Protection of Health Freedoms in the Balance - FDA & CODEX compliance

[Guest guest]

*Protection of Health Freedoms in the Balance

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By Lee Bechtel

National NHF Lobbyist

September 2009

 

http://www.thenhf.com/government_affairs/federal/gaf_222.htm

 

 

 

 

The biggest threat to Americans' health freedom continues to unfold with

the ongoing government-run, national health-insurance legislative debate

in Congress. The NHF is closely following this and asks NHF members to

register their opposition to the current plans being considered in

Congress. There are other Congressional " health " bills on the NHF

lobbying docket. Some are good and others bad for the ability of

Americans to exercise their health-freedom choices.

 

*FDA Codex Compliance*

 

For over ten years the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has

ignored its own Federal law by refusing to publish regulations exempting

dietary supplements from the Codex Alimentarius international

food-harmonization standards. The NHF and its President and Legal

Counsel, Scott Tips, have a long record of protecting supplements

against Codex, and with presenting NHF views and concerns before the

Codex commission and committees. The NHF is now participating in a joint

lobbying effort with the National Health Freedom Coalition (NHFC) and

Sunshine Health Freedom Foundation (SHFF) to force the FDA to put an end

to yet another long-standing FDA abuse of how it can regulate

supplements and other vitamins and minerals products. The NHF and SHFF

are actively engaged in getting legislative language passed that would

force the FDA to follow U.S. law forbidding harmonization with Codex

standards. The vehicle for change is the FDA 2010 funding bills, which

have passed the House and the Senate, and are currently in a conference

committee to resolve differences between the bills before being passed

again by both chambers. SHFF and NHF lobbyists have met with several

appropriate Congressional Members and staff but no final decisions have

been made.

 

The FDA failure to fully implement in regulation the requirements of the

1997 Modernization Act (PL 105-115) for over ten years is a serious

oversight that needs to be corrected. Consumers are concerned that

international food regulations, which are in conflict with existing US

law, may be harmonized by the FDA. Without new legislative direction

against the FDA, there will continue to be no FDA transparency or

accountability to Congress nor to the public when FDA Codex

representatives violate U.S. law by participating and agreeing with what

their international counterparts at Codex want to implement..

 

*Food Safety*

 

As previously shared with NHF members, the House passed H.R.2749, the

so-called Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. The NHF opposed the bill,

which was rushed through and passed under a " closed rule " preventing any

amendments or even any thoughtful debate. Unfortunately, with complete

control of the House of Representatives, the Democratic leadership in

the House consistently uses legislative procedures to shut out opposing

points of view as well as expression of concerns held by average

Americans about the direction of our country. Contrary to what voters in

the last election had hoped for, the Pelosi/Waxman/Dingell leadership

has turned our democratic legislative process into one that is more like

a Banana Republic. The House bill is currently in the Senate, and can

still be defeated when Congress reconvenes in September. More

information is available on the NHF website at

http://www.thenhf.com/government_affairs_federal.html.

 

*Federal Food Safety Agency*

 

The legislation of Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) to create a new

Food Safety Administration (FSA) within the Federal Department of Health

and Human Services, extending Federal control over foods and supplements

(H.R. 875), and a companion Senate bill, are effectively dead for the

remainder of this year. However, this does not mean that this issue

cannot come back in 2010. The NHF is opposed to this bill.

 

*Health Freedom Bills*

 

In the August NHF e-Newsletter to its members, six bills sponsored by

Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) were highlighted: (1) H.R.3394, the Freedom

of Health Speech Act, to amend the Federal Trade Commission Act

concerning the burden of proof in false advertising in cases involving

dietary supplements and dietary ingredients; (2) H.R.3395, the Health

Freedom Act, to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act

concerning claims about the effects of foods and dietary supplements on

health-related conditions and disease; (3) H.R.3396, the Congressional

Responsibility and Accountability Act, to prohibit Federal agencies from

enforcing rules until they are actually enacted by Congress; (4)

H.R.778, allowing interstate transport of unpasteurized milk; (5)

H.R.2629, the Coercion is Not Health Care Act, to protect people's

ability to make their own health-care decisions; and (6) H.R.2630, the

Protect Patients & Physicians Privacy Act, to ensure that patients are

free to opt out of a federally-mandated electronic system for

maintaining health-care information where shared. More information on

these bills is available on the NHF website under the Support column at

http://www.thenhf.com/government_affairs_federal.html.

 

*Congress Pushes FDA on Supplement Exemption*

 

In the Winter 2008 issue of /Health Freedom News/ (Vol.26:4), the

Lobbyist's Report commented on the FDA's published " Notice of Comments

for Proposed Rulemaking " on whether the interstate transportation of

dietary supplements should or should not be exempted from the definition

of prohibited food products subject to illegal interstate commerce. This

is yet another attempt by the FDA to regulate supplements as

*/conventional/* food products or as drugs, which the NHF opposes. The

NHF has consistently opposed any FDA efforts to exercise command and

control over people's rights to exercise their own independent judgments

on health freedom of care choices. In the 2010 Senate USDA/FDA spending

bill, just passed by the Senate, the Senate actually directed the FDA to

explain why it would even consider this course of regulatory action when

supplements are clearly regulated under the Dietary Supplement Health

and Education (DSHEA) section of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA).

 

The NHF does not support any legislative or regulatory efforts to

increase control over supplements and nutritional foods. They are

already regulated enough. This Congressional request to force the FDA to

explain why it is taking this action could help to resolve this issue

now and in the future, after more than one year of FDA foot dragging.

Unless the FDA acts in the coming months, the Agency will have to

explain its position to circumvent the DSHEA law to Congress and

regulate the interstate transport of supplements like illegal

conventional foods or food ingredients. This would negatively impact

supplement manufacturers, distributors, and people who use supplements

and consume nutritional foods. The NHF is closely monitoring this issue

and will further inform members as events unfold.

 

*More FDA Taxpayer Waste*

 

Also included in the Senate's FDA spending bill was the following tidbit

in the bill report accompanying it. In 2004, the FDA contracted with an

outside Human Resources company to do its hiring. A 2008 audit by the

Federal government's Office of Personnel Management (OPM) found that the

contract company had not been performing its services, and its authority

to hire individuals from outside the Government was suspended. The FDA

then made the decision to contract with another company, but has

continued by pay the suspended company for a service that is not being

provided. How many taxpayer dollars have been wasted? The OPM audit

suggests at least 20 million dollars. The spending approved for the FDA

for fiscal year 2010 will be around $2.9 billion. In government-spending

terms, especially in the current government spending spree, $20 million

in wasted taxpayer dollars for FDA mismanagement is just a drop in the

bucket. But it's still /our/ money -- wasted.

 

 

 

 

 

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