Another Bill trying to make supplements prescription only

[enzo1]

Oppose New House Legislation That Would Restrict Access to Dietary Supplements
Congress is considering new legislation that would take away your access to safe, effective and affordable dietary supplements, and we need your help to urge your elected officials to Save Our Supplements.

The Dietary Supplement Access and Awareness Act (H.R. 3156), introduced by Representatives Susan Davis (D-CA), Henry Waxman (D-CA) and John Dingell (D-MI), would place dietary supplements under unprecedented and unwarranted scrutiny. H.R. 3156 would subject dietary supplements, including vitamins, minerals, and herbs, to even stricter oversight than these products experienced prior to the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) in 1994. DSHEA already gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) all the authority it needs to police the marketplace and keep bad products from being sold.

If H.R. 3156 becomes law, 70 percent of dietary supplements currently on the market would become subject to burdensome new regulations – some equivalent to those required for prescription drugs. The result? Higher costs for the supplements you depend on and the very real possibility that vitamins, minerals and herbs you depend on for good health might disappear from store shelves.

You can protect your access to dietary supplements. Write your members of Congress in the space provided below. Let your lawmaker know that good laws exist on the books, and the FDA needs to enforce them. Please share your personal supplement story, so that your lawmaker understands why it’s important to protect your access to dietary supplements.


If you want to do something about it you can send letter via this website very easily.

http://capwiz.com/nnfa/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7879031

Another great website with tons of letters. Just add your name and off they go.

http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/action/

If we don't keep fighting against this crap they will eventually take it away. Last week in rome at the Codex meeting we gave up some rights which is what is initaiting this stupid bill. Please fight for our rights to make our own decisions regarding supplements.

 

[kwyckemynd00]

DAMNIT! Why in the world do they harass sports supplement users? WTF? :rant: Just simply because we're a small group of people, other are jealous of us, and they can.

 

[anadrol75]

These people have one general interest in common, MONEY! By cutting out supplements they are just fueling the black market. One thing is for sure, there will always be that next new thing.

 

[SJA]

I can't help but notice that they are all Democrats. I thought that they were stereotypically liberal???

 

[MaynardMeek]

they are also more social.. and the faster you bring everything together into one lump, that can do pretty much the same thing, the sooner you can have full government control over said things and give them to the people for "free" only when needed...

this wasn't a very well thought out post, but i will go back later when i wake up and do it again . .but i hope you get the point of it

 

[Beelzebub]

multi-vitamin solution - research purposes only. :wtf:

 

[Nullifidian]

These "Democrats" are actually Socialists. They just want to bring everything under government control. They are not interested in freedom.

 

[joecski]

These people have one general interest in common, MONEY! By cutting out supplements they are just fueling the black market. One thing is for sure, there will always be that next new thing.

It's not just fueling the black market. Who do you think is going to produce and deliver all these supplements??? How about this - who is one of (if not the) biggest lobbying blocks in Washington? The answer to both is big pharmaceutical companies. Do you think maybe they see the huge supplement market and realize they can get a nice profit from it. Instead of competing in the free market, they are having the government legislate the competetion out the window and handing big pharma the prize!

I would also think the doctors, health insurance companies, and pharmacies will find a way to profit from all of this.

One last thought, my father-in-law went to the doctor, and in addition to his four other prescriptions(high blood pressure, etc), one was for folic acid in 1g doses. He paid $20 for 100 tablets. The week before, I had gone to Walmart and bought folic acid, 800mgs for $4. I told him this, he didn't realize folic acid was available over the counter. He called his doctor, who told him he could buy the Walmart brand and just take 1 and a half a day. The difference is basically a savings of $56 a year. This doesn't seem huge, but it is for a single supplement. Imagine the price of a multivitamin or even vitamin c once you have to pay all the middle men to get it! I guess this really stresses the need to have a great diet and get all your dietary requirements that way, until we have the Food Access and Awareness Act!

 

[wastedwhiteboy2]

I agree we are small but bringing all the boards together could make a dent. usually the people that get things done are the vocal ones.

 

[joecski]

I agree we are small but bringing all the boards together could make a dent. usually the people that get things done are the vocal ones.

Agreed. However, I think the big boys, like maybe the AARP, will be the ones to get this killed. After all, seniors are major players in the market for vitamins and supps. Walk down the vitamin aisle in Walmart, there are more supps to help eyesight, hearing, and bone/joint problems than you can count.

That being said, it can't hurt to hit one of those websites and send some letters!

 

[VanillaGorilla]

I can't help but notice that they are all Democrats. I thought that they were stereotypically liberal???

I don't really think this is a right or left issue. While this bill happens to be sponsered by all democrats republican have had thier own bills in the past. Just look at the prohormone ban. It had bipartisan support and I am not even sure if one politician voted against it. I think the real problem is the pharmasitcal companies give hefty politcal donations on both sides. The pharmasitical companies don't like supplement companies and if there was a law put into place where you needed a percription to get vitamin C they are going to be the ones to benifit. The suplement companies do not even come close to lobbying as much as pharm companies. Another problem is there is a divide between the sports supplemts industry and the natural "homeopathic" vitamin industry. What you will probably see in the near future is another steriod bill with a trojan horse restricting the sales of vitamins. They do everything by incrementalism. Throw a frog in boil water and it's going to jump out. Throw a frog in room tempature water and slowly turn the heat up and you'll be having frog legs for dinner. They do this from everything from gas prices to taxes. In the 50s the taxes rat was some where below 5 %. Today it's about 30 %. What would have happened if they went from 5 to 30 % in a two year period? Every politician in office would have been thrown out of office.

