[ELI5] How governments allow snake oil “medicine” to sell on TV, light night? Some of these products are dangerous to people, like prostate crap that will do nothing and may prevent the people to survive if diagnosed too late?

Question

[ELI5] How governments allow snake oil “medicine” to sell on TV, light night? Some of these products are dangerous to people, like prostate crap that will do nothing and may prevent the people to survive if diagnosed too late?

In: 1634

Answer 1

The vagueness is part of it, but there are also some really, really dumb pieces of legislation on the books in America, including laws that you don’t need to list ingredients with “supplements” or “vitamins.”

Say, how do you define a supplement or vitamin? Why, that’s easy! The manufacturer does!

As such, you get snake oil products that don’t legally have to list anything. Like that dumb head on product that was literally just a stick of wax and the placebo effect.