Disastrous Durbin Anti-Supplement Amendment Just Offered! Help Stop it.

DurbinThe Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187) is a bill that is considered “must-pass” legislation and without notice, Senators Dick Durbin and Richard Blumenthal offered their anti-supplement amendment (No. 2127) to the bill. Their amendment creates duplicative, unnecessary, and unexpected new regulations while upending current law and the regulatory process.

As you know, Sen. Durbin has engaged in this sort of dirty-trick legislative process before in an attempt to regulate away your supplements. The amendment will:
Circumvent the FDA’s New Dietary Ingredient Industry Guidance. FDA and the dietary supplement industry are currently engaged in conversations regarding implementing a new dietary ingredient notification process. The Durbin amendment creates an entirely new law that would require new FDA regulations, likely erasing nearly two decades of DSHEA’s positive influence in favor of Durbin’s knee-jerk approach to governing.
Require that a “facility engaged in the manufacturing processing, packing, or holding” of dietary supplements to register with the FDA. Title III of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 already requires supplement facility registration! Extra regulation drives up costs of supplements.
Hurt businesses and the economy with burdensome and unexpected new regulations. Supplement manufacturers have thirty days to register their products after marketing or face charges of misbranding. Given that there are thousands of products currently in the market, these regulations will force significant numbers of products off the market as industry adjusts to the new regulations, costing the industry significant revenue, and causing the loss of American jobs. Most importantly, this amendment would drastically limit you access to supplements as companies would likely remove their products from store shelves in order to meet Durbin’s thirty-day deadline.
Contact your senators IMMEDIATELY and tell them to OPPOSE the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no. 2127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187).
Update 5/25/12: The Durbin Amendment has been defeated. Please continue to use our action link to send messages to your Senators expressing your support for unfettered access to safe, natural products.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION!

329 comments

  1. OPPOSE the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no. 2127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187).

  2. I vehemently oppose this amendment! There is absolutely no need for this and it should be stopped in its tracks! Do not place unnecessary burdens upon the industry and the lives of those who work within it. Please do not let this amendment pass.

  3. I do not want the price of my supplements to go up. Stop Durbin’s plan to use more government control on supplements. Our congressmen need to focus on solving the problems of the economy, banking, Medicare fraud, national debt (remove the tax break for the wealthiest Americans), and give our freedoms to eat and take what we want back.

  4. Dear Florida Senators,
    On Thursday May 24th, Senator Durbin will once again try to introduce the Durbin Ammendment to limit Supplements. I ask you today to oppose this ammendment! Millions of Americans rely on natural supplements to better their health. Passage of this will limit access to these Supplements and place an undue stress on the providers of these supplements and their users.
    Again, please vote against the Durbin Ammendment!
    Thank you,
    Stuart C Heyer

  5. Could you please readers a link to the actual bill and amendment so that we can review it for ourselves? If you could at the very least reply to me via e-mail with a link or file containing the bill and/or amendment, I’d really appreciate it. I am very much opposed to any unnecessary government intervention in the lives of Americans. I am just curious as to the details of this bill. Perhaps this bill isn’t available to public? Perhaps Nancy Pelosi wants us to pass it so we can find out what’s in it like the healthcare legislation that is totally NOT in my best interest as I pay more money for worse medical coverage now that it’s been enacted. Anyway, if you have a link, I’d appreciate it. End rant.

  6. It is tiresome to see these re-hashed legislative antics that do nothing but hurt legitimate businesses while putting more power into the hands of big pharma. Enough. Let this amendment go down.

  7. Please do not allow S-3187, the Food and Drug Administrations Safety and Innovation Act
    to pass, and become law. It is our individual right to have free access to any and all
    supplements that we choose. This law will cost businesses, and individuals alike, a huge
    amount of money, and limit our access to the supplements we need. This will add an
    additional burden to our already faltering economy.
    Please oppose the Durbin and Blumenthal Amendments #2127 and S-3187.

  8. Why pass such a crazy law? There are so many laws not that are not enforced and people do not need lawmakers to keep saying that they are passing laws to protect us.
    I oppose you trying to pass Amendment #2127 to the Act S.3187. I vote for you every time Senator Durbin.
    If you want to help your voters, get the DRUG companies to be honest about their products. Learn our supplements alone.

  9. Please reconsider your petition, we have enought peolpe unemployed, this will only caused more deficit.

  10. I oppose the anti-supplement amendment (No.2127). I am sick & tired of having the government interfere in my life & my freedom of choice! You don ‘t know the first thing about supplements & neither does the FDA. The FDA can’t even handle what they have in regards to drug use let alone take on supplements! NO MORE GOV. REGULATIONS!!!

  11. FDA doesn’t do anything but offering carte blanche to pharma manufacturers that are political sponsors. Most of the banned supplements are used with positive results in other civilized countries in Europe which to me it means that FDA is trying to make and keep us THE AMERICAN PEOPLE retarded.Is not enough that agencies like USPS are sealing under federal cover now FDA wants to bulge into our lifes more than they did until now. Senator Durbin is on the edge to become an enemy of our good life style and Illinois people should thunk twice before electing him again …
    What about if federal govenment will start to allow us to live life and enjoy the rights we all value mostly the right to decide for ourselves for our lives and to reject their involvement in what concern our good living? What about that Senators and President…what about that?

  12. I pray that you oppose the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no. 2127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187).

  13. WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? Please find something more practical to do with your time.

  14. Please go take the rights away from enemies of the United States and defend the constitution. Don’t take my right of choice in what supplement to take. I didn’t hire you to be my babysitter and I am not looking for one. Leave me alone and protect the constitution and this country from something more important than pills.
    By the way aren’t you in favor of me footing the bill for contraception but you don’t want me to take supplements freely. I think your twisted. Severely
    S. Holt
    North Carolina

  15. Leave the nutrition industry alone. Keep Government out of it.
    Let consumers determine their own needs and reserch the products. NOT the government.
    Government is into to many things already, that’s why everything is such a mess.
    There’s plenty of free information out there already that will keep the consumer informed. Keep government out of it, Let the consumer have the say.

  16. Keep big government out of our live for once. The nanny state does not need to regulate my fish oil or other herbs. If I wanted this regulation I would have voted for V. Putin.

  17. Mr Durbin,
    You are a statist, interested in controlling our dietary lives, why don’t you retire before you are kicked out of office. Why is it you, and your crony’s, think you know more than we, the people do about what is best for us? STOP Now!

  18. I’m naturally low in iron. I’m 43 and I enjoy glucosamine condroitin to “oil” my joints as I lose weight. I do not take exotic supplements. Limiting my right to help my body become physically fit is my right. Durbin needs to get a life. Stop messing with mine.

