This is an action alert to those interested in protecting their right to participate in their own healthcare through diet and supplements.
Maybe I am doing this issue a disservice by opening with the greed factor in the attempt to regulate supplements as drugs. But from my consumer perspective, the corporate pigs in pharma are at the trough again, attempting to gobble up another freedom.
Today I have my helmet and flak jacket on because the last time I posted on the topic lots of rotten tomatos and squishy fruit got lobbed my way. Diet and nutrition seem to be one very hot topic on dkos!
more follows........
After weeding through tons of "the sky is falling" types of comments regarding supposed attacks on nutritional supplements, I have isolated three main and real attacks on our health freedom. I’m only going to explain one of them today as there is a SUNDAY NIGHT deadline to act.
All three of these attacks not only are on the supplement industry, but health foods as well. All attacks are an attempt to weaken or replace the DSHEA Act. DSHEA –stands for "Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act."
This is a law that was passed in the U.S. in 1994 during a previous period when the U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) was trying to restrict our access to nutritional supplements. Due to a huge outcry by the American public, Congress unanimously passed the DSHEA Act and it is what gives us the legal right to consume and sell supplements, health foods and juices.
The attacks on DSHEA are coming from multiple directions therefore we must defend in multiple directions, but all attacks appear to be coming from one source, the Pharmaceutical industry – through the FDA. The act before the Senate is S1082.
Health food and supplements are a huge threat to the pharmaceutical industry. Healthy people give little or no money to drug companies. Nutrition and health companies are competition to the Pharmaceutical companies.
A study released in May 2004 from the National Institute of Health showed that 1/3 of all American adults use some form of alternative therapy, spending tens of billions annually.
Americans now spend more on complementary and alternative types of products and therapies than they do on conventional health care professionals. This document has no doubt been seen by the pharmaceutical companies; which is why they have escalated their attack on health freedom.
How this happened is important. The movement is a grassroots movement, instead of one instigated by politics and businesses. The grassroots movement came about because people did not like the options they were being given by conventional medicine - options like drugs, surgery, amputation, chemotherapy. People decided to look for "alternative" choices. Those alternative choices, such as nutrition, herbs, chiropractic care, raw fruit and vegetable juices, etc., were much more palatable.
Many times people find the alternatives work just as well (if not better) but with no side effects. There is a Health Freedom grassroots movement that has continued to grow to where now 1/3 of adults in the USA are using some form of alternative therapy.
The drug companies will not "roll over" and let this happen without a fight. They are using all resources available to them – money, media and political contacts. But NEVER forget that this started and can be won as a grassroots movement - as long as those that are part of the movement actually fight for their rights.
So how do we fight? We can’t win using just our words. No, this is a strategic game and is rigged in a particular way. The FDA's bosses are the members of the U.S. Congress and the Senate. They are the on the frontline. We win by communicating with Congress and the Senate. This is not a difficult fight. Here’s the game plan on how to win the game of health freedom:
Get enough people to tell their Congressperson and their Senators that we demand health freedom! It is really as simple as that.
What You Can Do:
- Call, fax, phone, and write your Senators and tell them you are opposed to bill S1082 - Food and Drug Administration Revitalization Act. Tell them you want no legislation of any kind that will enable the FDA to frivolously attack dietary supplements. Tell them you do not want Big Pharma funding the FDA with user fees for drug approvals. Demand an independent office within the FDA to monitor drug safety. And tell them you want full disclosure by Big Pharma of all their clinical trials. Tell them you support the Grassley legislation (S467 and S468) which offers true reform of the FDA.
- Tell your Senators you are completely opposed to any law that would enable the FDA to act as a drug company, such as S1082, which is proposing the formation of the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA.
- Sign this petition demanding congressional oversight of the FDA’s Trilateral Cooperation Charter – a key point the FDA is using to illegally support the formation of the North American Union while at the same time undermining health freedom. This is the FDA’s front line attack that undermines American law and seeks to harmonize us with the laws of other countries. We must win this battle to stop Codex and preserve our health freedom – including access to therapeutic dietary supplements and all alternative health options.
For those who want to dig deeper:
Studies on cancer and nutrition.
Links to many CAM - Complimentary and Alternative Medicine -
studies.
An interesting finding on bone density through a CAM study.
The Mayo Clinic's cautionary guidelines.
A National Institute of Health guide to CAM, and a list of some ongoing CAM studies. If you are new to these trials, the extent of the studies being undertaken may surprise you.
A link to the site doing much of the organizing on this issue.
You may be surprised to learn that Senator Ted Kennedy is backing this movement.
From the link above:
S1082 is a Trojan Horse bill that pretends to address safety issues. Unbelievably, the bill turns the FDA into a drug development company that will expose Americans to new and dangerous biological drugs that have little testing to prove safety or effectiveness. And to top it off, the bill gives broad new regulatory powers to the FDA that can be used to frivolously attack dietary supplements and forward the FDA management’s anti-American globalization agenda.
On April 18, 2007, S1082 was approved by the HELP committee (which Kennedy and Enzi control) and now moves to the floor of the Senate. In a slick move, Kennedy has attached his long-planned FDA/Big Pharma "reform" measures to the renewal of PDUFA (Prescription Drug User Fee Act). Current PDUFA law expires later this year and must be reviewed by Congress. PDUFA allows Big Pharma to pay the FDA fees to speed the approval of its drugs. The new Kennedy bill will increase these FDA bribes to 380 million dollars in 2008, well over 50% of the FDA budget for new drug approvals. This is like paying the mob for protection. Kennedy, by replacing the existing PDUFA law with this new bill (S1082), is ensuring that his twisted legislation is the one that will be put before the Senate for a vote.
Senator Charles Grassley, a diehard conservative Republican, is the most vigorous opponent to this bill in the Senate. As Grassley told the Senate:
"Let me be clear: Big Pharma does not like these bills. FDA management does not like these bills. Lobbyists are spending hours upon hours lobbying against these bills...What is wrong with establishing a separate center within the FDA--not outside the FDA, within the FDA--with its only job being that of a watchdog for those drugs already in the market?...What is wrong with supporting a clinical trial registry and results database that also requires sponsors to reveal their negative trials?...I propose there is nothing wrong with any of these proposals."
The link cited continues:
The situation is rather grave for all Americans. Kennedy has attached repressive legislation to replace the PDUFA funding thereby ensuring that his agenda will come before the Senate for a vote. The only real opposition to the legislation is coming from Grassley, who is attacking the weakness in FDA reform regarding drug safety and clinical trials. An even greater threat to the public – turning the FDA into a drug company and creating new regulatory powers that can be used to attack dietary supplements and remove them from the market – is being ignored by everyone – until now. Kennedy knows he can defeat Grassley and keep Grassley’s bills from ever seeing the light of day. Can Kennedy defeat the American public? Solving this problem is up to you.
Wow! Grassley the conservative is acting like a real conservative wanting to protect an individual freedom. As much as I dislike almost all of his politics, he has my back on this one - I control a chronic disease with supplements - and Teddy, who has been my hero on more occasions than I can count - is on the other side of this one.
My brain needs a break. Ready, aim, fire those tomatos!