Ass Hat of the Week Award: W. Charles Becoat, FDA and his Issue with Cheerios
As difficult as it is for me to choose just one person for the Ass Hat Friday award, I had to give this week’s award to W. Charles Becoat, Director of the Minnesota District of the Food and Drug Administration. First of all, anyone who uses their first name as an initial is instantly pompous in my eyes.
Apparently, W. Charles Becoat (can I call him ‘W’?) does not like Cheerios. With a name like that, he probably needs to eat All-Bran. Becoat drafted a three page warning letter to General Mills on May 12, 2009 that pointed out that language on the Cheerios box suggests the cereal is designed to prevent or treat heart disease.
He blabbered on for three pages citing violations that General Mills made in the area of “Misbranded Foods” and “Unapproved Drugs”. I don’t know the last time that you took a look at an “FDA Approved Drug” such as Lipitor or Crestor to lower your cholesterol, but I’d say the side effects from the approved drugs are much different from the side effects of eating Cheerios to help lower your cholesterol.
Common Side Effects from Crestor:
Headache
Muscle pain
Abdominal pain
Weakness
Nausea
Common Side Effects from Lipitor:
Headache
Constipation
Diarrhea
Gas
Upset stomach and stomach pain
Rash
Muscle and joint pain
Common Side Effects from Cheerios:
Toddler smiles when picking up first finger food
Keeps you regular (great source of fiber)
Brings back positive childhood memories
I am not saying that Cheerios eradicates high cholesterol. There are drugs on the market that help manage cholesterol with proper diet and excercise. I realize that W. Charles Beacoat was just doing his job and there wasn’t much going on the day he had to find someone like General Mills to razz, but come on! Does the FDA want Cheerios to apply to become a drug or just change the wording on the box? Does the FDA have anything better to do? 
According to the a statement on Cheerios.com, Cheerios’ soluble fiber health heart health claim has been FDA approved for twelve years. For the past two years the box has featured the phrase “lower your cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks” on their box with no one from the FDA saying a word. Until now. Until W. Charles Beacoat was probably looking for some job security and he picked Cheerios as his target. I am positive General Mills wouldn’t blatantly stick a message on their box if they could not back it up.
I would think that the FDA should focus more pressing issues considering the controversy that often surrounds them. How about the safety of the drugs the FDA approves? Dr. David Graham ( the senior drug safety researcher at the FDA who was a major whistle blower in the Vioxx case), testified years ago about the secret life inside the FDA.
“According to Drug safety is about five percent. Congress has not only created that structure, they have also worsened that structure through the PDUFA. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act came into play in 1992. It was passed by Congress as a way of providing the FDA with more funds so that it could hire more physicians and other scientists to review drug applications so that drugs would be approved more quickly. For industry, every day a drug is held up from being marketed, represents a loss of one to two million dollars of profit. The incentive is to review and approve the drugs as quickly as possible, and not stand in the way of profit-making. The FDA cooperates with that mandate.”
Cheerios? Are you kidding? My children grew up on Cheerios. They still eat them. I eat them. Next we’re going to find out that Lucky Charms aren’t really lucky so the name will have to change to something more general, like “Not Always Lucky Charms”. That’s going to really tick me off.
W. Charles Becoat, you are the recipient of this week’s Ass Hat award. You can share it with the FDA. Play Pass the Ass Hat. Then go focus on something we really care about.
A special thanks to my friend, Ellen Day, for suggesting this week’s Ass Hat Award. Ellen is the owner of Peeper Day Designs. She makes gorgeous handmade eco-friendly quilts for pets, better known as “Fur Children”.
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Hi there. I just found your website and agree with this post. I used to work for a company that was regularly inspected by the FDA. Of course, this was at a time, when that name meant something. In recent years, it has become an absolute joke of an industry that is used as a corporate and congressional pawn instead of protecting the consumer. I write about this often, but the most striking example is their approval of Bisphenol-A in plastics that is used most often in children’s toys and bottles. This is a chemical that seriously disrupts the development of children, and the FDA allowed it to get approved using TWO studies, which were paid for by the Chemical Council. Not only that, they allowed employees at Dow Chemical to write the safety and efficacy report! It should be illegal, but because Bisphenol-A is a huge revenue source, and Dow has such a big lobby in DC, it was allowed.