  19. Leave the supplements alone go after alcohol and tobacco instead they are proven to be harmful to the user as well as other people around them. Cigarettes cause cancer and kill people while alcohol leads to abuse plus drunk driving. Use our tax money on something useful instead of going after the supplement companies.

  20. Next, will we be required to wear grey uniforms and learn how to do the goose step?????

  21. Please leave our supplements alone. They help people and do not harm them. Many people including my grandson, who is very ill, depend on these supplements. It is not fair to take these away, He has come a long way with natural health supplements. We as a nation need natural things. Our country has gone much too far ruining our land and putting chemicals on our lands. We have no good coming from our foods anymore. Please understand our needs.

  22. Do not restrict my rights and freedom to choice what I put in my body, specifically, vitamin and supplements.

  23. Stop interfering with people’s personal lives and decisions. There are so many thing that government needs to work on legislating and regulating, dietary supplements is NOT one of them.

  24. Any further regulation without just cause is unnecessary with regards to supplements. Regulations inhibit the free market. Let the people be free and let the free market determine which supplements are worth our money.

  25. Doesn’t he have a job description manual with the important stuff hi-lighted?

  26. I think all people in power should focus on things that are important. There are some many things wrong with the world today. Keep your personal issues out of it. This is a country where we have and make our own choices ? I believe if you don’t like something turn the channel, don’t buy it, don’t use it. But let people make there own choices.

  27. Mr. Durbin,
    I am a US Marine who is an advocate of supplements and supplementation. I often miss meals due to a hectic work schedule being a Marine and turn to supplements for my nutrition. This would bill would affect not only myself but my Marines as well. Pease dont pass this bill.
    SSgt Ryan
    USMC

  28. Our government has way to much say so in are daily lives. We need to vote them out and give them a lesson on, we the people control what they due in office, not them. They put us down and treat us as if they are better, smarter, and know what’s best for your family’s and mine. Yet they only serve thier own kind and get extremely rich while in office. Our country was not ment to be controlled by career politicions, the founding fathers where dead set against this cause of the good olboy, and back room deals and the power the governments would gain over the peoples freedoms. We don’t sign bills into law that the people can’t read first and we don’t sign laws that stop competition in markets. America was built making dreams into life styles. We are a small country by numbers yet have the biggest hearts in the world. We donate more time, money, and resources than any other by far. Don’t let Washington control what we due and who America really is. I fear its to late we have removed ourselves from God and Jesus Christ protection, by turning away just like all other countries have done so in the past. We shall see soon enough God bless you and your family.

  29. we dont need the government telling us what workout supplements we can and cant take, alcohol, cigarettes and high cholestrol kill more people than any workout supplement ever has or could. Stick to politics and stay out of things you dont know anything about.

  30. I opose the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no. 21127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187) If this passes I will remember come November.

  31. Leave my vitamins alone! I like taking vitamins and health supplements it is preventive therapy against bad health

  32. I’ve used and helped others use healthy, safe, and extremely effective supplements for the last three years to positively impact and change lives for the better. This act is the opposite of what needs to be done to bring American health, wellness and education about taking control of their own health. We spend the most on healthcare in the world,but lag behind massively in actual health. Clearly more healthy and life impacting products should be innovated rather than restrained.
    Do your own part to support the progression of American health and wellness rather than stifle its information and progression.

  33. Do not pass this bill. As an American citizen I am entitled to the pursuit of happiness, so long as it does not impede the rights of others. I am trying to get in shape, so my pursuit of happiness is being threatened by this amendment.

  34. I feel you should be able to pick and choose health supplememt the same way with homes and cars so that is how I feel

  35. I believe what he is trying to do is unconstitutional. Our bodies belong to us and I don’t feel the government has the right to play “mommy and daddy” and tell us what we can and can not consume. Big government means big problems.

  36. OPPOSE the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no. 2127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187).

  37. I am registering my vote against senator Durbin!s amendment to restrict my use of vitamin supplements, I have been using supplements through Shaklee, an American company. I not only have sold these vitamins 45 Yrs ago but people in my family are trying to maker ends meet by also getting involved with making theUS population to be healthy, not buying supplements from ASia, but from a company that does not. Hire Asia to produce our supplements. America does not need senator Durbin to tell us how to buy supplements. The last I looked at the Comstitution, we sitll have freedom of choice. No more government intervention!

  38. Do not allow this to happen. We live in a country where we have the freedom of choice and restircting our rights to choose which supplements are healthy or not. The only change that shall be considered is the term “propietory blend.” With that in mind then the individual knows exaclty what they are consuming. No different then if you go to a fast food restaurant and understand the caloric intake and such. It takes the individual to do research and make the proper decision based on that research. Thank you for your time and please do what we as Americans enjoy, FREEDOM!

  39. He has to be stopped! He should not be able to take away our freedom of choice. This is a democratic nation where we should be able to enjoy the right to choose. I served in the U.S. Army for 19 years, I am a Gulf War vet. My husband has served for 22 years, and is a Vietnam vet. We both think that people, not politicians should be able to decide for ourselves on whether we can take dietary supplements or not. This is a personal choice, not one that needs Washington’s time, nor consideration.
    Thank you,
    Kumiko Lewis

  40. the same way you do not want people to stop you from having a glass of wine or beer with your dinner is the same way i do not want you to stop me from taking my dietary supplements!

  41. Dick Durbin has been the single biggest proponent of regulations in the senate for a long time. This is the same clown that described our military as “goose stepping nazis”. He’s a socialist and as anti-american as anyone that has ever been in the federal government. I wouldn’t be too concerned about this passing because most sane members of congress know he’s an idiot.

  42. We do not this Durban anti supplement amendment. Leave our supplements alone. And do not cause more job losses for our country. This just forces more overseas jobs!

  43. Do not let big Pharma take away our rights to natural solutions.most drugs only work for a percentage of the population & many do more harm than good.

  44. I OPPOSE the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no. 2127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187).

  45. Reading the information concerning supplements concerns me. We currently have the freedom to chose to purchase these products if we want to, to making some more federal regulations concerning our decisions is an invasive approach to control. I have personally used these products for many years and have had amazing results. It is true that there is a responsibility on part of the consumer to have information. That being said, there is a difference between the importance of being informed and being controlled. There are many things that need serious control when it comes to “substance”, it is unbelievable that supplements keep getting targeted while other substances remain in circulation (even if considered illegal) and our law makers continue to claim some degree of impotence in their attempt to control things that are actually harmful and even have debilitating and life threatening potential.

  46. This Is bs. They allow cigarettes and alcohol to be sold freely. Top two killers among all drugs in the US. Ignorance in government and FDA is these 2 things are legal killing more than all drugs combined let alone even takes lives everyday of people not even using. But supplements and herbs are too bad and must be regulated. Give me a break. Our economy Is becoming a joke.

