Cheerios...a drug?

Here's something scary.

Everyone's heard of the cereal Cheerios, right? And if you pick up a box, you'll see some sort of label claiming that it's good for your heart and lowers cholesterol. I'm not sure if that's actually true or not, because personally, I don't eat Cheerios. I think it tastes like cardboard.

But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent General Mills, the company that makes Cheerios, a stern letter that states: "Based on claims made on your product's label, we have determined Cheerios is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug because the product is intended for use in the prevention, mitigation, and treatment of disease."

I'm not joking. The federal government, in all of its infinite wisdom, wants to classify Cheerios as a drug! So if Big Brother has his way, we might not be allowed to buy healthy cereals without a doctor's prescription. And if you buy a box of Cheerios in Holland, for instance, and try to bring it back to the US, maybe the DEA will raid your home.

Some groups, such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest, actually welcome the fact that the FDA will be investigating every minute health claim made by food manufacturers....interfering with free commerce all in the name of keeping us poor, dumb consumers safe.

Now, I'm not sure if Cheerios is the miracle food that it claims to be. All I know is that if it isn't, some private, 3rd Party watchdog group will let us know. Or consumers like you and I will do our own research. In other words, the free market will ensure that word gets around if some health claim (or any product) turns out to be bogus.

Do companies that make false claims and cheat consumers deserve to lose money or go under? Absolutely! But the government shouldn't intervene unless the companies are actively hurting us. Corporations that lie about their products will be punished by the market, because we consumers, who aren't nearly as stupid as the government thinks we are, will weed them out.

And we will weed them out far more efficiently than any bloated bureaucracy ever could.

If Cheerios is classified as a drug because it's "intended for use in the prevention, mitigation, and treatment of disease," then what's stopping the government from classifying ALL healthy foods as drugs? Apples? Whole wheat bread? Orange juice? Yes, I'm being ridiculous here, but if things keep going the way they're going, who's to say if we'll end up needing prescriptions just to go grocery shopping?

Hopefully, common sense will prevail in this case and the government will leave us the hell alone.