 

[joecski]

I don't really think this is a right or left issue. While this bill happens to be sponsered by all democrats republican have had thier own bills in the past. Just look at the prohormone ban. It had bipartisan support and I am not even sure if one politician voted against it. I think the real problem is the pharmasitcal companies give hefty politcal donations on both sides. The pharmasitical companies don't like supplement companies and if there was a law put into place where you needed a percription to get vitamin C they are going to be the ones to benifit. The suplement companies do not even come close to lobbying as much as pharm companies. Another problem is there is a divide between the sports supplemts industry and the natural "homeopathic" vitamin industry. What you will probably see in the near future is another steriod bill with a trojan horse restricting the sales of vitamins. They do everything by incrementalism. Throw a frog in boil water and it's going to jump out. Throw a frog in room tempature water and slowly turn the heat up and you'll be having frog legs for dinner. They do this from everything from gas prices to taxes. In the 50s the taxes rat was some where below 5 %. Today it's about 30 %. What would have happened if they went from 5 to 30 % in a two year period? Every politician in office would have been thrown out of office.

:goodpost:
Hey VG, I think this is the first post in 2 days we agree on! :lol:
Seriously, you hit the nail on the head here, we are slowly losing our freedoms to the controlling factions in the country.

 

[wastedwhiteboy2]

I wouldnt say right or left either. I blame the media. I even hear police officers tell me that they target whatever is in the media at the time. ie. meth, gangs, speeders...

 

[shootmeagain]

...introduced by Representatives Susan Davis (D-CA), Henry Waxman (D-CA) and John Dingell (D-MI), would place dietary supplements under unprecedented and unwarranted scrutiny...

Seems to me it would be a big step in the right direction to pull a Lex Luthor and nuke the San Andreas fault to drop CA in the ocean.

 

[mtruther]

I can't help but notice that they are all Democrats. I thought that they were stereotypically liberal???

Eh, this is a liberal thing in a lot of ways. It's giving the government as much oversight as possible over everything. This is hardly free economics; it's the government saying that it knows what is better for you than you do and that you can't possibly make this complex of an educated decision on your own, so you need help. This originates from the same mentality that fueled the ruling that local governments have a right to take your home if they want in order to raise revenue. It's not banning a specific substance that has been proven to be dangerous, but instead heavily regulating anything that might potentially harm someone.

There are other things driving this, as well. There's a Democratic Senator who has been pushing for something like this for a very long time and who introduced a very similar bill. Anyone remember Dick Durbin? The guy who compared Guantanamo Bay to Hitler's Death camps? Irrelevant to this issue, but that's the kind of guy you're dealing with. He wants to bring the US into greater compliance with UN standards on a number of fronts and has been a big supporter of Big Pharma in the past. He adds, "This bill will save lives and restore America's confidence in the use of dietary supplements."

Check out the Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2003, Senate Bill 722.

John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Charles Schumer, and Diane Feinstein were also co-sponsors of this one.

http://www.aapsonline.org/testimony/sb722.htm For a bit of commentary.

The U.N. World Health Organization has begun an effort to bring all supplements under regulatory control. It's what you saw happen in Europe just recently, and it's spreading. I think they tried to fight it in the UK, but I don't think they've succeeded, yet. In any case, when this happened, the price of supplements increased from 3 to 5 fold in Germany and Norway, and many supplements are simply illegal. Just FYI, the US could face trade sanctions if we don't comply with UN CODEX. See the links below.

Here are some links. This is some serious stuff. Ignore it at your own peril:


http://ahha.org/CodexWalter2005.htm

http://www.iahf.com/world/981101a.html

 

[Iron Warrior]

I hope the next big earthquake swallows those idiots :shoot:

 

[biggun2181]

damn dems screw everything up!

 

[jmh80]

Vanilla - very creative spelling of "pharmaceutical"

:afro:

Just had to use that icon.

 

[Matthew D]

damn dems screw everything up!

Guess you didn't read all the posts.. you might want to read Vanilla G's post... and like anything that big pharma gets behind, there will be a push on both sides of the aisle..

 

[Matthew D]

I personally think that the World Trade BS is just that BS, it has manage to concentrated the wealth of the planet into the smallest number of people in the whole history of the planet. In the process it is turning the poor in all countries into 3rd world situations and that is being very generous...

 

[mtruther]

I personally think that the World Trade BS is just that BS, it has manage to concentrated the wealth of the planet into the smallest number of people in the whole history of the planet. In the process it is turning the poor in all countries into 3rd world situations and that is being very generous...

Do you think? The poor are certainly better off today than they were in the past. If you're talking about the poverty line, well, what is considered impoverished here in this country has changed over time. I mean, my dad grew up with 1 pair of jeans for school and work and one pair of pants for church. That's it. I don't know many people that poor today. I'm not saying that income disparity hasn't increased, but I don't know if it's fair to say that the poor are living like the third world here. I'd much rather be a broke in the US than live in Nigeria, if you will. If you doubt me, visit Nigeria. No comparison.

I'm not sure I'd say that wealth has been consolidated as much as it has at any point in time. I mean, go back to the Mediccis, to the Hapsburgs. To the point where single families controlled 2 or 3 of the 7 votes required to select the Holy Roman Emporer. I think capitalism has been very good for the middle class (well, there wasn't really much of one to speak of before it) and yes, even the lowest classes.

I'm not a globalist by any means, but I do see some very strong benefits arising out of capitalism and global markets. Temper that with a sense of nationalism and humanitarianism, and I think you do alright.