  47. Please do not pass these new laws. They will inhibit our ability to be healthy very much. Why would harmful drugs be allowed and healthy, natural, supplements be restricted? These should not even have to be compared to each other. Do your research; dietary supplements help people be healthy so they can sleep and get out of bed and off the couch in some ways to help people perform better at their jobs which improves the economy. Think how much disease is prevented when healthy people don’t get sick. If all you are thinking about is money, then yes you will hurt the American people and get your pay off from the big prescription companies.

  48. I have used supplements, dietary supplements, for almost 30 years now. I like the availability and choices available to me. There are many good companies offering dfietary/vitamin supplements that are sold at our local health foods store. Why are you interfering with American Consumers rights of free choice and availability of products that have worked for me?
    We don’t always need the mighty Federal government to act in our behalf, wnen there is no problem in the first place. We don’t need a solution to a problem that does not exist, and exists only in the minds of Senators and Congressmen/Congress women.
    Since the FDA and the Dietary Supplement industry are already in talks to improve the supplement Industry, why are you interfering with this communication? That is what we need. Communication between companies and the Federal government, not forcing rules down peoples throats from Congressional members who don’t even read the bills they are passing. People working together make America a better place to live. Companies and the FDA working together will be much more fruitful than government congressional leaders passing laws contrary to agreements arrived at by the FDA and the Dietary Supplement Industry. Let us alone and let us work this out with the regulatory department charged with overseeing this area. Michael Plautz

  49. No offense, but as a fire fighter, EMT, and a member of the military, being able to take supplements allows me to work out harder and become stronger so I can save lives…want to make that harder for me now…

  50. I’m upset with Senator Durbin’s choice. I want free market with supplements. I oppose the amendment 2127 by Durbin.

  51. This amendment is a joke….. I strongly oppose and will always be against this “amendment”…

  52. Please throw out this amendment. Supplements have helped achieve a body & lifestyle that I thought was not possible.

  53. all government Please worry about economy don’t try to tell us what American people should do

  54. Are you attempting to take away our right to make healthy choices because you don’t think we are competent or are you simply in the pocket of big pharma? Or could it be both?
    Either way it’s not a good way to treat your constituents many of whom likely won’t vote for you in the future if you pass this legislation. Plus, our economy is in a bad enough condition without you putting more small businesses and their employees out of work.

  55. I oppose the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment number 2127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S. 4187). I have the right to decide what supplements I chose to take for my health.

  56. The public shouldn’t not be told how to spend their money if what they are comsuming is legal.

  57. Stop the insanity. Don’t drive up the cost of supplements and hurt business owners. Thank you. Opposed to the durbin act.

  58. It appears that once again that politicians want to control a person’s right to choose how to manage their life and health. As our country is battling an obesity epidemic, it is difficult to eat enough foods to acquire a proper balanced diet while maintaining the proper calorie intake. As scientific research finds natural supplements remedies to benefit individuals, the FDA has passed laws and currently monitors the supplemental industry. The Durbin / Blumenthal Bill is not needed to change current laws. Why seek to harass the supplement industry and limit its access to the public. Rather than creating a new bill, monitor the current law and make adaptations if needed. We do not need more and more laws. We need to make the ones that we have work. It’s time for a simplified to the point governing for our people.

  59. I strongly disagree with Senator Durbin”s anti-supplement amemdment bill #2127

  60. The government should not be able to make a decision for me on taking supplements. This decision is up to me not the governement. We need to make them STOP!

  61. There are much better things this country needs amendments on than dietary supplement use. Its ridiculous. Let’s look at the economy and those taking advantage of the system. These kind of things irritate me because we are hurting as a country and someone os worried about dietary supplements that are mostly regulated through FDA so let’s put a stop to it? Why so more people lose jobs? So the country can be in more of a deficit? By doing so people will lose money, go out of business, wont be able to pay their previous employees unemployment because the employer wont have any money. So I guess those that work hard to keep what little we make, tax us even more to pay for the losses cause by some person who thought it was a good idea to attack the dietary industry.
    I get taxed enough, in fact im a active duty military member for the armed forces, an E4 barely making it and this past tax season I didn’t receive anything back! How is that even possible? Your welcome by the way while you sleep comfortable , I will be sleeping in my cot.

  62. Sen. Durning should find a solution to a real problem; this obviously is not one of them.

  63. Drugs & pills are not the solution and treatment to everything. Dietary supplements play a big role in people’s well being and management of personal health & treating/managing health conditions.
    Don’t take away our rights!

  64. Please do not take away my right to use healthy alternatives and supplements. There is much good out there. Many would suffer if this succeeds.

  65. This is the bigest violation of our constitutional rights !!! Every day the the government takes away more and more rights . Now they want to limit what we can and can’t consume !! What’s next senator imposing regulations on the food we can and can’t eat ?? Why don’t you put your time and your efforts into a more usefull productive assignment such as helping this countrys economy get back on its feet .. instead of undermining and closing the this industry that has has put millions of dollars into this country and creating and making employment. Something that you are eliminating and taking away from people who have made the choice to enhance their lifes and they’re overall look. WHY DON’T YOU LEAVE IT UP TO US WHETHER WE CHOSE TO BUY AND CONSUME DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS !!!!

  66. I know that the US regulates this type of comment, but its a free country and if I can help people I think its ok. My brother suffered from asthma from age 2 til he was abt 9. I remember countless ER trips, dr visits and accumulating medical bills. My dad had enough and went natural. We went to a specialist with natural remedies and he recommended my brother take honey and an iron elixer. He is CURED! Thats right.. CURED from asthma! He is now 27 and runs 10ks with me. This guy just wants everybody hooked on rxs for his financial gain. I also use supplements like goji berry and ginseng to improve endurance. Hope this is repealled.

  67. I would like my rights to remain the same
    I DO NOT want my choice taken away with regard tp vitamins and other herbal supplements

  68. I am upset to learn that once again someone is trying to take away some of our citizen rights, and I oppose any anti-supplement amendment. Our right to purchase supplements we choose does not hurt him or others, but an anti-supplement amendment would end up hurting the citizens that should be protected. The amendment would cost the manufacturer more money to produce and that cost would be passed on to the consumers. With the economy as bad as it is, we don’t need something else making finances worse for us, especially by those we vuew as not being affected nearly as negatively by a poor economy and rising prices.

  69. I strongly OPPOSE the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no. 2127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187). The people of the State of Illinois want these dietary supplements. These bills will hurt businesses and the economy with burdensome and unexpected new regulations. There are thousands of products currently in the market, these regulations will force significant numbers of products off the market as industry adjusts to the new regulations, costing the industry significant revenue, and causing the loss of American jobs. This amendment would drastically limit Illinoisans access to supplements as companies would likely remove their products from store shelves in order to meet Durbin’s thirty-day deadline. Stop these Bills and support the people of Illinois.

