THE F.D.A. - A WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING

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THE F.D.A. - A WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING

 

 

 

 

 

By Byron J. Richards, CCN

 

July 7, 2006

 

NewsWithViews.com

 

The FDA has conveniently used the excuse of looking out for consumer

safety to increase their perverse regulatory power, undermine free

speech, disrupt commerce, and generally get in the way of helping

people improve their health. The " half-truth " of the safety issue is

used as a ploy to reduce the rights of Americans, one freedom at a

time. Once again, the FDA is seeking more police power to intimidate

supplement companies. This is one step in an overall FDA master plan

to eliminate therapeutic nutritional supplements from the free market.

Those who lose are the American public.

 

The newest piece of supplement-harassing legislation is the brainchild

of vitamin-hating Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), perennial attacker of

the supplement industry. S 3546, Dietary Supplement and

Nonprescription Drug Consumer Protection Act, is known as Adverse

Event Reporting (AER) legislation. It was introduced in the Senate on

June 21, 2006, by Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT), former supporter of the

supplement industry now turned gutless compromiser. It is backed by

large supplement industry spin groups like the Council for Responsible

Nutrition (CRN) and the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA).

CRN and NNFA have been infiltrated by Big Pharma and march to the drum

of globalization and the New World Order. Like Hatch, these groups

have placed themselves in a position of speaking for the supplement

industry. Unfortunately, they are rapidly taking on the colors of the

enemy.

 

The PR spin suggesting a " need " for this legislation is to protect

consumers and give consumers confidence in the supplement industry.

The only reason for any lack of consumer confidence is due to a

relentless and fraudulent persecution of supplements by the controlled

media acting on behalf of the sickness industry. It is an attempt to

divert public attention from the real safety issue of dangerous drugs

that kill several thousand Americans per week. Big Pharma is terrified

that the American public will flock to natural health options instead

of options that have death as a side effect.

 

Under the proposed legislation supplement manufacturers and

distributors would be required to report to the FDA serious adverse

reactions such as death or inpatient hospitalization. Such

requirements seem plausible to any person with common sense; however,

it is already a simple matter to file an adverse event report for any

drug, medical device, or dietary supplement. The FDA's MedWatch

program offers a toll free number. Forms for filing complaints are

readily available on their website. Furthermore, supplements are so

safe such reactions are very infrequent. Why is legislation needed for

a nonexistent problem?

 

The way the legislation is written a person could blame vitamins for

almost anything, even if they are on multiple drugs or have

pre-existing serious health problems. While the legislation states

that the need to file a serious adverse event report is not an

admission of guilt, some feel it will lead to frivolous law suits.

 

If AER legislation becomes law, the FDA will need to issue

regulations. It is easy to predict that:

 

1. The FDA will charge supplement companies user fees for AER

functions (as they currently do with drug companies).

2. The FDA will use supplements as a scapegoat for adverse effects

that are caused by drugs.

3. Agreeing to such legislation implies there is an actual need

for it. This shifts the burden of proof from government to supplement

companies, undermining free commerce, citizen's rights, and existing

legislation that protects consumer access to health options (DSHEA).

4. The legislation will be a springboard for future FDA efforts to

regulate supplements as prescription drugs and implement draconian

Codex supplement guidelines, plunging alternative health for Americans

into the Dark Ages.

 

If all that isn't bad enough, tucked into the legislation is a

requirement for supplement companies to keep records of any adverse

event reported to them for the past six years. The bill says, " The

term adverse event means any health-related event associated with the

use of a dietary supplement that is adverse. " This is far different

than a serious adverse event. In another words, any symptom a person

associates with taking a vitamin that in their opinion is improper

will need to be recorded as an adverse event. Such reports need to be

open for FDA inspection at any time. This legislation is nothing more

than an FDA harassment vehicle.

 

As the owner of a nutritional company, Wellness Resources, and a

clinician with twenty years of experience working with supplements, I

can tell you that such a requirement is absolutely absurd.

 

The number of variables associated with the possible cause of a

symptom is staggering: the pre-existing health and fitness of the

individual, current medications, changes in weather, emotional stress,

junk food consumption, food poisoning, a lack of sleep – the list is

almost endless. It is drugs that kill at least 100,000 Americans per

year and send 1.6 million people to the hospital with true adverse

reactions. Drugs are poisons that require physician dispensing and

monitoring. Rarely do supplements cause any type of significant

adverse reaction. There is a huge difference. Due to stringent

production standards, supplements are far safer than food!

 

Take the simple fact that half of Americans have digestive problems.

The overuse of antibiotics and sugar-laden diets make us the world

leaders in gas, bloating, indigestion, and constipation. No country in

the world can beat us in antacid and laxative use.

 

One example is the common problem of Candida albicans (a digestive

yeast infection) occurring after antibiotic use, especially recurring

antibiotic use. This issue is at epidemic levels in America, a problem

caused by incompetent medical care. It can ruin lives, sending people

down a path of chronic problems with digestion, sinuses, allergies,

thyroid function, autoimmune problems, depression, and fatigue. In

small children it can easily cause a life of asthma or lead to serious

learning, developmental, immunological, or mental disorders.

