Note Re: SEASILVER

Marketers of Seasilver Agree to Pay $4.5 Million to Settle FTC Charges

Two California-based companies that promoted the dietary supplement Seasilver with allegedly false medical claims are banned from making false or unsubstantiated claims for any dietary supplement, food, drug, or device as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. Seasilver USA appears to have taken the government action seriously.

Dietary supplements or Nutritional Supplements are intended to supply nutrients
(usually vitamins or minerals) that are missing or not consumed in sufficient quantity in a person's diet.

DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS | CHEAP NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS

* In the United States, a dietary supplement is defined under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 as a product that meets each of the following criteria:

• It is intended to supplement the diet and bears or contains one or more of the following dietary ingredients:
  a vitamin
• a mineral
• an herb or other botanical (excluding tobacco)
• an amino acid
• a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total daily intake (e.g., enzymes or tissues from organs or glands)
• a concentrate, such as a meal replacement or energy bar, or
• a metabolite, constituent, or extract.

* It is intended for ingestion in pill, capsule, tablet, or liquid form.
* It is not represented for use as a conventional food or as the sole item of a meal or diet.
* It is labeled as a "dietary supplement".
 

The FDA regulates dietary supplements as foods, and not as drugs. The FDA does not pre-approve dietary supplements on their safety and efficacy, unlike drugs. In contrast, the FDA can only go after dietary supplement manufacturers after they have put unsafe products on the market. However, certain foods (such as infant formula and medical foods) are deemed special nutritionals because they are consumed by highly vulnerable populations and are thus regulated more strictly than the majority of dietary supplements.

The claims that a dietary supplement makes are essential to its classification. If a dietary supplement claims in any way to cure, mitigate, or treat a disease, it would be considered to be a unauthorized new drug and in violation of the applicable regulations and statutes. As the FDA states it:

No, a product sold as a dietary supplement and promoted on its label or in labeling as a treatment, prevention or cure for a specific disease or condition would be considered an unapproved-and thus illegal-drug. To maintain the product's status as a dietary supplement, the label and labeling must be consistent with the provisions in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. (Source: Wikipedia)

Before you use any dietary supplement such as SEASILVER, investigate the company's claim.