Red Yeast Rice hasn't been banned. It is available from dozens of websites. However, several products made from Red Yeast Rice are currently 'banned' because they are similar enough to patented drugs that patent infringement lawsuits have been filed. That is all. Nothing too insidius.
What are all ya'll going to do in August of this year when NONE of your dire predictions come to pass? (Can you say Y2K?) George From: Denise Every To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, March 11, 2005 9:36 PM Subject: Re: CS>Red Yeast Rice & Cholesterol <<<<There is some report on the internet (can't find it now) that stated the FDA banned Red Yeast as a university study found red yeast to be ___effective as drugs___>>>>>>>> I did a quick search and red yeast rice is still being sold, I found it on multiple sites, Vitamin Shoppe being one. I did find an article on WholeHealthMD.com that mentions the FDA withdrawing it, it said, "In 2001, however, red yeast rice extract, a "natural" unregulated nutritional supplement, was withdrawn by the FDA. This decision followed the agency's determination that it was chemically too similar to the prescription statin medication Mevacor, and thus should be classified as a "drug," which by law is strictly controlled by the federal government." But I don't know what the date of this article is, the web site has a copyright date of 2000... maybe the FDA took some other action since and reversed its 2001 decision? Denise