 

Since doctors appear virtually incapable of recognizing the problem or

helping a person recover, and they typically create the problem in the

first place, patients frequently turn to alternative health.

Thankfully for many, the proper use of vitamins and diet can restore

health and prevent what may otherwise be a lifetime of misery.

 

Under current FDA repression of free speech, we aren't supposed to

tell someone what their problem is or how supplements can help them.

Those with MDiety syndrome deny the problem even exists! People with

Candida frequently have various symptoms that come and go and could

easily be considered adverse, both because of the problem itself and

due to the process of normal recovery (which can be likened to pulling

weeds out of a lawn, wherein the lawn is the digestive tract).

 

Under the proposed legislation, if a person gets nauseous or a

headache after taking a supplement (which is referred to as " die off "

and a relatively common occurrence), and complains about it, we would

have to record it as an adverse event. Soon, the supplements that

truly help people would be gone. Of course, individuals with Candida

get headaches and nausea from eating sugar, consuming artificial

sweeteners, or drinking alcohol. In this case, these substances are

actually making them worse. Shouldn't the entire food industry have to

keep track of " adverse " events?

 

As a supplement company I will incur costs trying to explain to people

what their symptoms mean so as to prevent having to file an adverse

event report, keeping track of symptoms in a six year file, and

defending myself from FDA harassment. The burden of proof for the

safety of supplement products will shift from the government to the

supplement companies, counter to existing law. Needless cost will be

passed on to the consumer. Much worse, truly helpful supplements will

be targeted for removal from the market so as to eliminate competition

for drugs (the true FDA intent).

 

Sooner or later I will be asking myself, why should I bother trying to

help anybody? And that is exactly what the FDA would like me to think.

The FDA does not want useful supplements as a health option for the

American public. Candida albicans is one of many similar issues, like

fibromyalgia, depressed immunity, and chronic fatigue. Tens of

millions of Americans are suffering at the hands of the inept medical

care of the sickness industry. In many cases, high quality nutrition

offers a true option for a return to health.

 

The pharmaceutical companies that make garbage synthetic vitamins and

seek to mass-market their junk to the American public have nothing to

worry about. Their products are so useless they don't produce a health

effect of any kind. It is only the companies that are truly helping

people that will be harassed. Many of the large pharmaceutical-linked

companies that comprise CRN and NNFA want this legislation. Its costs

will place all the small and innovative nutritional companies at a

serious disadvantage.

 

The FDA is actively engaged in a series of steps to take away useful

nutrition as a health option for Americans. All the FDA plans to leave

on the market is watered-down trash. The useful supplements will

become prescription items of Big Pharma. I fully explain and document

this FDA plan in Fight for Your Health. [Read " Fight For Your Health " ]

 

Adverse event reporting is addressing a non-existent problem. It is

seeking to shift the legal burned of proof to supplement companies. It

is targeted to harass small and truly helpful nutritional companies.

It plays on the false need for improved safety as the excuse to gain

further regulatory control of the supplement industry. It is a ploy by

the FDA and various bought-off members of Congress to further harass

supplement companies, setting the stage for Codex implementation and

overturning U.S. law that gives consumers access to a wide variety of

supplements.

 

The FDA has a one-hundred year history of promoting and protecting

drug sales, while stamping out competition. Congress should make the

FDA do its real job, that of protecting the American public from the

dangerous use of drugs and cleaning up the massive adulteration of our

food supply. Congress should quit behaving like a pawn in the FDA/Big

Pharma game. The FDA is the group in need of a total makeover. Senator

Durbin is in need of retirement (2008 if we are lucky). Senator Hatch

needs to look in a mirror and find his soul. Our government needs to

quit attacking the good guys and impeding safe and effective health

options for Americans.

 

Call your Senators today (202-225-3121). Tell them no on S-3546.

 

© 2006 Byron J. Richards -

 

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Byron J. Richards, Founder/Director of Wellness Resources, is a

Board-Certified Clinical Nutritionist and nationally-renowned health

expert, radio personality, educator, and author.

 

Richards encourages individuals to take charge of their health, stand

up for their health rights, and not blindly succumb to propaganda from

the vested-interests who profit from keeping Americans sick. " Author

of Mastering Leptin and Fight for Your Health. Richards is now joining

forces with health freedom leaders in the U.S. and throughout the

world. " Independent journalist and health blogger. "

 

As founder of Wellness Resources, Inc. of Minneapolis, MN (since

1985), he has personally developed 75 unique pharmaceutical-grade

nutritional formulas. " Charter Member of the International and

American Associations of Clinical Nutritionists (IAACN) (since 1991) "

Intriguing Health Speaker - Richards has presented hundreds of

educational classes to health professionals and individuals who want

to take charge of their health!

 

E-mail: byron