It’s funny you should blame the government for this. In the 90s people actually died from shady supplements. In response the FDA tried to expand its authority to regulating these supplements. The industry started a scaremongering ad campaign telling people that they wouldn’t be able to get Vitamin C supplements unless they wrote their congressman. Many did. Reps received more letters from their constituents on this one Bill than the entire Vietnam War [1]. In response to pressure from constituents, government reversed course.
The unelected experts in Government tried to do the right thing. It’s the people who were so easily misled that forced the end of regulation for dietary supplements.
Paraphrasing what Terry Pratchett said, the problem here isn’t that we have the wrong sort of government, it’s that we have the wrong sort of people.
Former US Rep Henry Waxman has written about his efforts to regulate supplements. It won't surprise you that certain stake holders, like US Sen Orrin Hatch (Utah), ran interference. (Mormons love their vitamins.)
Older me has come to see these slap fights as generational, a la Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions. It's a really big deal. Until it isn't. Marriage equality, cannabis legalization, banning cigarette ads, yada yada.
One of my political friends worked EIGHTEEN YEARS to pass the most modest portion of some family medical leave legislation. These reforms take tenacity, undying optimism, and no small amount of nuttiness. (Normal people choose to do more normal things.)
The same people don't trust the media and I am sure that they lose many percentage points because of scammy ads, not because they think it through, but because the scam ad feelings blend over into the media ezperience.
As for the "wrong sort of people" - iirc, most dangerous ingredients and chemicals from the 90s were diet pills, calorie free sweeteners, appetite suppressants, etc. We'd rather die than have a little dad bod.
True, but it's a somewhat false dichotomy. More like "rather die than drink unsweetened drinks." A body to die for has a little glory to it. Dying for gluttony is closer to the mark.
The unelected experts in Government tried to do the right thing. It’s the people who were so easily misled that forced the end of regulation for dietary supplements.
Paraphrasing what Terry Pratchett said, the problem here isn’t that we have the wrong sort of government, it’s that we have the wrong sort of people.
[1] - https://youtu.be/WA0wKeokWUU