  70. Unless suplements impose risks or fatalities you shouldnt be able to limit the consumer. This is America one of the fattest countries in the world. Try and limit peoples television time or fast food sales. That would be better could you imagine people not beong able to eat fast food on Sunday

  71. This bill must fail. This is a freedom that must not be taken away. Not to mentionj the millions in supplement dollars that will no longer move around. Please do not allow this to pass!
    Kind Rregards,
    Mark Stadick

  72. You know how many people depend on supplements, I strongly disagree to this bill getting passed.

  73. We shouldn’t be told and limited by how many suplements we choose to by and use this is the United States not Russia.It’s getting rediculous on what the government is limiting us on we are adults we work and pay our taxes and raise our kids on our own we don’t need anyone telling us what we can and can’t buy or how much ,take control over the alcohol then the government can take control of something useful and save millions of lives with something that makes more since…

  74. People spend thousands of dollars to inhale smoke into their lungs and both the producers and consumers know it is a deadly habit.
    Supplements are generally derived/extracted from food sources we already consume everyday.
    Too much of anything can be bad, even if initially its a good thing…
    However, I live in America, where I have the Freedom to make that choice.
    Dick Durbin, I would like you to reconsider your objections to supplements. I don’t think all your points in the act are horrible, some I find are very valid, however several other could use a bit more thought of the long term ramifications.

  75. Senator;
    Stick to the job of government!!! We donot need you policing our lives. the problem with supplements is not the manufactures, but the person following the directions. This is unfair government policing…it is striping away at the rights of citizens again, and making problems for manufactures. Many people do quit well with supplements. When do you elected officials plan on giving we the people back our Freedoms, and intend to stop chopping away at them. Stop already and start policing government spending, checking the documents of officials running for office. Stop Forcing Your Will Upon The Public, it is Un American!!! Hopefully the people you are suppose to represent will vote you out of office, and you can spend your time counting “asprins”.
    We The People Pay your over paid salary…if you want to play doctor or scientist, get out of government and go into to practice with the proper credenticals. I don’t want you running my life, nor telling me what I am allowed to take or eat, or drink, it should be the individual adult citizen’s choice, just like voting for you!!!
    Stop hurting your own citizens, that is what you are doing to all of us by telling us what we are allowed to have or not have to eat, drink, or stoping many of us from taking supplements…gee my doctor knows what I take…do you plan on adding it to our perscription D coverage ???

  76. Senator;
    Stick to the job of government!!! We donot need you policing our lives. the problem with supplements is not the manufactures, but the person following the directions. This is unfair government policing…it is striping away at the rights of citizens again, and making problems for manufactures. Many people do quit well with supplements. When do you elected officials plan on giving we the people back our Freedoms, and intend to stop chopping away at them. Stop already and start policing government spending, checking the documents of officials running for office. Stop Forcing Your Will Upon The Public, it is Un American!!! Hopefully the people you are suppose to represent will vote you out of office, and you can spend your time counting “asprins”.
    We The People Pay your over paid salary…if you want to play doctor or scientist, get out of government and go into to practice with the proper credenticals. I don’t want you running my life, nor telling me what I am allowed to take or eat, or drink, it should be the individual adult citizen’s choice, just like voting for you!!!
    Stop hurting your own citizens, that is what you are doing to all of us by telling us what we are allowed to have or not have to eat, drink, or stoping many of us from taking supplements…gee my doctor knows what I take…do you plan on adding it to our perscription D coverage ???

  77. Senator;
    Stick to the job of government!!! We donot need you policing our lives. the problem with supplements is not the manufactures, but the person following the directions. This is unfair government policing…it is striping away at the rights of citizens again, and making problems for manufactures. Many people do quit well with supplements. When do you elected officials plan on giving we the people back our Freedoms, and intend to stop chopping away at them. Stop already and start policing government spending, checking the documents of officials running for office. Stop Forcing Your Will Upon The Public, it is Un American!!! Hopefully the people you are suppose to represent will vote you out of office, and you can spend your time counting “asprins”.
    We The People Pay your over paid salary…if you want to play doctor or scientist, get out of government and go into to practice with the proper credenticals. I don’t want you running my life, nor telling me what I am allowed to take or eat, or drink, it should be the individual adult citizen’s choice, just like voting for you!!!
    Stop hurting your own citizens, that is what you are doing to all of us by telling us what we are allowed to have or not have to eat, drink, or stoping many of us from taking supplements…gee my doctor knows what I take…do you plan on adding it to our perscription D coverage ???

  78. Senator;
    Stick to the job of government!!! We donot need you policing our lives. the problem with supplements is not the manufactures, but the person following the directions. This is unfair government policing…it is striping away at the rights of citizens again, and making problems for manufactures. Many people do quit well with supplements. When do you elected officials plan on giving we the people back our Freedoms, and intend to stop chopping away at them. Stop already and start policing government spending, checking the documents of officials running for office. Stop Forcing Your Will Upon The Public, it is Un American!!! Hopefully the people you are suppose to represent will vote you out of office, and you can spend your time counting “asprins”.
    We The People Pay your over paid salary…if you want to play doctor or scientist, get out of government and go into to practice with the proper credenticals. I don’t want you running my life, nor telling me what I am allowed to take or eat, or drink, it should be the individual adult citizen’s choice, just like voting for you!!!
    Stop hurting your own citizens, that is what you are doing to all of us by telling us what we are allowed to have or not have to eat, drink, or stoping many of us from taking supplements…gee my doctor knows what I take…do you plan on adding it to our perscription D coverage ???

  79. Senator;
    Stick to the job of government!!! We donot need you policing our lives. the problem with supplements is not the manufactures, but the person following the directions. This is unfair government policing…it is striping away at the rights of citizens again, and making problems for manufactures. Many people do quit well with supplements. When do you elected officials plan on giving we the people back our Freedoms, and intend to stop chopping away at them. Stop already and start policing government spending, checking the documents of officials running for office. Stop Forcing Your Will Upon The Public, it is Un American!!! Hopefully the people you are suppose to represent will vote you out of office, and you can spend your time counting “asprins”.
    We The People Pay your over paid salary…if you want to play doctor or scientist, get out of government and go into to practice with the proper credenticals. I don’t want you running my life, nor telling me what I am allowed to take or eat, or drink, it should be the individual adult citizen’s choice, just like voting for you!!!
    Stop hurting your own citizens, that is what you are doing to all of us by telling us what we are allowed to have or not have to eat, drink, or stoping many of us from taking supplements…gee my doctor knows what I take…do you plan on adding it to our perscription D coverage ???

