Over the past few months I’ve been using a
new tool in my skeptical toolbox. The FDA Warnings Website. This website is a wealth of
information and can help the average skeptic in a number of
interesting ways.

The first, and of course the most obvious is to get a feel for what’s
going on and what the FDA seems to be cracking down on. It does seem
to come in waves, recently there was a large amount of “detox” items

getting letters, this week it seems to be chelation therapies.Another thing is to see what can be reported. You can see who crossed
the line and how. You can use this information to find other people in
violation and report them to the FDA.

But the real power with this tool is awareness. Using the website you
can sign up for email alerts and you will get 1-2 emails a week
telling you that the list of offenders is updated. You can then send
this information out to friends that may use the products or post them
on a blog. What I do is post them on Google SideWiki. You don’t need to have Google
toolbar to use this Google product, they also have a bookmarklet.

While Google Sidewiki is not in widespread use, it is helpful just to
keep track. There have been more than a few cases where I’ve gone to
put in a new FDA Warning to find out that they already had one or two.
If they’re the same complaint I will usually shoot the FDA an email to
remind them that they have already notified these people for the same
offense.

In closing, the FDA Warning website is an easy tool to use and another
to throw in your skeptical toolbox in order to combat pseudoscience on
the web.

Travis Roy is the founder and president of Granite State Skeptics. This article originally appeared there.