Fw: Act today to support better health at a lower cost! Take action at www.citizens.org

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Citizens for Health

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Tuesday, May 06, 2003 9:41 AM

Act today to support better health at a lower cost! Take action at

www.citizens.org

 

 

URGENT ACTION ALERT!

Act today to support better health and a lower cost.

Visit Citizens for Health at www.citizens.org and take action now!

 

Your input is needed today to support better health at a lower cost:

** Support efforts to require reporting of adverse events for dietary

supplements, food additives and all drugs.

** Oppose legislation that restricts health choices and increases the costs of

health care.

 

New legislation promises to protect consumers, but the details reveal plans to:

1) increase health care costs and decrease consumer choices; 2) single out

dietary supplements and hold them to a higher standard of scrutiny than many

over-the-counter medications and food additives, even though supplements have

proven to be safer; and 3) provide unnecessary additional regulatory authority

to the FDA, fueling the healthcare cost crisis and fundamentally altering the

Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act (DSHEA), the regulatory framework

demanded by millions of consumers in 1994 and responsible for bringing dietary

supplements to a wide market and providing consumers with the information and

products for better health at a lower cost.

 

Support Full and Fair Information Reports

SB722 mandates dietary supplement manufacturers to report serious adverse event

reports (SAER) to the FDA. This is not required for many over-the-counter drugs

or for food additives, categories with a track record of serious side effects in

at risk consumers for ex ceding those of nutritional supplements. Information

obtained by the government can only be useful if collected for all regulated

substances in ways that allow for comparing apples to apples. Singling out

supplements and using different information sources to make critical decisions

is not the best approach to managing public health, but may be part of an

overall plan to limit consumers access to these beneficial products.

 

Tell Congress that you support reporting of serious adverse event reports across

the board for all regulated products. And stress that the same standards for

information collection and disclosure of all products are critical for accurate

analysis and sound decisions.

 

And most importantly, tell Congress that the FDA does not require additional

legislation to mandate reporting of adverse event reports. FDA has ample legal

authority to require adverse event reporting under existing law, and we

encourage them to fully implement the law.

 

Promote low-cost health care alternatives

SB722 potentially subjects all vitamins, minerals, herbs and other supplements

to an intense level of scrutiny unwarranted by the safe track record supplements

have. The bill calls for unprecedented and costly clinical evaluation of all

products classified as " stimulants " -defined as " any ingredient that.increases

metabolism, increases heart rate, causes the body to release adrenaline or

constricts blood vessels. " These requirements are unnecessary, prohibitively

costly and reduce consumer access to safe and beneficial products by

unnecessarily expanding FDA's authority.

 

What is especially troubling is that any change in FDA's legislative authority

would fundamentally undermine the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act

(DSHEA), which is the law under which supplements are regulated, and applies to

all vitamins, minerals, herbs and supplements. The end result could be a

significant loss of choice in your own health care decisions by hindering access

to and increasing the cost of supplements. Given the FDA's slow implementation

of the existing law, any change in the law can only add confusion and further

delays on weeding out the few bad players, giving consumers less protection

rather than more.

 

Millions of consumers, possibly you among them, contacted Congress in 1993/94

urging support for the regulatory framework, the Dietary Supplement Health &

Education Act (DSHEA) in order to provide important health information and

products to consumers and to ensure the safety of these products. The unanimous

passage of the law reflected the overwhelming number of constituents - citizens

like you -- demanding access to nutritional supplements. As a result, Congress

unanimously passed DSHEA, which is a good law and gives the FDA all the power it

needs to ensure safe and effective products when enforced, including the power

to require reporting of adverse event reporting.

 

Today, strong, mainstream research is emerging to support the important positive

impact diet and supplements are having on maintaining and improving health

outcomes. There is overwhelming evidence to support better health at a lower

cost through supplements and other low-tech approaches.

 

The nation is facing an unprecedented health care crisis. At a time when over

100,000 Americans die per year from FDA approved drug products used as directed,

more than 1 out of 4 Americans are suffering from FDA approved drug-side

effects, and the costs of today's high-tech health care is devouring the

nation's resources.our decision makers should be embracing rather than debunking

the use of dietary supplement products that have hundreds of years of safe and

effective use and cost substantially less than their pharmaceutical

alternatives.

 

It is imperative that consumers -every person concerned about access to a wide

variety of safe, cost effective and beneficial health care solutions-contact

their Senators and Representatives today. Reaffirm your support for better

health at a lower cost. Send a strong message to Congress to pursue, not

denigrate natural, safe and cost-effective health care approaches.

 

Send your letter directly by visiting www.citizens.org.