Will Congress Help Save Our Supplements?

[Guest guest]

Will Congress Help Save Our Supplements?

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saveoursupplements

Jerry Mittelman

Tuesday, October 11, 2005 5:52 PM

Will Congress Help Save Our Supplements?

 

 

 

Dear Save Our Supplements Supporter:

 

During the recent Congressional recess, many of you

called your Senators and Representative in their district offices to ask them to

protect consumer access to safe, effective and affordable dietary supplements.

Thank you again for your continued support; your feedback from these calls will

be invaluable in our continuing campaign.

 

What's Happening on the Hill?

 

As Congress grapples with issues ranging from the budget

to Supreme Court nominations and homeland security, the Save Our Supplements

Coalition continues to work behind the scenes to protect your access to safe and

affordable supplements and build our supporter base (that's you!). When

lawmakers' attention turns to our legislative priorities, we will again contact

you to make your voice heard. In the meantime, feel free to download

backgrounders on these critical issues.

 

Key legislation we support:

 

a.. The Dietary Supplement and Healthy Meal

Replacement Tax Parity Act, H.R. 1545. Under this act, foods and dietary

supplements with approved health claims can receive the same tax treatment as

other products that maintain health and prevent illness. (position paper, bill

status)

a.. The Healthy People, Healthy Choices Act of 2005,

H.R. 161, and the introduction of a companion bill in the Senate, which would

authorize the Center for Disease Control to provide grants to promote healthy

eating and exercise among minorities. (position paper, bill status)

a.. The DSHEA Full Implementation and Enforcement Act,

H.R. 2485, which would ensure that the FDA has adequate funding to carry out the

law as Congress intended. (position paper, bill status)

a.. The Dietary Supplement Tax Fairness Act of 2005,

H.R. 2486, and the re-introduction of a companion bill in the Senate that would

allow for the deductibility of dietary supplements in a manner consistent with

other health care expenses that receive favorable treatment by the IRS.

(position paper, bill status)

Key legislation we oppose:

 

a.. The Dietary Supplement Access and Awareness Act,

H.R. 3156, which would place dietary supplements under unprecedented scrutiny -

subjecting long trusted dietary supplements to burdensome new regulations and in

some cases oversight similar to what is required for prescription drugs.

(position paper, bill status)

a.. A bill to ban dehyrdroepiandrosterone (DHEA), S.

1137, which would ban the substance dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) under the

Controlled Substances Act despite the fact that DHEA was specifically exempted

from regulation under legislation enacted into law last year. (position paper,

bill status)

 

YOU Are the Most Important Assets to Save Our

Supplements

 

Supporters sometimes ask why they can't write to all 100

Senators and 435 Representatives to express the importance of dietary

supplements in their lives. The answer is that members of Congress only have the

staff and resources to respond to their own constituents - people in their own

state or district. To have the greatest impact, it's vital that you communicate

with your own Representative and Senators, provide your full name and postal

address in your communication so you can be identified as a constituent, and

personalize any form communication with the impact of legislation on you, your

business, your family, and your community.

 

According to a recent study by the Congressional

Management Foundation (www.cmfweb.org), " Communicating with Congress: How

Capitol Hill is Coping with the Surge in Citizen Advocacy, " your personal

constituent communication makes a tremendous impact on a congressional office.

More than 90 percent of congressional staff say personalized constituent e-mail

would have " some " or " a lot " of influence.

 

So, when legislation about our issue again becomes

active in Congress, we'll be calling on you to communicate with your Senators

and Representative.

 

Send an SOS to Your Friends

Save Our Supplements invites you to become a voice for

supplement choice. Please pass this alert on to your friends, and ask them to

visit SaveOurSupplements.org and join the list, so that we'll have even more

voices to call on when it counts to Save Our Supplements.

 

Put an SOS On Your Site

If you have a Website or personal home page, show your

support by posting our Websticker.

 

On behalf of SaveOurSupplements.org, thank you for your

efforts to protect America's access to safe, effective, and affordable dietary

supplements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coalition to Preserve DSHEA

1220 19th Street NW, Ste. 400

Washington, D.C. 20036

 

 

 

 

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