  80. Senator;
    Stick to the job of government!!! We donot need you policing our lives. the problem with supplements is not the manufactures, but the person following the directions. This is unfair government policing…it is striping away at the rights of citizens again, and making problems for manufactures. Many people do quit well with supplements. When do you elected officials plan on giving we the people back our Freedoms, and intend to stop chopping away at them. Stop already and start policing government spending, checking the documents of officials running for office. Stop Forcing Your Will Upon The Public, it is Un American!!! Hopefully the people you are suppose to represent will vote you out of office, and you can spend your time counting “asprins”.
    We The People Pay your over paid salary…if you want to play doctor or scientist, get out of government and go into to practice with the proper credenticals. I don’t want you running my life, nor telling me what I am allowed to take or eat, or drink, it should be the individual adult citizen’s choice, just like voting for you!!!
    Stop hurting your own citizens, that is what you are doing to all of us by telling us what we are allowed to have or not have to eat, drink, or stoping many of us from taking supplements…gee my doctor knows what I take…do you plan on adding it to our perscription D coverage ???

  81. I’m not sure why but whenever something good happens for alot people!!The minority that just dont get it want to control our freedom for a healthier living, whether it be Nutritional or Supplemental dietry products. Please leave us alone,you control enough of the rediculous fast food problem in America that is destroying our health and wellbeing!

  82. While perhaps well intentioned, this kind of extension of Federal powers is what citizens should guard against, a never ending battle. It is not too much to expect of a citizen to have a brain more capable than an ape, do a bit of research on one’s own, and make at least reasonably intelligent decisions. What good is it doing society to focus on the idiots among us, and protecting them from the actions an idiot might take? Yes in a country with over 300 million you will have odd and unusual occurrences. Someone is bound to over dose on Chocolate bars or anything. But when you focus on the extreme unusual cases, the sensational ones, you violate a primary law of economics, exponentially increasing marginal costs at the tail of the bell curve. There is a reason drugs are so expensive for Americans, we pay for all this nonsense, trying to eliminate any risk. In a country with over 300 million people, a few are going to do something really stupid, or just be unlucky. But for the most part these things never happen to us or anyone we know, they are very very infrequent, and very very expensive to try an prevent. The end result is that the costs to society of such misguided Federal regulation far exceed the minimal benefits. Nobody gets out of this world alive. You need to balance risks with costs and benefits, and live with acceptable risk, not strive for an unrealistic and very expensive goal of perfection.

  83. How dare you! How dare you threaten the health of your fellow Americans! There are millions of us who have or have had various medical conditions that would have killed us had it not been for taking vitamin and mineral supplements. I have to take Iron because if I don’t I become anemic. When I was diagnosed, I was so weak from anemia, I could barely function, couldn’t stay awake, had very dark circles under my eyes and many other symptoms. Do you know that all the people who have had the Rouen-Y procedure of Gastric bypass have to take supplements the rest of their lives because their surgery to loose life threatening fat has put them in a permanent state of mal-absorption? If they cant take supplements they die. Your amendment taakes away their only means of survival. Your amendmendment takes away their freedom to choose, their freedom to live happy and healthy lives and to bring up haappy and healthy children..if they loose those freedoms, you and only you will be their reason for dying…do you want the blood of millions of Americans’ blood on your hands Senator?

  84. You want us to be healthy , but wanna limit how we stay healthy…you can’t have you cake and eat it to…we oppose your bill…and will unite as one to make sure it doesn’t pass…have a great day mr. durbin

  85. thats not fair…we live on vitamins…medicine got so many side effects…i neeed vitaminssssssssssssss….dont do this plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

  86. Dear Reader
    Mr. Durbin is an idiot and needs to be shut up, trying to stop the lives being saved using herbal supplements, otherwise I couldn’t have rescued as many as I have including my own so if this gentlemen would please be quiet and learn something of wish he speaks! then he would be deeply appreciated.
    Thank You!

  87. Are yku kidding me? There are people out there who use this for a good reason. If you want to help people, stop the cigarette companys, or the pills the fda approves the meds given by Dr.s that has lots of people hooked on? Oh ya they pay you guys alot of money to act like its okay. This is a bunch of B.S. leave this alone. Fix the things that are killing people, gain our trust through those acts!

  88. I oppose the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no.2127.
    Why don’t the beuracrats stop trying to control the people with big money from corporations and pharmaceutical companies.

  89. I must apologize for disagreeing with the author of this script. It is true that all food processing and manufacturing facilities are registered in the U.S. under title III of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002
    Copied from the FDA’s official summary of the bill:
    “Section 305 (Registration of Food Facilities) – requires the owner, operator, or agent in charge of a domestic or foreign facility to register with the FDA no later than December 12, 2003. Facilities are defined as any factory, warehouse, or establishment, including importers. The Secretary, through FDA, is required to issue final regulations addressing the registration requirements no later than December 12, 2003; however, food facilities must register with FDA by this date even if FDA has not issued final regulations. ”
    ~The FDA Official Website
    http://www.fda.gov/food/fooddefense/bioterrorism/ucm111086.htm
    What does not appear to be true is that amendment 2127 to S.3187 would require registration of the factories. No, it appears it would require the registration of the products. Which is something that, as far as I understand, is not required via current U.S. Law.
    “AMENDMENT PURPOSE:
    To require manufacturers of dietary supplements to register dietary supplement products with the Food and Drug Administration. ”
    ~Library of Congress
    http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:SP02127:
    If the author could cite a text sample of amendment 2127 that shows it does in fact require registration of factories as opposed to products that would be appreciated.

  90. I think this is criminal of our Senate to be allowed to vote in favor of corporations such as Monsanto, where the food grown with their toxic GE seeds don’t have to be labeled, yet I have to sign a petition to keep vitamin supplements?!!! WOW, this would be a clear example of how to define the word “insane.”
    It also makes me ask, who is the Senate working for? Clearly it isn’t for the American people….

  91. Supplements are very helpful and when used properly not harmful. Do not pass any law that would make them more difficult or costly to obtain!

  92. Senator you need to concentrate on our country and stay away from this

  93. Senator Durbin’s bill calls for redundant regulation of dietary supplements that will ultimately cost jobs and increase costs for supplements. As someone who has lost 60 pounds with the help of supplements (protein shakes, and CLA; in addition to an exercise program); I appeal to you to not support Durbin’s anti-supplement bill.

  94. Please protect the public’s rights to access to supplements that may improve their health. I am one who relies heavily on supplements, thank you

  95. Stop playing big brother with our rights as people of the United States!!! This is why people say democrats are communist. To tell people what we can and can not by do to the fact that you thinkg you know better than a persons own choices. Just because you don’t le something doesn’t mean no one else can. I do not drink any alcohol, but you don’t see me tring to take that way from others. It is there God given right as Americans to choose what they do with their body’s. Funny we don’t here any new bills about highfrutouse corn syrup And all drs agree it is the worst thing in people’s diet and more addictive than heroin. So stop messing with my veitamans pic a better topic to make a name for yourself in DC buddy.

