DISEASE-PREVENTION CLAIMS AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT: "WHO WILL PROTECT US FROM OUR PROTECTORS?"

Abstract

The area of disease-prevention claims ("health claims") for food poses a broad spectrum of dilemmas that often arise in the food and drug law area and in other regulatory situations. These recurring questions include: How does an agency balance the public's right to information with the agency's desire to prevent consumer deception? Given an agency's broad mandate to protect public health, what type of consumer should it aim to protect with its limited resources? What should an agency do in the face of uncertainty? To what extent, and under what conditions, is informed choice desirable? How much of an agency's role is or should be educational? How should an agency balance consumers' need for information with the problem of information overload?