What I am trying to say… Cheerios is the least of the problems we face. The FDA is a mockery.
Hello,
I loved your article! I grew up on Cheerios! My father worked for General Mills for 35 years- we had closets full of Cheerios.
You make very valid points! W. Charles Becoat is a perfect example of someone going overboard in an attempt to keep their job important by taking the easy way instead of addressing real concerns.
I spent a summer as a young boy working at General Mills. I had the job of taking the giant boxes of marshmallows to the Luck Charms (True story)
I sure hope W. Charles Becoat never finds out I’m not a Leprechaun!
Today was my first visit here, and will return frequently. Thank you!
Richard Braun
Then I would strongly suggest that you buy stock in General Mills
Today we went out and bought an extra large box of Cheerios. I do not have cholesterol issues but just in case I may in the future, I’m stocking up before it becomes a drug that’s not covered by Blue Cross…hence driving up the price.
Obviously they have too much time on their hands – they should worry about APPROVING pharmaceuticals that will assist with diseases than crucifying what really is semantics! ……FDA also takes issue with a General Mills’ web site mentioned on the Cheerios label that uses language that doesn’t comply with approved health claims.
I can just picture these high paid “scientists” and medical professionals at a table cursing themselves that they did not invest in General Mills’ —- their investments in Merck and the like tubed and a light bulb went off retribution…..against General Mills -next thing you know you will need an RX to purchase a box of cereal.
Does this mean I can sue the pants of General Mills for having high cholesterol even after eating Cheerios?
Blondie…You are such an Astro…nut!
That ass hat probably advocates fluoride drinking water too! (Which is NOT good for you or your children!)
Clueless!
On a scale of 1-10 this is a -2 in importance. The Food police are at it again. Many of the drugs ads on tv list side effects that can be serious and in my opinion some of them are as bad as whatever they are supposed to cure.
All prescription NSAIDs, including ibuprofen, naproxen, and CELEBREX, share the same cardiovascular warning: they may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death…
All prescription NSAIDs have the same warning for serious stomach and intestine problems, such as ulcers and bleeding.
In 2005, the FDA stated that for certain patients NSAIDs benefits outweigh the risks.
I no longer listen to the FDA…
I heard on one of those Entertainment “news” shows that Angolina Joilie snacks on Cheerio’s as part of her diet. Her body looks pretty healthy.
I wish the FDA would study the medical benefit of different herbs and regulate those. They ARE food and some have health benefits and we aren’t getting the knowledge of how to make them help us be healthy. I guess firs they would have to outlaw the growing of herbs LOL. Then let the government grow and tax them.
Tom…Cheerios and Beer? I am starting to get concerned. lol
Cherrios are the perfect food…what other food can you feed toddlers, kids, and also goes well with beer….great choice for AssHat
If I wasn’t known for being such a PG blogger, I’d totally bust out with what FDA really stands for. (It’s pretty easy to guess)
This is why I love reading your blog, Sean. You allow me to remember my well-behaved side! Perfectly OK to come over here and at least elude to the fact that the FDA has some other meanings…
Barb…you’re the best. I have no idea…I just felt the vibe from the West Coast and thought….SHOOT…Barb is trying to say this but doesn’t have time. I’ll do it for her.
Happy Weekend.
LOL! How do you manage to say, what I didn’t know that I was thinking???
I’m just wondering if they TAKE all the drugs that they approve…just as samples, of course…….
Seriously. Really. And not a word about Lucky Charms? And.These.Are.The.People.Who.Deal.With.Real.Drugs?
Jenn
and doesn’t their claim say it “helps” lower cholesterol? wouldn’t that eliminate the worry of someone crying “false claim”? either way, i think the FDA needs to take a better look at their approval process for these drugs that are killing people (don’t even get me started on Fentanyl) before they start attacking something as ridiculous as Cheerios. i think he was bored.
When I read that article the other day, I just couldn’t believe the stupidity of those asshats. (BTW, asshat is one of my favorite words. thank you for using it). I hate to sound like a whacko lefty conspiracy theorists but it certainly seems like the FDA would rather we not use the common sense approach to health by eating our prevention and instead support the pharmaceuticals instead of our own well being. Screw them.