[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] July 26 Blog: URGENT Call to Oppose S.1310 Bill
NEWS RELEASE:
SENATOR DURBIN AND THE FDA VICIOUSLY ATTACK
DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS
By Byron J. Richards, CCN
July 26, 2011
Under the cover of the July 4th holiday, Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an unprecedented and coordinated assault on the dietary-supplement industry – in essence a direct attack on consumers who rely on dietary supplements to support their health.
Without a massive consumer protest of this abhorrent abuse of regulatory power consumers will be denied access to many dietary supplements they currently take. Furthermore, the cost of dietary supplements will skyrocket due to the unnecessary regulatory burden imposed upon dietary-supplement companies, the legal wars that will go on for years, and the reduction in competition that currently keeps prices low.
While there are many political forces in play, it is clear that one of the main goals of this attack is to allow the pharmaceutical companies to take over the dietary-supplement industry.
It is very difficult for the typical consumer of dietary supplements to understand why extreme harassment of the dietary supplement industry is taking place. Such attacks are typically launched under the false cover of “consumer safety,” a pretense that plays well for sound bites and is without merit. Thus, it is of great importance to explain this current attack in the historical and political context in which it is occurring.
And it is of even greater importance that every consumer of dietary supplements, who values having them as a health option, takes action now to preserve their access to a wide range of dietary supplements at an affordable price.
To read the full details and to see how you can take action now, click here. There is absolutely no time to waste.
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Click here for the permanent link to this news release, use this link to inform others.
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National Health Federation: Established in 1955, the National Health Federation is a consumer-education, health-freedom organization working to protect individuals’ rights to choose to consume healthy food, take supplements and use alternative therapies without unnecessary government restrictions. The NHF is the only such organization with recognized observer-delegate status at Codex meetings.
July 23 Blog: URGENT Call to Oppose S.1310 Bill
Here is a ready-to-send letter to your State Senator describing your opposition to Senator Dick Durbin’s S.1310, The Dietary Supplement Labeling Act, granting even greater power to FDA the authority to regulate dietary supplements. Click on the document below to see the enlarged and printable version. Simply date, put in your state, and personal info at the bottom of the page and then fax to the number given there.
Thank you for standing up with us for your health freedom!
Oppose S.1310 Letter
July 22 Blog:
Here is a call from Texas Health Freedom Coalition Chairman for the same S.1310 bill:
Colleagues and Friends of Texas Health Freedom,
Now that Sen. Dick Durbin’s S. 1310 has been published, it is very clear that it is a direct threat to both the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) and the continued availability of many dietary supplements on which we all rely for continued health maintenance. As our allies at National Health Freedom Action (NHFA) indicate, we must act NOW to stop this bill in its tracks before it gains momentum.
Therefore, please forward this message to everyone you know who consumes dietary supplements.
If you lead a health-related organization, please forward this message to everyone in your organization.
If you’re a health care practitioner, please forward this message to every one of your clients/patients. It’s THAT important!
The link below will allow you to educate yourself about S.1310, and give you an easy means to contact your two US Senators to express your opposition:
http://www.nationalhealthfreedom.org/nhfa/Alerts/StopS1310_071511.htm
A short message to your Senators could read as follows:
“Dear Senator (Blank),
Please strongly oppose S.1310, Sen. Dick Durbin’s anti-dietary supplement legislation. The FDA doesn’t need any more power to regulate dietary supplements, it already has that ability under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). S. 1310 would take away my ability to exercise my most fundamental right, to choose by what means I care for my body.
Oppose S. 1310, and ask your Senate colleagues to do the same!
Sincerely,
Name and Address (required for them to verify you’re their constituent)”
Please send your message TODAY!
Thanks for your support of health freedom,
Peter McCarthy, CTN
Chair, Texas Health Freedom Coalition
www.texashealthfreedom.com
(O) 210-372-0557
July 9th Blog:
As a follow-up to my recent Health Freedom column on our July newsletter, here is an urgent call from Dr. Gonzalez, MD as per his email to those of us who are actively involved in fighting for your health freedom. Please heed to his plea and act. Thank you.
