The GOLDEN RULE

“This post titled “Breaking News: Big Scientific Free Speech Win!” on ‘Alliance for Natural Health‘ was published in May this year. It is relevant to copy it here because of a few things.

POM pomegranate juice is currently a significant personal hope for a natural reduction in arterial clogging, or at least a factor against worsening. There are a few other natural products and dietary methods also being implemented. I hope, after another 3 months, to report  exact developments, so I will say no more at the moment.

The FDA is notorious for approving pharma products that are already known to be dangerous and they dare to criticise a product/manufacturer for promoting a known healthy food with absolutely zero risks.

The FDA is similarly known for its active bias against natural products and is clearly linked to the pharmaceutical industry.

Here, some justice was being seen to be possible and is warmly welcomed.

“In a 335-page ruling handed down today, an Administrative Law Judge with oversight of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has upheld the right of pomegranate juice manufacturer POM Wonderful to tell consumers about the health benefits of its juice.

Since 1996, POM has invested over $35 million to do scientific research on their pomegranate products at 44 top universities and scientific centers around the globe. Over 70 of their studies have been published in significant peer-reviewed journals, validating the health benefits of the pomegranate and pomegranate juice.”

What makes this ruling significant is the fact that the judge said, “The greater weight of the persuasive expert testimony in this case leads to the conclusion that where the product is absolutely safe, like POM Products, and where the claim or advertisement does not suggest that the product be used as a substitute for conventional medical care or treatment, then it is appropriate to favor disclosure.” While we are still studying the ruling, it seems to indicate that other safe products may also be allowed to disclose scientifically validated studies about their health benefits.

The ruling also implies that Roll Global, POM Wonderful’s parent company, will not need to get FDA approval before making health claims about its food products, nor will it have to conduct the kind of double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled studies that are required of the pharmaceutical industry, and which the FTC was illegally insisting on.

Read this article here.

However, the publicity from this was not all good as the POM claims were not completely ratified by the legal process and adverse media gave what could be construed as a biassed coverage. There are still ongoing legal activities presumably funded by the giant pharma industry but nothing that takes away from the real health benefits, only attacking the advertising from technical and academic points of view.

The manufacturer had this to say:

May 29, 2012

Some of our readers wondered about contradictory major media headlines. The facts of the case follow.

Last week we reported on the court decision in favor of pomegranate maker POM Wonderful, allowing the company to tell consumers about the health benefits of its juice.

Pat writes: “Moments after reading this article claiming the ‘win’ I saw the Yahoo headline below.”

The headline reads: “Pomegranate juice claims deceptive, US rules.”

We saw that too. The New York Times and many others are also reporting the POM Wonderful decision as a loss for POM, but this is a case where the media are completely misrepresenting the story. This is either gross media bias or simple ignorance; we can’t really say which. What we can say is that it is a disgrace to report without carefully checking facts or providing context.

The judge in the case issued a 335-page decision, so there was a lot in it. He found that product claims don’t need double-blind Random Controlled Trials (RCTs) to support them, and that claims don’t need to be FDA-approved. This is hugely important win and the heart of the case.

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