  96. I have an idea if you think your fit for that office then how bout fixing health care or kick starting the economy the schools JOBS

  97. The government is to much in our life choices, stay out and leave us to live the way we wish period!!!!!!!!
    None of these clowns are doctors anyway :~)
    Just getting TV time, they need to get real jobs !!!!!!

  98. Senator, do some real work! We certainly have enough issues and problems facing the citizens of this great country for you to be wasting time, energy, AND tax payer dollars on this frivolous BS.
    Maybe it is time for you to seek other employment – that which you could rally make a contribution to our society OR just get in the corner and get out of the way of the rest of us trying to turn the ship around.

  99. With the cost of healthcare in this country why would government step forward in a limiting fashion on products related to an individuals health by turning supplements into pharma thus playing into big $ pharma companies

  100. Don’t stop us from our right to take supplements. As long as the Food and Drug Adminastration does there part to protect us from getting poison. That'[s what really count here.

  101. Stop, Taking away our right to seek health options for the sake of lining the pockets of big business. Life over Money!

  102. I do not feel he has the right to take away are rights as far as the use of dietary supplements. I come from a military background I was discharged a few years ago but the point is while I was over seas q lot of supplements came in handy to keep me focus and energized. As of today I still use some. In addition friends that I still have over seas as of today I send them supplements to help them and keep them focus. At the end of the day all they have to do on their down time is say hit the gym and a lot of these supplements out there today helps them. Don’t take things like that away from civilians and or soldiers.

  103. Leave the supplements alone!!!!Contact your senators IMMEDIATELY and tell them to OPPOSE the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no. 2127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187).!
    I am totally opposed to the FDA feeling the need to get their hands on everything and taking away our right to use our own mind and better judgement!

  104. I’m so tired of some fat cat in congress that doesn’t work with his hands telling me I can’t take this or that because someone paid him money or provided to his reelection campaign. There are people die from miss use. They tell you how to take them on the bottle. I take half because that’s all my body needs. Now people dieing from overdose that’s called gluttony which is one of the seven deadly sins. I started taking supplements about 8 months ago since I’ve lost 50 lbs blood pressure went from extremely high to about normal and I used to live on pain pills been off them now 6 months and my energy level is twice as much as it ever has been. I don’t live on energy drinks like the other guys at work its changed my life. Quit taking food off my plate to line your pockets congress.

  105. OMG this can’t happen it took me 4 months to get off prescriptions for high blood pressure and tachycardia!!! and now i take herbal supplements that work wonders, but I CANNOT run out if I miss more than a few doses I can be very ill just as if I were on prescription medications!!!

  106. Please oppose Durbin’s amendment against dietary supplements. I belive that us as citizens have the right to choose our dietary supplements. Please vote against Durbin. Thank you very much.

  107. No One has the right to stop human beings from taking care of there own health in which ever way they want! Only ignorant individuals would even try such a disgusting act on the population. We as humans have the right to hunt and gather real food to feed our families and only because of farming practices do we now have to supplement with vitamins and minerals to achieve optimum health and basic nutrition no longer found in vegetables, fruit and protein these days. This is a basic human right and no person can take that away from the human race.

  108. Maybe just maybe if the US would only let the manufactures of the US make these products or one of our alies instead of China. we wouldn’t have a problem. I would think that the polliticians in Washington would have better things to do then mess with the supplements. Sometimes it is all some people can afford for their health.

  109. Please stop the anti supplement amendment. This would put a real burden on our families business. Thank you!

  110. How can a couple of people put on a suit and think they have a right to tell others what to consume? If they don’t like something, don’t buy it,don’t impose on other peoples choices! If supplements are harmful,how do they pass inspections? If they,congress are truly looking out for us,then they would give us the freedom of choice!

  111. I use supplements for osteoporosis, high blood pressure,colds and other problems that may arise. I do not have to take medicine that a doctor prescribes that will do damage to other parts of my body. I would rather treat my ailments through dietary supplements. I oppose this bill

  112. To whom it may concern:
    Most Americans do not eat what is required in daily fruits, vegtables, grains and meat or fish.
    Most Americans do not have the time to prepare it or purchase it or even afford it.
    The vitamin supplements are a way to receive nutrients and being affordable.
    I do not agree with the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no.2127 to the FDA Saftey and Innovation Act (S.3187).

  113. Senator,
    put your time in effort into activities that will help stimulate business growth, not hurt it …

  114. Voye no.so many are alive 2day because of a free right 2 supplements.let it be.

  115. We are vehemently against the Durbin amendment that would violate our rights as consumers that have a right to purchase supplements needed for our health, as we should choose to do!
    We have a right to purchase supplements, as we always have. Quit interfering with our rights!

  116. I believe this senator needs to stop it and butt his nose out of it….about aa year ago i weighed 300lbs….i had to have a hysterectomy and my kidneys started to shut down….if it wasnt for the help of dietary supplements, excercise and healthy eating i dont knoww where i would be now….just recently i went from 220lbs before christmas to 167the currently and dropping….a sizze 22 pant to a size 11….my health insurance refused to pay for the gastric bypass surgery…

  117. What Senators Durbin and Blumenthal are doing is a joke! Its these types of politicians that do more harm to the US people. They want to do something productive for the US citizen. Try banning cigarettes. Do that “Senators” ! I’m sorry the tax is so high that so much tax dollars go deep into government wallets. Its fine to have that sold. Killing American people every day. Causing many sicknesses and diseases. Cigarettes can be sold with “warning labels” stating may cause cancer. They are proven to cause cancer. Dietary supplements have their label not FDA approved. Where is the logic? Having cigarettes on the market. With the Governments fake caring of banning it in certain public places. A gimmick to side track people into thinking the Government cares. Citizens have choices every day what we can do with our lives and bodies. Senator! So stop trying to control another part of our daily lives. I oppose this gimmick that’s trying to be pulled off.

  118. These liberals will not let anything go. It is acceptable for a woman to kill an unborn fetus because it is her choice. But God forbid that if I want to ingest a supplement that helps me stay healthy, and active at my age it is not my right. The democrat machines hypocracy has no bounds.

    1. A note that supplement access is a uniquely non-partisan issue. One of our biggest champion is Senator Tom Harkin (D) and one of our biggest recent threats came from Senator John McCain (R). Neither party has taken a position for or against alternative medicine, but individual legislators have their own feelings. ANH-USA is working to make health care freedom of choice a critical issue for members of both parties to know they need to respect in order to stay in office.

  119. Please stop trying to regulate what people willing choose to put in their bodies, it’s their right.

  120. Please let me make my own decisions as to whatT supplements
    I take.

  121. Keep your hands off of our supplements. We can regulate ourselves as individuals we don’t need you holding our hand all the time. We are not little children and can assume sine risk.

