Red yeast rice has been used in china for ~ 2 centuries for coronary disease. In the 1980's, merck decided to isolate the active ingredient in RYR to determine if it could be artifically produced. Red Yeast Rice IS a statin. The active component in RYR was isolated and synthesized by Merck -active component was labeled "mevacolin K". Merck produced this artifically and developed "mevacor". Isolating the ingredient without synthesizing it would not help the pharmaceutical industry--they are unable to patent a naturally occurring substance; thus too much competition . the amount of mevacolin K in RYR is very low in comparison to mevacor--and very very low in comparison to other statins such as lipitor. though the FDA is insisting upon scare tactics in listing all the potential side effects from RYR--and with statins, drugs that are infinitely stronger than RYR, the literature keeps dowmplaying these potential effects, restating the adverse effects #'s of 2 %, highlighting the "low number"--a number not truly reflective of the studies....I am no champion of the supplement industry--being an unregulated industry, there are many many opportunistic, dishonest individuals within that sector. It is thought that the statements about RYR were prompted by the pharm industry. the statin market has taken a decided downturn within the last 6 months; they wish to get rid of the competition....