. Since the products came from overseas, though, there’s only so much that can be done.

Yeah, here we go: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34769689/

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- thesohoriots@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  And, on whack-a-mole, when one vape import gets banned, another company starts right up doing a very marginally different chemical mixture and ships it out. They can say “well you banned X, but technically not X” and the whole process starts over.
  
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  - almar_quigley@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    That’s an issue of not letting oversight agencies have enough teeth. Not a “welp we’ll just never figure this one out I guess” type of situation. We’re not special and other countries have solved many of these problems.
    
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deegeese@sopuli.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I cannot believe it’s legal to sell fake homeopathic ‘medicine’ in drug stores next to actual medicine.

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- AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Not that I looked up what it was meant to be, but from the name I assumed it was a probiotic. Very different from homeopathic but about as medical
  
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HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Because increase regulation on these people would also lead to increased regulation on larger corporations.

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- Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Oh no ! Please don’t infringe on my freedoms to poison people for profit!
  
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  - Montagge@lemmy.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Laughs in red 40
    
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- edgemaster72@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  This is the real trickle down economics. Lobbying leads to lax regulation on companies leads to influencers exploiting the system for gain as well.
  
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AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Technically she didn’t make any medical claims. I think it’s legal because she could argue she didn’t make any specific medical claims, plus no government agency is going to find an individual worth their attention

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- Buttflapper@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Uhhh what? Can you explain that one to me? Because if you watch the video she claims it cures acid reflux and GERD and makes all sorts of promises about it. There’s no way to know if she’s being truthful. She could make up 96% of it.
  
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TheLameSauce@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
It’s basically a requirement in the US to file a lawsuit to get anything done with regards to businesses doing shady/illegal shit. There’s just too much bullshit for the agencies responsible to go after every single offender. And corporations know it.

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Mango@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I love weed. Don’t question it.

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