To all:
I am writing to alert you of two assaults against nutritional
supplements against which we all need to mobilize. Over the years
I have witnessed many serious threats to supplements proposed by
members of Congress and the FDA, always presented in the guise
of “consumer protection.” Invariably the proposed legislation or
regulations have been onerous, repressive, and apparently intended to
eliminate or seriously curtail the availability of most nutritional
products, forcing the US into a situation where nutritionals are
either forbidden (as in Norway) or become prescription items. In
the past, we here in the US have been able to mobilize to stop such
intrusions, such as the ill-conceived McCain bill of a year ago. But
once again, the anti-nutrition forces have organized and mobilized.
The first threat is Senator Durbin’s noble-sounding Senate bill
S1310, the “Dietary Supplement Labeling Act,” ostensibly prompted
because of a recent episode of melatonin-tainted brownies. I let
you know about this bill a few days ago, but to repeat, this bill
would give the FDA a new set of powers that could easily be used
to badger honorable, honest supplement manufacturers providing
legitimate and useful products. The FDA needs no new authority in
terms of labeling, because it already has enormous power to regulate
additives to food, and remove harmful or dangerous supplements from
the marketplace. Furthermore, the FDA has already mandated very
stringent “Good Manufacturing Practice” regulations that promote
standards and require manufacturers of nutritional supplements to
provide the highest quality, legitimate products to consumers. I
believe this new legislation is part of an ongoing pattern to
eliminate the availability of legitimate supplements so that
Americans have no choice in their health care.
Senator Durbin presented his legislation on the Friday before the
July 4th weekend, presumably hoping that no one would notice. But
the ever vigilant Alliance for Natural Health learned of the bill
almost as soon as it was available, and sent out a warning to begin
mobilizing to stop it in its tracks. I would suggest you contact
your Senators and Representatives, either by phone or e-mail,
expressing your strong opposition to this bill. Public outcry has
stopped many similar bills in the past, and we can do it again, but
it takes pressure, and effort, and energy. Of course, be polite,
but explain that the FDA already has sufficient power to regulate
supplements, their labeling, and food additives. And, express your
wish that supplements be kept available for your use.
About the same time Senator Durbin proposed his legislation, the FDA
itself announced its plans to enforce a new set of regulations on
supplement manufacturers that are so onerous, I doubt any company
could comply or remain in business. In 1994, Congress passed the
“Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act” (DSHEA), which in one
sense did protect nutritional supplements available at the time
from FDA over-regulation, and protected manufacturers from overt
FDA harassment. However, the bill also gave the FDA enormous power
over any new supplements that might be developed after 1994, with
the authority to require the expensive and time consuming process
normally reserved for synthetic pharmaceuticals before these new
supplements could be made available to consumers. Basically,
if implemented, supplements would remain stuck in 1994, with
manufacturers unable to provide new products in response to ongoing
research in the field.
Furthermore, the FDA could require supplements available prior to
1994 that have undergone any change whatsoever to undergo review,
with the possibility that these products might be removed from
the market until the lengthy review was completed. Apparently,
even if the particle size of a supplement has changed since 1994,
the manufacturer would be required to petition the FDA for approval
of the product. As I read the new, complicated regulations, I
thought that any supplement manufacturer might be at risk and few
could financially survive should the FDA enforce to the letter the
regulations that it presented last week.
Nutritional supplements, because of the concern and integrity of
the great majority of manufacturers, are extraordinarily safe and
the FDA knows this. These regulations are unnecessarily onerous
and unreasonable.
For further information I suggest you consult the following website
pages:
<http://www.anh-usa.org/fda-new-sneak-attack-on-supplements/>
<http://www.anh-usa.org/dietary-supplement-labeling-act-a-huge-smokescreen/>
I suggest you write your Senators and Representatives protesting both
the Durbin bill and the new FDA regulations. Always be polite. But
we need to stop Senator Durbin’s bill and fight for the continued
availability of nutritional supplements.
Nicholas Gonzalez MD[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]