STOP CAFTA--MY LETTER TO CONGRESS

[Guest guest]

Now I just have to cut and paste this about 500 times, and I'll be all

set. Hey, if all of you do something like this, maybe we can all

enjoy another 10 years of health freedom. But in any case, WE CANNOT

REMAIN SILENT, EVER! I think the framers of the United States

constition knew this all too well.

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Dear Congressperson/Senator,

 

I would express my opposition to CAFTA, and take this opportunity to

educate you about the current health freedom movement in the USA. It

seems that there is a world wide movement to restrict dietary

supplements supposedly in order to protect consumers. However, I

seriously doubt that many of you have taken into consideration the

wants and needs of people who take dietary supplements.

 

When you take away something that is BENEFICIAL and SAFE from

consumers, you are NOT protecting them. You are TAKING AWAY THEIR

FREEDOM. Perhaps if you would consult people like us FIRST, you would

get a better idea of whether or not you actually protecting us.

 

Nevertheless, many of you seem to think that you have to treat dietary

supplements as if they are new drugs that you have little knowledge

about. This reasoning is very flawed. There is NOTHING NEW about

dietary supplements as far as their chemical composition. This is

because dietary supplements come in two forms. They are either in the

form of nutrients, which have been occurring within the human body for

as long as human beings have been around. Or they are in the form of

herbs, which are edible plants that have been around for as long as

human beings have been around.

 

There are concepts that I refer to as " common knowledge, " and " common

sense, " which are the preferred methods that one normally uses in

order to insure one's safety, since we as human beings generally do

not perform a massive safety check prior to every single activity that

we perform in the course of a day. It simply does not make sense to

go through such an extreme in the cost-benefit analysis of everyday

living. In other words, the standard operating procedure for free

human beings is to assume that normal activities, including food

consumption, are safe until proven otherwise. The reason that we know

that broccoli, and the nutrients found in broccoli are safe, is

because it is common knowledge that broccoli is safe, and therefore,

there is no need to subject broccoli to an excessive amount of

scrutiny before ingesting it. And it goes without saying that

imposing limits on our broccoli consumption is a ridiculous idea.

 

However, that is exactly what health advocates, such as John Hammell,

feel that pharmaceutical companies are trying to do through CODEX,

since these companies feel that health freedom is a threat to their

business. CAFTA, which you are currently voting on, includes the

intention to conform to CODEX guidelines as shown in the text below:

 

" To harmonize sanitary and phytosanitary measures on as wide a basis

as possible, members SHALL base their food safety measures on

international standards, guidelines or recommendations. "

 

The CODEX guidelines dictate that supplements that have not been

subject to an excessive amount of scrutiny, should be treated as

drugs. According to CODEX guidelines, only vitamins, minerals, and a

handful of supplements in extremely limited quantities, would be

available over the counter. But just in case common sense and common

knowledge are not enough to remind you of how absurd this approach is,

there has in fact been a great deal of research done on supplements,

and this research includes their safety.

 

I challenge each and every one of you to do a Google search on the

amino acid " carnitine, " to get an idea of how safe it is. This

beneficial supplement was banned in Canada for no apparent reason

other than that the PBH seems to prefer to treat supplements as drugs.

Use the words " carnitine, " " abstracts, " and " adverse. " Feel free to

include the word " mice, " since mice are often used to conduct

scientific research.

 

May it be known that John Hammell was kicked out of a CODEX meeting as

a result of mysterious reasons pertaining to Dr. Christine Lewis

Taylor of the FDA, who seems to ignore science in her naive belief

that people meet all their nutritional needs from food. May it also

be known that her husband, Michael Taylor, became very antagonistic

when asked to compare the safety of Prozac to the safety of

tryptophan, an amino acid. The truth is, that Micheal Taylor was

unwilling to admit that tryptophan is clearly much safer than Prozac.

Not one single person has died as a result of tryptophan, and there

is plenty of available scientific research to support this. People

died as a result of a CONTAMINANT in a particular batch of tryptophan

from a Japanese company, and the FDA mistaken blamed the deaths on

tryptophan.

 

Dear Congressperson/Senator, the alternative health movement in the

USA is very strong, and it is only getting stronger. We are watching

you very closely. If you take away our health freedom, you can rest

assured that there will numerous court battles, and public unrest, and

it will become very evident that you ignore science, common sense, and

common knowledge, in a deliberate attempt to give away our freedom to

corporate interests. The only way that you will be able to get away

with this kind of thing is if you take the right to vote away from the

people who put you into office. You cannot keep us in the dark

because the cat is already out of the bag.

 

Thank you!

 

(Daniel Padron)