  122. Oppossed to the amendment ! Supplements for me is what keep me going thank you !!!!!!!!!

  123. 2127 is yet another unnecessary piece of legislation. The entire country is falling apart at the seams, yet we’ve got senior legislators that feel something like this important? It’s mind-boggling.

  124. Please do not support this Durbin amendment which could affect availability and cost of supplements. We need these items for health and wellness. With our current obese and unhealthy population, why would this make sense?????????

  125. Lots of wors drugs out there, alcohol and tabaco. How many people die from Creatine and protien powder?

  126. Please stop regulating American’s freedoms! You are overreaching. The new dietary regulations will
    hurt small businesses and the customers who enjoy the products!

  127. I love my vitamin and I do not want anyone saying what I should take or control what should be sold at the stores.

  128. I ‘m a scientist yet use supplements to improve my health. We have the right to use this alternative medicine.

  129. I do not agree or like this bill and don’t think I should be regulated on supplements I choose to take . It’s my body and life and only I should decide when I should stop taking not some stupid law that prohibits me.

  130. Senator Durbin,
    Instead of concerning yourself with vitamins and supplements, which obviously you do not use, why don’t you concern yourself with things that matter, LIKE FIXING THE ECONOMY, LOWERING GAS PRICES
    Do your job and stop making up amendments. Give me one good reason the FDA needs to approve these supplements and vitamins, and i will give you 10 why they are good. I ask you reconsider this amendment. To you I bid GOOD DAY!

  131. I’m a HUGE proponent to nutritional supplements. Both my wife & I have had significant adverse side effects from prescription drugs and only after experiencing serious health concerns, did we begin to learn of how harmful prescription drugs can be. After significant research, the side effects we both have experienced from various drugs were eliminated when we went to nutritional supplements. The foods we eat don’t contain the nutrition our bodies so desperately need so taking supplements is the only viable alternative.
    I believe strongly that the pharmaceutical industry at the help of doctors who don’t care about anything except commissions for selling big-pharma meds, have been subtly making us dependent upon their drugs. I’ve read many articles where people have discovered that the symptoms they’re experiencing are actually side effects of a drug or drugs they’ve been prescribed to address another symptom.
    Treating symptoms has become the defacto method for many doctors today – I know this first hand – and there is no alternative other than finding the root cause ourselves, discovering what our bodies are lacking and compensate, either by nutritional supplements or by changing our diets.
    I can’t speak any more positively about this – both me and my wife are living examples of the wars that have been waged in both our bodies after harmful and pervasive prescription medicines have been taken. This is an epidemic of its own.

  132. Dear sir,
    Please, keep your hands off of our supplements and supplement industry. We don’t need you micromanaging us or the dietary supplements we choose to use. You have a nearly 16 T$ budget to get under control, in addition the fact you have not passed an actual budget in how many years? Stay the hell out of our business sir. Thank you.
    Chris

  133. i oppose this amendment. It creates duplicate, unnecessary, and unexpected new regulations while upending current law and the regulatory processing. I strongly oppose the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no. 2127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187). This amendment would drastically limit our access to supplements as companies would likely remove their products from store shelves in order to meet the Durbin’s thirty-day deadline. regulation drives up costs of supplements. The American people do not need any more cost hikes in supplements or medical costs.

  134. Durbin has been trying to hurt Natural Health Care for a long time and appears to have self-interest in this particular area. Passage of this would erase nearly two decades of DSHEA’s positive influence. Title III of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 already requires supplement facility registration! Why drive up costs further with repetitive unnecessary regulations? He is serving others, who desire all of us to be in beg and on medication for the rest of our lives.

    1. Correction —
      Durbin has been trying to hurt Natural Health Care for a long time and appears to have self-interest in this particular area. Passage of this would erase nearly two decades of DSHEA’s positive influence. Title III of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 already requires supplement facility registration! Why drive up costs further with repetitive unnecessary regulations? He is serving others, who desire all of us to be in be in bed and on medication for the rest of our lives.

  135. This seems to be a typical government show. If the big boys cant have there hand in it it must be abolished. Ha. So many people depend on supplements to help them in so many ways. If the “G” officials would concentrate on the things that really mattered in this country ( like how the meat industry is raising animals to grow so fast and causing so much more cancer in our country, but we all know its money). I take supplements, a lot mainly for my aging sore body that is cheaper and i trust has less long term effects on my body. so many prescriptions will in the long run kill something in your body. Just leave things be, and worry about whats important to the people of this country.

  136. We live in a country where you can in a single afternoon buy guns alchohol tobbaco transfats highfructose corn syrup spy gear lottery tickets fake pot&soldier of fortune,usually in a 5block radius. All legally. Wich is fine,this is america.fine until you tell me you will preserve these rights&yet step on my ability to buy products to increase health and wellness.i will never trust those who only feel secure governing the weak.

  137. Senator Durbin,
    Why are you imposing more government regulation. The republicans are for smaller government, and less spending. This legislation is nothing more than adding government waste and fraud to an already out of control system. Not to mention these supplements help millions of people all over the world with out the regulations you would impose. Please stop adding to the government where it is not needed.

  138. Don’t worry. There’s still enough uneducated people out there who will continue to poison them selves so the drug companies can make a fortune and that’s what this is all about. Protecting the interest of the drug companies & corrupt medical industry and protecting the investments of the politicians that are heavily invested in it. LEAVE US ALONE! Stop trying to prevent wellness! and for that matter stop trying to put more people out of business!

  139. Please stop the Durbin anti-supplement amendment. Help us keep our freedom’s in a free society, especially those that build our physical health.

  140. There are disable and seniors who use these products just to live everyday life. We worked hard to have our Social Security and barley making ends meet, it’s bad enough that we have a choice to either eat or buy our medications and or supplements. Please reconsider your stand, Im not only speaking for myself but I speak for millions in my position. Yes, we know of programs that can help us with $5 worth of Food Stamps or $100 to help with medical cost. But where does this really put us all, more taxes for everyone else. All we really want is to take care of ourselves with the money were earned throughout the years and not live off of everyone else. Were willing to pay for our needs without raising prices on everything making it harder for us and giving up wishing we would just expire already and take off the burden from everyone around us. We don’t want to think about dollar signs we want to enjoy our time left here. Please reconsider, Please Don’t Limit Us Yet Again When We Need It The Most. Thank You For Reading My Letter. God Bless.. Mary Alice Matinez Klesel Rodriguez,9323 Somerset Rd 8-305, San Antonio Texas,78211

  141. Please oppose the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no.2127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187)
    Thank you
    Peter Van Leeuwen

  142. Please vote no for the durbin amendment. It is my right as a United States citizen to take these dietary supplements.

  143. If you’re worried about health, create an amendment that outlaws cheeseburgers and mandates physical activity. Quit attacking those who are trying to better themselves.

