The FDA has it in for cherries. Be careful, the next time you pop one in your mouth, because you never know when the FDA may creep up behind you and confiscate not only your bag of cherries, but your bank accounts and worldly possessions (yes, they have done so in the past, I kid you not).

Dr. Mercola, who is one of the larger thorns in the FDA’s ass, has some interested comments under the title “The FDA Has Blood on its Hands.”

Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) says, “enough is enough,” to the Big Pharma Bullies running the FDA. He has introduced bill H.R. 2117 (the Health Freedom Protection Act) into the House of Representatives, which would effectively stop the FDA from censoring truthful claims about the health benefits of dietary supplements.

He wants to put an end to the federal bureaucrats’ meddling with your right to choose healthy alternatives over harmful and deadly patent drugs, and believes Americans should not be prevented form learning about simple ways to improve their health.

This bill puts the burden of proof on the FDA/FTC when it comes to proving that a label or advertisement is false and misleading. As it stands now, the manufacturer has to satisfy an unobtainable standard of proof—as was the case with the American cherry growers a few years ago.

The FDA went on a witch-hunt after the growers used evidence from studies funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to state that cherries have anti-inflammatory properties.

The FDA ruled that the cherry growers could not use that evidence to make these claims. Instead, the FDA approved another dangerous anti-inflammatory drug that went on to take the lives of some 20,000 Americans … Clearly, the FDA does not object to the spilling of blood in the course of maintaining the pharmaceutical status quo.

Big Pharma has the FDA firmly in pocket, and censoring vital information—like the fact that eating 20 cherries has the same effect as popping aspirin or a Cox-2 inhibiting drug—is their only way to stay in business! Perhaps bill H.R. 2117 can get enough traction to stick if enough of us stand firmly behind it, pushing at the rear.

So would you rather eat cherries or pop pills with toxic side effects? Pay for a bag of cherries, or get a second mortgage on your house to pay for the FDA approved drugs?

According to this article, eating 20 cherries has the same effect as popping aspirin or a Cox-2 inhibiting drug. And the FDA is trying its best not to let you find that out.

I don’t agree with everything that Dr. Mercola writes about, and certainly, I have no financial stake in his website or any of the products that he sells (I wish I did). But when it comes to the FDA, he certainly knows what he’s talking about, and always offers links to the data.

Here’s another tidbit for your Saturday morning pleasure. Over 80% of the FDA’s resources are geared toward the approval of new drugs, and only 20% for all the rest. Only 5% goes to drug safety. Think about that the next time you pop a pill. How safe and effective is it really?