The article titled “Bioidentical Hoax” [May 3, City Weekly] made a few good points. However, the article stated that the Food & Drug Administration can’t verify the safety of compounded bioidentical hormones and has asked the sellers of these compounds to stop making such claims.

Is this the same FDA that approved of Fen-Phen, the weight-loss drug that was all the rage a few years ago and left a lot of people with heart disease? And is this the same FDA that approved of Vioxx, which also gave a lot of people serious health issues? And is this the same FDA that allows the advertising of the new drugs such as Humira, Cymbalta and Pradaxa that warn of “side effects, some fatal”? I ask you, what is a fatal side effect? Can we really trust FDA approval?

We must be equally careful with natural medicines: plants, herbs and the like. These can also have serious side effects. People can be allergic or have adverse reactions, and not all herbs will play will with certain medications. But to wait for FDA approval for treatments that our grandmothers have used for many, many years is ludicrous.

One final question. If the FDA advocates a substance that has been proven to kill people, shouldn’t that be a crime?

Sharry Smith
Salt Lake City