Pending Bills in Congress Could Take Away Your Health Care Rights to Buy Vitamins and Herbs

[Guest guest]

** If you have not heard about this organization, I thought it should

be sent to those that would be concerned.

 

 

Pending Bills in Congress Could Take Away Your Health Care Rights to Buy

Vitamins and Herbs

NUTRITIONAL HEALTH ALLIANCE ACTIVATED AGAIN TO PROTECT DSHEA

 

 

TELL THE FDA: HANDS OFF MY DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS!

 

 

 

Did you know that the federal Food and Drug Administration has just

issued a rule that will enable it to ban dietary supplements arbitrary?

Don't you want Congress to reverse that rule before the supplements you

depend on are taken off the market?

 

Responsible members of the dietary supplement industry were all too

glad to see ephedra taken off the market. However, the FDA in its

ephedra ruling established a new legal standard that gives it unlimited

authority to swoop down and ban any products that it chooses, without

proving that the product is harmful.

 

As you know, dietary supplements, derived from entirely natural

sources, are not drugs. The federal Dietary Supplements Health and

Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) reflected the consensus of industry

experts, policymakers and consumers that supplements should not be

forced to endure prohibitively expensive and time-consuming trials

before being approved for sale to consumers.

 

With its new ephedra rule, the FDA violated that agreement. Supplement

manufacturers can now be required to " prove " that the benefits

associated with a particular supplement outweigh its alleged risks. In

other words, the FDA has found a back-door approach to treating

supplements as if they were drugs.

 

Congress should act to restore the sane regulatory environment that

consumers have benefited from for the last ten years, while retaining

the ban on ephedra. Congress should also authorize increased federal

research on dietary supplements, thereby increasing the likelihood that

future regulatory measures have a scientific basis.

 

DSHEA passes for one simple reason: the people wanted it. Congressional

offices received an unprecedented flood of constituent mail and

telephone calls demanding passage of the bill. Upon signing DSHEA into

law, the president said, " The passage of this legislation...speaks to

the diligence with which an unofficial army of nutritionally conscious

people worked democratically to change the laws in an area important to

them. "

 

Today, consumers must once again put the federal government on notice.

Tell your Congressman or Congresswoman that you want him/her to take

whatever action is necessary to maintain the regulatory regime

established 10 years ago under DSHEA, while taking ephedra off the

market. Consumers are encouraged to visit The Nutritional Health

Alliance website at www.nha2004.com <http://www.nha2004.com/> regularly

for up-to-the-minute news and information on the campaign to protect

your right to purchase safe and beneficial dietary supplements. Don't

let the FDA take your vitamins away! Write, e-mail or fax representative

in Congress today! Visit www.nha2004.com <http://www.nha2004.com/> today

for the name and address of your congressman, along with helpful tools

and sample letters for your convenience.

 

Together we can ensure that consumers have access to the dietary

supplements they have grown to depend on!

 

 

--

George DeCarlo (908) 322-4319

 

Population

 

Think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of

bacteria whose numbers double every forty years. Either the host dies, or the

virus dies, or both die.

Gore Vidal, U.S. novelist, critic. " Gods and Greens, " in Observer (London, 27

Aug. 1989)