Senator McCain targets dietary supplements in new bill

[barbara]

There is a link below that will allow U.S. residents to send a letter to their representatives to oppose this bill. Personally, I am very much against such legislation.


February 9, 2010
New Bill Seeks to Ban Consumer Access to Dietary Supplements

Senator John McCain has introduced a bill that if passed will drive up the cost of dietary supplements and restrict your access to them.

This bill seeks to give the FDA complete and arbitrary control over what supplements you are allowed to have. I am writing you about this and a far more important matter.

If you believe in the science of mathematics, you may have noticed that this country is descending into financial oblivion. There is a debate as to whether this is the fault of the private or governmental sector.

My position is simple. If it were not for the technological advances made possible by private enterprise, the adverse effects of governmental ineptitude would have rendered this nation insolvent decades ago. Said differently, if it were not for the increases in productivity and reductions in costs made possible by free enterprise, government waste and fraud would have already destroyed us.

By way of example, Life Extension has approximately 300 employees today. We develop dietary supplement formulations and make them available at lower relative prices each year. If it were not for our private enterprise-invented computers, it would require several thousand employees to do the same work. That would mean higher prices and inferior products for you, assuming we remained solvent.

Senator John McCain (and others) is proposing to squander tax-debt dollars by mandating more government waste, while sticking the private sector with oppressive laws that will hinder scientific advances and increase costs. The net effect will be to take away your free access to dietary supplements.

Pharmaceutical interests are obviously behind this latest effort to legislatively force more Americans towards expensive prescription drugs and away from natural ways of preventing degenerative disease.

In normal times, I would ask each of you to e-mail Congress to demand that they refuse to co-sponsor the bill that John McCain introduced in the Senate. But these are far from normal times.

You should instead use John McCain?s bill as an example of the rampant tax-debt fraud being perpetrated by Washington, D.C., politicians and bureaucrats. Please use our convenient legislative action center to e-mail your Senators and Representative to not only protest against this corrupt piece of legislation, but every government project that contributes to an impossible-to-pay-back federal debt.

(Note: This communication is not an attack on John McCain or any other elected official. Many Senators would have been deceived by pharmaceutical lobbyists as you will soon read.)

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO LET CONGRESS
KNOW THAT YOU DON?T WANT THIS BILL ENACTED

http://www.capwiz.com/lef/issues/alert/?alertid=14665781&type=CO

For longer life,

William Faloon
Life Extension

 

[barbara]

Senator Udall responds to my letter

Here's the reply I got from one of my Senators. Please tell me where he stands on this issue.

March 11, 2010


Dear Barbara,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010 (S. 3002). I appreciate that you took the time to share your specific views with me.

As you know, the Dietary Supplement Safety Act would establish a number of new regulatory requirements for dietary supplements. Among the list of proposed guidelines, the bill requires that all new dietary ingredients be considered safe based on historical use and other evidence affirming the ingredient's safety. In addition, this legislation gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recall authority over all dietary supplements, an authority that does not exist under current law. This bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions for its review. While I am not a member of this particular panel, you can be sure that I understand the important role of dietary supplements in the personal health decisions of thousands of Coloradans, and I will certainly keep your thoughts in mind should this legislation - or similar legislation - make its way before the full Senate for consideration.

I will continue to listen closely to what you and other Coloradans have to say about matters before Congress, the concerns of our communities, and the issues facing Colorado and the nation. My job is not about merely supporting or opposing legislation; it is also about bridging the divide that has paralyzed our nation's politics. For more information about my positions and to learn how my office can assist you, please visit my website at www.markudall.senate.gov.


Warm regards,

Signature

Mark Udall
U.S. Senator, Colorado

 

[barbara]

Latest news on McCain's bill

McCain?s Anti-Supplement Bill Appears Dead ? For Now
Monday, March 08, 2010 - Byron Richards, CCN


Senator John McCain showed his true colors as a big-government regulator when he recently introduced a bill, S.3002, that would have drastically impaired access to dietary supplements in the U.S. He expected his bill to be popular, at least amongst Democrats, and did not expect any significant opposition. After all, McCain is in a serious primary struggle with J.D. Hayworth and could very well lose his Senate seat in Arizona?s August primary vote. The fact that he seriously misrepresented the dietary supplement industry to promote this legislation quickly showed him as not even understanding his own bill. Then he found himself on the receiving end of communications from tens of thousands of irate supplement users ? as did many other members of Congress. Now he is trying to quietly back out, as his staff has acknowledged that he has withdrawn support for his own bill.

McCain himself has not yet made any public statements to this effect. However, a letter from Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT) to McCain has been posted on the McCain senate website and indicates the current bill is dead.

What isn?t dead is the non-stop expansion of regulatory policy by the Obama Administration?s FDA and FTC. These issues don?t have anything to do with new laws; they have to do with the policy interpretation and consequent implementation of existing laws. Both the FDA and FTC are in a new highly aggressive anti-supplement strategy that is sending shock waves through the industry and spells grave concern for the future of dietary supplements.

Last week the FDA sent warning letters to 17 food companies and issued an open letter to the industry. While some of the FDA points are logical, the policy details in their warning letters indicate draconian implementation of regulation directed at an industry so as to limit consumer access to valuable health information and products. In particular, the warning letter sent to Pom Wonderful, while containing a number of valid regulatory points under current law, also contains policy interpretation that is targeted to prevent any company from explaining news and science relating to the ingredients in products they sell. This is a ludicrous interpretation of law and represents extreme suppression of the 1st Amendment. However, Pom Wonderful is in such a weak legal position to counter valid FDA points that it is unlikely they will protest this expansion of FDA abuse. What will the FDA do next??

Similarly, in February the FTC attacked a number of dietary supplement companies for making structure/function claims relating to the clear benefits of DHA for vision and intelligence in children. The FTC says such claims are fraudulent even though they are backed by an overwhelming body of science and are not making any disease claims ? they are simply promoting health benefits that can be made under current FDA law. It is unclear at this time if any of the companies receiving the warning letters are going to fight the FTC in court, as doing so costs at least $500,000. However, agreeing with the FTC in a decree enables the FTC to set a new policy precedent that stifles free speech and is itself an extreme disservice to the health of Americans.

There are several points consumers should understand. Actions of the Obama Administration?s regulatory agencies affecting natural health options are more repressive than at any point in the last decade ? this is squarely on the shoulders of the cigarette-smoking Obama. The backwards-leaning regulation of the dietary supplement industry by the Obama Administration is clearly at odds with science, which has now proven conclusively that nutrition is a primary reason for the prevention and treatment of disease. The fact that existing laws are at odds with an overwhelming body of science is showing that regulators are little more than stooges and puppets of the pharmaceutical industry (the real source of skyrocketing health care costs in America). The fact that our government is pushing authoritarian regulation under the false pretense of protecting consumers is a travesty against a free people. Health freedom is a leading indicator of the overall freedom in any society, as can be demonstrated by numerous historical examples. Control a population?s health and you control their free will. Leaders who truly value a free society will do everything in their power to promote health freedom ? as they do not fear a population of independent thinkers.

The McCain bill or any compromise on it with Orin Hatch still needs to be watched closely. The Obama Administration?s regulators need to get a life. Health freedom in the United States continues to teeter on the edge of a cliff, as do a number of other basic freedoms we take for granted.