carrot & stick - brief notes - Brief Article - Column

Vegetarian Times, Sept, 2000

A CARROT to ConsumerLab.com for undertaking what the U.S. government does not: rigorous testing of dietary supplements. With no federal safety testing system to rely on, consumers are in the dark when it comes to deciding which brand of supplements to purchase. But this recently launched web site is out to change that. The White Plains, N.Y.-based company, which doesn't accept funding from the supplement industry, buys dietary supplements at retail prices and ships them off to academic and commercial labs to be subjected to a battery of tests. Each brand of a given supplement is analyzed to see if the label accurately reflects the amount of active ingredients found in the pills and whether or not a day's suggested dose actually delivers the same quantities used by scientists in clinical trials. So far, the site has posted results for several herbs, including ginkgo, saw palmetto and SAMe. Tests for calcium, creatine, vitamin E, St. John's Wort and echinacea are in the works. Soon choosing the right supplement will get even easier: Brands that measure up to ConsumerLab.com's standards will be able to display a seal of approval on their labels. But until then, check out the company's web site, ConsumerLab.com, to find out if your supplements make the grade.

CARROTS to researchers John Harshberger, Ph.D., of George Washington University, and Gary Ostrander, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins University, for potentially helping to save the lives of thousands of sharks. In recent decades, shark cartilage has been touted as an alternative treatment for cancer, based on the oversimplified theory that since sharks don't get cancer, they must possess cancer-fighting properties. The more scientific--but unproven--explanation is that shark cartilage inhibits the formation of new blood vessels that tumors depend on to grow. Yet at a recent meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, Harshberger and Ostrander presented a study that proves sharks do indeed get cancer. They documented 40 tumors (including tumors of the cartilage) in sharks and their close relatives, skates and rays. Though no clinical trials have conclusively proved that the cartilage therapy has any benefit, interest in the supplements has not died down. One fact is indisputable, however: An estimated 100 million sharks and rays are being killed each year for human use, whether for pills or for shark fin soup in the Far East. Isn't it time scientists concentrated on finding a less cruel cure for cancer?

A STICK to Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura for signing legislation that would allow citizens to trap and shoot gray wolves. The law would permit people to kill the animals within a one-mile zone surrounding areas where wolves had killed livestock and--even worse--would actually mandate that a bounty of $150 be paid for each wolf killed, Once plentiful throughout the Groat Lakes states, gray wolves had been reduced to a tiny population by the 1960s. But thanks to federal protection under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the species made a comeback, increasing from just 1,000 to more than 2,500 wolves in Minnesota today. Now that the creature has a firmer footing, the government is planning to remove the wolf's federal protection. Luckily for the wolf, however, the Minnesota law won't take effect until the Fish and Wildlife Service takes the animal off the endangered species list, a legal process that could take up to two years. By then, we hope Minnesotans will come to their senses and draft a new law that won't drive this majestic predator back to the brink of extinction. To find out more about the wolf's plight, check out the web site, http://midwest.fws.gov/wolf.>

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