The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a long history of causing needless human suffering by restricting the availability of safe and effective natural remedies. Now they have outdone even themselves, with a burst of idiocy and totalitarianism that should lead any thinking person to question their legitimacy as a governing agency. On December 28, 2010, the FDA demanded an immediate cessation of the manufacturing and distribution of three nutritional products designed for parenteral administration: vitamin C (500 mg/ml in 50-ml vials), magnesium chloride (200 mg/ml in 50-ml multi-dose vials), and vitamin B complex 100 (in 30-ml multi-dose vials). Although all of these products have been in wide use for decades, and have long been granted "grandfather" status, the FDA has now inexplicably reclassified them as unapproved new drugs.

High-dose intravenous vitamin C has been found by many practitioners to be effective in the treatment of acute viral hepatitis, infectious mononucleosis, other viral diseases, some bacterial infections, and various allergic disorders. Case reports suggest that high-dose intravenous vitamin C can prolong life and occasionally even induce remission in cancer patients. In addition, high-dose intravenous vitamin C may accelerate recovery in patients with extensive burns.

Intravenous magnesium has been demonstrated in research studies to abort acute asthma attacks and acute migraines. There is also evidence, though conflicting, that intravenous magnesium can decrease the mortality rate in patients suffering an acute myocardial infarction. Moreover, intravenous magnesium has been used successfully by some practitioners to treat angina and congestive heart failure. While magnesium sulfate continues to be approved by the FDA for parenteral use, magnesium sulfate does not appear to be as effective as magnesium chloride, because the chloride ion promotes better retention of magnesium in the body.¹

All three of the newly banned injectable products are components of the "Myers cocktail," which has been used safely and effectively by hundreds or even thousands of practitioners for a wide range of clinical conditions. Disorders that have been observed to respond to the Myers cocktail include chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, acute asthma attacks, acute migraines, muscle spasm, seasonal allergic rhinitis, upper respiratory tract infections, and some cases of depression.^2,3

When used appropriately, all of these banned products are extremely safe, much safer than many drugs that have been approved by the FDA to treat the same conditions that respond to the banned injectable nutrients.

Many people will be harmed, and some will die, as a result of this egregious FDA ruling. And no one will benefit. That is, no one except the pharmaceutical industry, with which the FDA has been engaged in a longstanding clandestine sexual relationship.

Congress should launch an immediate investigation of this incompetent and high-handed action by the FDA, and it should strip the agency of its authority to play big brother over grandfather. The president should "pardon" the condemned vitamins and minerals. All who work at the FDA should hang their head in shame, because government agencies should serve, not injure, their constituents. And all at the FDA should pray that they and their loved ones do not develop chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, asthma, migraines, or any of the other conditions that respond so well to the treatments they have taken from us.

1. Durlach J, et al A hint on pharmacological and toxicological differences between magnesium chloride and magnesium sulphate, or of scallops and men. Magnes Res. 1996;9:217-219.
2. Gaby AR. Intravenous nutrient therapy: the Myers' cocktail." Altern Med Rev. 2002;7:389-403.
3. Gaby AR. Intravenous nutrient therapy: Myers cocktail. In Gaby AR. Nutritional Medicine, Concord NH, 2001, chapter 340. www.doctorgaby.com.