Oppose Senate Bill - 3546

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NATIONAL HEALTH FEDERATION PRESS RELEASEOPPOSE SENATE BILL- 3546: Dietary Supplement & Nonprescription/drug Consumer Protection ActONE MORE APPEAL: Please read and respond to you U.S. Senators (with the link at bottom).OUR HEALTH IS AT STAKE! ~~~~~~~ EVERY VOICE COUNTS!PRESS RELEASETIME IS OF THE ESSENCES. 3546 IS GOING to the SENATE FLOOR this WEEK!The Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription and Drug Consumer Protection Act(Adverse Event Reporting)MUST BE OPPOSEDS. 3546 Will be voted on Soon!CONTACT YOUR SENATORS TODAYASK YOUR SENATORS TO OPPOSE THIS LEGISLATION AND UNANIMOUS CONSENTSenate Voting Factors - S. 3546 may be placed before the Senators as a Roll call vote (which we support) or by Unanimous Consent (which we oppose). Unanimous Consent may be requested by a Senator and, once requested, will expedite the proceedings so as to rush this bill through to passage.There is no time to be lost. Today, not tomorrow, tell your Senators to OPPOSE Unanimous Consent and ask that they NOT support this extremely harmful legislation.Reasons to Oppose S. 3546a.. It will establish mandatory adverse event reporting for dietary supplements and over-the-counter drug manufacturers.b.. Supplements have a proven track record of safety and should not be treated as drugs.c.. If passed, it would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) and will mandate needless FDA regulations that will treat supplements like drugs. DSHEA 's intent was for supplements to be regulated as foods, not drugs.d.. It will raise the price of supplements to consumers.a.. If passed, this bill could destroy the availability of effective dietary supplements in the U.S. by wrongfully associating their usage with serious health events when in fact it is often the drugs and other interventions taken by the patients that actually led to the serious event.b.. It will ensure more federal regulation on supplements and more controls being imposed your healthcare choices.a.. The FDA currently has in place a voluntary reporting system that is working quite well since its inception in 2003. The FDA itself has already testified that it does not need AER reporting for supplements.b.. There are already FDA toll-free numbers and FDA Form 3500 in place for anyone to submit any drug, device, or dietary supplement that has seriously harmed anyone.c.. Senator Durbin has pushed extremely hard for the passage of a mandatory AER bill and his term does not end until 2008. We must stop Durbin and stop him now.d.. As stated by our lobbyist, Lee Bechtel, "The true purpose of the AER system is to empower the FDA to take supplements off the market upon the least, little hint (one single report if Durbin has his way) that "harm" has occurred, even if that report is spurious."e.. If enacted, AER reporting would establish legislative and regulatory basis for the FDA to make manufacturers pay "supplement User Fees" to fund AER functions, costing the consumer.f.. It would give the FDA more control over market access for new supplement products.g.. The AER system would unfairly impact the small natural-products companies. If an AER is reported, the FDA demands drug-like safety data from the manufacturer, which will be extremely expensive for the "little guys" versus the big supplement companies, many owned by pharmaceutical companies. Many small companies will just have to close their doors and competition will be reduced.h.. The end result of this anti-supplement consumer legislation is that more people will die than would be saved as affordable healthy supplements will be priced out of the market.There are at least 60 million or more supplement users and health-freedom advocates opposed to this legislation. NOW IS OUR TIME TO BE HEARD.THIS COULD TRULY BEGIN THE DOWNFALL OF DSHEA LEGISLATION THAT WE ALL WORKED SO HARD TO HAVE PASSED IN 1994.HELP THE NHF SAVE YOUR RIGHTS TO BUY AND USE SUPPLEMENTS. CLICK ON THE LINKS PROVIDED BELOW TO HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD TODAY.OPPOSE S. 3546Go to these links at the NHF website to OPPOSE S. 3546 :Bill informationBill analysis by NHF Lobbyist, Lee BechtelSample Petition LetterClick on this address to find your U.S. Senators: http://www.senate.gov

Doc Shillington727-447-5282Doc