Update from Washington, D.C.

[Guest guest]

Here's an update from my lobbyist friend who is working long

and hard in Wash. DC to defend our Health Freedoms.

Greg has my complete confidence and backing.  I've seen him fight and

get some unbelievable results.

 

Please help in any way you can. 

We all can spread the word and help get people to join the American

Wellness Coalition.

If you know of other health groups that may want to join up, please

inform them of this group.

When this group wins, we will all win ! 

We must find a "common

ground", take a stand, fight and win !!

 

Thanking you in advance for your support,

 

Valorie Shillington

 

 

Great to hear from you Greg and a

Happy New Year to you as well !

 

I know exactly what you are running into with groups who won't work

with other groups.  We were part of a group in New Mexico and it was

difficult getting agreement on what was "natural" and what was"invasive

or medical".  There needs to be attention put, as I can see you are

doing, on the fact that we will have "no freedoms" unless

we find the

"common ground", take a stand and fight from there.  Once we

have some

freedom, the details can all be worked out later and groups can divide

out based on beliefs at that point but not now.

 

You have my admiration and support in your vital venture.

 

ML, Valorie

 

American Wellness Coalition wrote:

 

AMERICAN WELLNESS COALITION

TO DEFEND OUR HEALTH

January 13, 2009

Dear Valorie,

Happy New Year! I hope

your holidays were wonderful.

Congress has returned

from the elections and the holidays. The 111th Congress has been sworn

in. This means you'll start hearing from me again. I've got a lot to

tell you about in the coming weeks.

Since my last

communication, I met with several health policy staff assistants to

Senators and Representatives. I introduced the Coalition, and asked

them if they were aware the Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) were

cracking down on natural health companies that posted testimonials

from satisfied customers on their websites. They weren't aware of the

specific cases I referred to, but as soon as they saw the language

in these testimonials, they all said, "Oh, these are health claims. You

can't do that." I said, "But if these are true stories, why can't they

be shared with other consumers?" I was told, "It's the law. Only drugs

can make health claims. If nutritional supplement companies want to

make such claims, they need to classify their products as drugs and go

through the same clinical trials all drugs have to go through to be

approved by the FDA."

Obviously, this law needs to be changed. It's un-American for

companies to be prohibited from posting true success stories of their

customers. And it's outrageous that only drugs can make health claims.

But it's no easy task to reform the law, especially when organized

medicine and pharmaceutical companies will fight any such change. And

my last five years of experience as a lobbyist taught me that no single

person or group can change the law on their own. No matter who you are,

you need to unite with other groups who share a common purpose, and

work as a team, coordinating actions. Grow the team as large as

possible to overwhelm any opposition with momentum and sheer numbers.

So I've also started contacting leaders of other natural health

and health freedom groups. And I met with one of them today -- the

American Association for Health Freedom. I told this group's

leader that we need to work together, and do joint lobbying

meetings. And I told her we need to bring other groups into a much

larger coalition.

She agreed, but said it will be hard to bring all the groups

together. Apparently, they don't work well together. Certain groups

refuse to be linked with other groups, etc. She didn't go into greater

detail than that, and wouldn't name names, but this is a problem. There

is no way the natural health and health freedom communities will win

this fight to defend our health unless all the groups join together and

fight as a team.

That's what I'm going to push for. I offered my assistance to this

first group, and I've got a meeting with another group later this week.

I'm going to introduce myself to all the key players in D.C., offer my

assistance, start finding the common ground, and start piecing together

a legislative reform agenda we can all work on.

After I meet with the lobbyist for the second group, I'll send you

another update and let you know what reform bills these two groups are

looking to advance in 2009-2010.

That’s it for now.  Please feel free to give me any

feedback and make any recommendations you have.

Thanks for your help.  It’s an honor to

represent you in Washington!

With warmest regards,

Greg

Greg Mitchell

Representing the American

Wellness Coalition in Washington,

D.C.

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