HEALTH CHOICE RIGHTS

[Guest guest]

Here is yet another reason why Americans must swamp Congress with cries of outrage and protest - we MUST do it NOW before we lose the chance to continue our personal health choices. I honestly believe millions will die if denied supplements. I know I would be dead NOW if I hadn't had access to them. This is MAJORLY IMPORTANT to Americans!!!

Linda

Dear Readers: Once again, your right to buy and use the supplements of your choiceis under attack. In this issue, Jon talks about S.722 -- and worse. Don't Look at the Pinstripes There is a theme running through Steven Spielberg's last film, CatchMe If You Can, that basically says the New York Yankees won all theirpennants not because they had better players, but because their opponentscouldn't take their eyes off the pinstripes in theYankee uniforms. It's ametaphor for what pickpockets do -- bumping or confusing you with one hand,so you never notice that the other hand is picking you clean. Well, right now, I believe the alternative health community isfocusing on pinstripes, while our right to purchase the supplements we wantand need is being picked from our pockets -- and no one is noticing. Right now, there is a huge furor over a new bill called the "DietarySupplement Safety Act" (S.722) that has been introduced in the U.S. Senateby Dick Durbin, the Democratic Senator from Illinois. This is a very bad bill, and truly needs to be opposed. It would givethe FDA broad sweeping regulatory power, require adverse event reporting bymanufacturers, and would authorize the FDA to prevent the sale of anysupplement for which even a single adverse event was reported. If passed, itwould significantly undermine many of the freedoms that American consumersof dietary supplements hold dear. Incidentally, according to this bill, the adverse event reporting andsubsequent clinical evaluation don't necessarily have to establish cause andeffect, and the event itself could have been caused by consumer misuse.Nevertheless, once an incident was on file, the manufacturer could be madeto go back and earn the FDA stamp of approval -- a stamp that drugcompanies, incidentally, get up front. This process could take manysupplements off the market indefinitely. Also, any new supplement containinga stimulant -- including, for example, Chinese botanicals - would need FDApermission up front. This bill is, of course, nonsense and unnecessary and would be adisaster if it were to pass. So why do I equate it to Yankee pinstripes?Because, the odds of this bill passing are close to zero. It is unlikely topass for a number of reasons -- the two main ones being. a.. It is just too outrageous, and will galvanize the alternativehealth community into a storm of activity (which we're already seeing) tomake sure it is never passed b.. The Republicans, notably under the guidance of Orrin Hatch, arelikely to oppose it en masse So if it never has a chance of passing, what's the point ofintroducing it in the first place? I believe it is to keep us looking atpinstripes while our pockets are picked in an entirely different manner. Even as the alternative health community mounts it's counterattack toS.722, our rights to buy supplements that we want and need are already beingtaken away right under our noses -- and no one ever even gets to vote on it. Ephedra and kava kava and St. John's wort are some of the mostnotable, but others are in the pipeline. The process is simple: a.. A study is initiated -- often backed by the pharmaceuticalindustry -- to study the safety of a particular herb or supplement. (Howkind of the pharmaceutical industry to fund herb safety studies. Suchconcern for public safety warms the heart, don't you think?) b.. The study finds some reason for concern -- even though the studyitself is seriously flawed and virtually useless. For example: a.. The case against ephedra is based on statistical nonsense. TheFDA compiled a list of people who died from heart attacks or strokes whileusing ephedra. Amazingly, they determined that 100% of the people on thatlist were people who had died using ephedra. Duh! Compile a list of allthose who died from heart attack and stroke and drank water, and 100% of thepeople on that list would be water drinkers. Does that mean that watercauses strokes and death? Only an idiot (or a Federal regulator) wouldbelieve that. The truth is that in studies comparing groups of people whouse ephedra products with those who do not, there is virtually no differencein the rate of heart attacks and strokes! (Note: I am not a fan of ephedrabecause it exhausts the adrenal glands and do not use it any of myformulations -- but nonsense is still nonsense.) b.. The case against kava kava is equally bogus. I covered that indetail in the May 5th issue of the Baseline of Health Newsletterwww.jonbarron.org/newsletters/news030505.htm. Again the case is based onstatistical nonsense -- but even though false, the "awareness of danger" isnow out there. c.. Once "awareness of danger" has been created (again, even thoughtotally bogus), the insurance companies will no longer insure companies thatmanufacture or sell products that contain those "dangerous ingredients." Theinsurance companies are very clear about this. They do not care if the caseagainst the supplement is true or not. They only care if there is a"perception" that it is true. From their point of view, if there is aperception of danger, there is an increased risk of lawsuits. d.. The net result is that manufactures and retailers start pullingproducts from the market to avoid losing their insurance and risk exposurefrom spurious lawsuits. a.. Notice how much less ephedra is available in the market today.There are no real laws against it yet, but notice how many companies havestopped manufacturing and selling ephedra-based weight-loss products. b.. Kava too has begun to fade from the market, but the effectsare not as widely noticed yet because insurers grandfather companies in.That means that if a supplement company has a 3 or 5 year policy with itsinsurer that included kava before the concerns appeared, they will remaininsured for the duration of the policy -- but will not be renewed for kavawhen the policy comes up for renewal. We're now about a year into the cycle(several years behind ephedra). That means that as each year goes by for thenext 4 years, there will be fewer and fewer kava products available. The bottom line is that this is far more insidious than S.722. Atleast with 722, you can face the enemy and fight back. With this procedure,you never get to see the enemy. You never get to hold your representativesaccountable -- because they never get to vote on the issue. Here, all ittakes is the FDA deciding to target an herb, or a pharmaceutical companydeciding that some supplement threatens one of its markets. Then the rightstudy is commissioned, and before you know it, your ability to buy some herbor supplement has been removed without your ever knowing why. And in the meantime, we all remain dazzled by the pinstripes of billslike 722 -- bills that are unlikely ever to pass. Oh, and if you live outside the US, don't be too smug. Once the"perception of danger" exists offending supplements are quickly banned, nomatter how bogus that perception may be. See what's happening to kava kavaand ephedra formulas in Canada or Europe. The really disturbing thing is that I have no idea how to stop it.Bills like S.722 at least allow us to confront them and defeat them. Butsqueezing supplements off the market by pressuring insurance companies isincredibly nebulous. How do you confront it? How do you rally a publicoutcry against it like we're seeing with S.722? And yet, if we can't find a coherent and effective strategy, we willone day wake and find that we have been picked clean of every supplementthat actually works. PS: In the meantime, we do need to act against 722. Call your Senatorsor send them a letter telling them to vote against SB 722. Although lesseffective, if nothing else, you can send them an email. Contact Information For Senators # # # Misc a.. Index of archived newsletters and reports b.. This newsletter has an open subscription policy. Feel free toforward this newsletter to any of your friends, who can then use the"Subscribe" link at the top to sign up for the newsletter. c.. For those of you who have already written reviews for Lessonsfrom the Miracle Doctors on the Amazon.com website, thanks for your support.For the rest of you, feel free to log on and write a review. Every goodreview helps. Thanks for your support. Sincerely, Kristen Barron 2003 by The Baseline of Health Foundation. All rights reserved.

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