Forced Limitation of Natural Supplements in the U.S.?

As I'm a part of several herb networks, I get an abundance of e-mails on a regular basis, outlining everything from drying and packaging to governmental issues. This morning, someone posted a link to a scary article that stems from NaturalNews.com:

FDA Running Extortion Racket: Natural Supplement Companies Threatened with Arrest if They Don't Pay Up

Now, I always take these kinds of articles with a grain of salt; there are extremists in every industry -- though I will say when it comes to drugs and natural remedies, there are plenty at both ends of the spectrum -- and today especially, claims of governmental conspiracy no matter where you turn. But what I have continuously found interesting since my heightened awareness in this area (which basically began around the time I had the brainstorm to start this business) is that there are little reports here and there that are starting to show a much bigger, much scarier picture as to the state of things today.

Even though there is years and years of research on natural supplements in Europe, it is all but disregarded because those trials weren't run through our FDA's guidelines. And since natural supplements are typically not patentable, there is little interest in the U.S. to run large-scale trials on these supplements because of the development costs to gain FDA approval. So instead, there has been a persistent campaign against them, and the mainstream media has been brainwashed to in turn brainwash us into believing what's chosen to be told, skewing the facts as are convenient to "convince" us that they are simply midwivery, superstitions, and useless.

I can quote you tons of different examples of this, and spend an inordinate amount of time telling you about the misinformation that's been put out there to "disprove" effectiveness of everything from stevia as a sweetener to St. John's wort as a mild to moderate anti-depressant and kava as a calmative, but all I'm going to tell you right now is what I've told my children from the time they could speak: Keep your eyes open. Keep your brain open, and question, question, question everything! If you see an excerpt from a clinical trial, the Internet is a great tool to allow you to research to find the full report, which many times looks very different from the way it's been summarized. Also, the media always seems happy to report negative side effects from herbs and other naturals, but articles on the negative effects of lab-manufactured pharmaceuticals are few and far between -- even though there are many, many more than the other (look at how much it took for the problems from PhenPhen to reach the public eye)!

These are bizarre and subversive times. We have a lot of panic going on at many levels, which has borne a lot of conspiracy theories. However, resistance to holistic, preventative, dietary, and natural methods of health care is a reality, and it is up to us to be properly educated... without simply believing what's fed to us.

So is this real? I don't know, but I find it interesting that it's already been spread all over the place. I will definitely keep my eyes open to see how/if this progresses, or simply gets snuffed out!