Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul questioned the need for mandatory seat belt and motorcycle helmet laws, and the Food and Drug Administration in a speech Thursday to anti-aging doctors.

The Texas congressman, who preaches strict adherence to the U.S.
Constitution, said each was the result of excessive government intervention and regulation that restricts Americans' freedom of choice.

Paul said wearing a seat belt or a motorcycle helmet "may well be good advice" but should not be mandatory.

"Once the government gets control of paying the hospital bills, then they want to control our lives," he said.

The federal government's regulation of health care and drug safety allows the pharmaceutical industry's lobbyists to have outsized influence, Paul said.

"There's a revolving door between FDA and the drug industry," he said. "If we truly believed in free markets and truly understood the Constitution, quite frankly, I don't believe we would even have an FDA."

The comment won loud applause from the group gathered at The Venetian hotel-casino for the 15th Annual Congress of on Anti-aging
Medicine and Regenerative Biomedical Technologies.

Paul is a long shot for the Republican nomination but has found significant support, with help from the Internet, for his anti-war, anti-Washington message.

The platform has particular resonance in Nevada, a state with a strong libertarian tradition.

Nevada will be among the first states to caucus, but it has received little attention from GOP candidates.

Paul is running radio ads in the state, and has drawn larger crowds than any other Republican contender.

Paul was scheduled to campaign at a private school in nearby Henderson later Thursday.