The War on Walnuts

Incredible. Apparently the FDA has recently threatened Diamond Foods for making health claims about its walnuts, calling them (medical) drugs and warning of seizure. I don't know what kind of response Diamond has taken, but this single case is sufficient to show just how much arbitrary power the government has. Here a company is in danger of being harmed all because its free speech doesn't conform to what the FDA considers acceptable, and a basic, found-in-nature food product is being treated as a dangerous pharmaceutical. 

Regardless of whether or not the FDA has objectively defined standards for operating, it has no right to do this. The government has no business dictating what we may and may not hear advertised by food companies, and what we may and may not purchase for our own "good." Given the arbitrary nature of this dictate, and how blatantly ridiculous it is, it shows, in principle, how nothing is truly safe in the food economy. Similar or like rulings could be made for cashews, macadamias, almonds, and so on, and can extend to other food sections such as dairy and meat. Raw milk, for instance, is virtually outlawed nationally, forcing producers to either sell them under licenses, as "pet food," or to even establish a black market.  Only ten states have raw milk legalized completely.

Little dictators at their finest.