  144. It is a shame that Senators Dick Durbin and Richard Blumenthal have nothing better to do with their time than attack the dietary supplement business. I guess all of the more pressing problems with our country’s economy and social issues have all been solved.

  145. To our law makers,
    I oppose the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no 2127. Do not add burdensome regulations.

  146. I am totally against Durbin attempt to remove certain supplements and ask my Ms congressman to vote no to his amendment

  147. Nutritional supplements are working for me who has Epilepsy. They have stopped the seizures without my having to deal with numerous and harmful side effects that are a product of prescription medications. Yes, supplements are the way to go while prescription drugs are not.

  148. OPPOSE the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no. 2127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187).

  149. I don’t have insurance and revieve my vitamins from GNC, I don’t know what I would do if they took these supplements away, the people are very knowledgeable and help me stay healthy at an affordable price

  150. STOP ! Durbin Anti-Supplement Amendment
    THE democrats are taking away your freedoms

  151. We don’t need more government interference in our right to take care of our own health issues.

  152. I AM for supplements and against Durbin’s anti-supplement amendment. I do not have health insurance because of the ecomony now for 5 years and who knows what the present to future brings. I take the best care of my health with supplements and need them to stay healthy. Please veto this amendent. Thank you. Greta

  153. This would set up normal law abiding people to smuggle in their supplements from other countries. Oh good. We can fill our jails with more people. Now that’s the American Way!

  154. Our government is totally out of control… The invasion in personal choices is becoming much like a military state. PLEASE STOP THIS ABSURD LEGISLATION. Our country is rapidly becoming NOT the land of the BRAVE & FREE but rather the land of he restricted and oppressed.
    Lee Baker

  155. As a nutritionist and the former wife of a pharmacist, I have long been an advocate and user of dietary supplements for various conditions. I prefer the non-chemical, non-synthetic approach to taking care of myself and my loved ones. This must remain an option, without restrictions. It is imperative this option continue to be available.

  156. Please stop trying to deny the public the right to choose, supplements and Rx and healthcare in all forms that were created on the earth. We the people need to have freedom to choose, that is why we live in this country. We all do not have access to affordable health insurance nor do we all have access to RX’s that the cost continues to rise.. Please pay more attention to the Pharmaceutical monopoly, than Natural and Alterative Healthcare, LET PEOPLE Choose which health care format works best for EACH person, not just the few of you. Thank you, US Citizen, Stephanie White

  157. Passing The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187) will NOT help me. Please stop trying to regulate my life and work on the economy.

  158. Why not spend a little more time regulating the crap they put in a mcdonalds hamburger? We are the fattest nation in the world and you want to impose ADDITIONAL regulations that limit the ability to supplement as part of a healthier lifestyle. Eff you.

  159. I was told I would NEVER attain feeling in my legs after a botched surgery. Also left with bowel problems. It was suppliments that brought me back to health over a two year period. I no longer need my 5 other perscription medications. Give people the alternative to health, please.

  160. Please do not over regulate the supplement market, nothing good ever comes form ore government interference but increase cost and less availability. Traditional drugs are not always the answer and I have used supplements for years and have found them helpful on many levels.

  161. Please do not pass the Durbin and Blumenthal Amendment 2127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187). I have personally been fighting cancer since 2005 and believe I am still alive because I combined everything that conventional medicine asked me to do with alternative therapies including intravenous vitamin C plus other substances. I feel that it would be unbelievable if you took these away from me. I want to ask why you think you have the right to do so. I believe that a patient should be allowed to use anything that she and her doctor decide is good for her without Big Government getting in between. After all, chemo and radiation are immune busters while IV C is an immune booster. If they were many deaths because of its use, I could understand but there are not. I believe that the reason you want to take certain substances off the market is to protect large pharmaceutical companies who make billions selling their products. If you force me to go outside this country, I can do so but there are many millions who cannot. I think you should be ashamed of yourself if you support this bill.

  162. I want to immediately oppose the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no. 2127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187.
    This is still America and we should have the Right to choose what we want to take and we should always have the right to take supplement if we choose to!

  163. the “food” we eat is already trash, don’t take vitamins away from us!

  164. As Americans, we have the right to make our own choices as to good health. I can attest to how supplements have improved my husband’s health since being diagnosed with congestive heart failure. This affliction was diagnosed in September of 2009 and the news came as a shock to both of us. Since I am a nurse, the first thing I did was get on my computer and do a lot of research. The supplements that I found and have purchased and used,and continue to use; have kept my husband out of the hospital, has improved his heart from hardly pumping enough blood to allow him to walk up our stairs or even going for a walk around the block. He now has enough energy to help with the yardwork and to go places with me.
    To even think that a man in our Congress is willing to deny people their freedom of choice is an OUTRAGE! To cause companies to remove important and life saving supplements from off store shelves is also an OUTRAGE! You know Sen. Durbin and Blumenthal, there are a lot more important issues to address there in Congress than this issue, which in our opinion shouldn’t even have come to the floor. When you and your cronies can balance the budget, help companies to be able to provide jobs for the millions of Americans, who are out of work, and call out military home; then you’ll be doing the job you were elected to do. Wake UP! Doing this will only cause people to either head to Mexico or Canada to purchase the supplements they need and want. I am appalled at your ideas! Thank you for your time.
    The Banta’s
    Sandy, UT.

  165. I need my supplements, don’t do anything to hinder that.
    David Scranton

  166. So you can get a substantial kickback from big pharma, people will not have this basic right. This is absurd.As a crooked politician- go ahead and take bribes but not this one. This is going to far…..

  167. I think people should be able to decide what and how many supplements are needed to rid themselves of the toxins that our government is allowing the farmers to use to speed up the aging of farm animals sold in our fast food industry, grocery, and resturants. I know the farmers are only trying to keeping up with the demand…I respect themand thank them for all they do. We all have to eat and whatever it takes to balance our nutritional diet should not be dictated.

  168. Many people cannot afford doctors and the medicine they prescribe so easily and often. I personally worked a health-care setting for my whole career and know that pharmaceutical companies go to great lengths to “encourage” the use of their products. I would venture a guess that these very same companies contribute to the campaigns of many politicians who in return pass bills like this one. Why should we not have the freedom to choose to prevent illness with vitamins & mineral supplements rather than fight illness with antibiotics and pharmaceuticals requiring a prescription. I personally use melatonin and valerian to help sleep at night and that good sleep helps me to feel less pain from my other ailments. My MD prescribed ambian & flexoril which left me with side effects and headaches in the mornings. So, some “vitamin” supplements are better for us than the harsh chemiicals found in the prescription drugs. Please leave it alone and DO NOT pass any bill requiring FDA approval on vitamins – it’s just rediculous.

  169. I believe this legislature has been set in motion over the fact that there have been some cases of fatal use of dietary supplements. I am saddened to hear of these problems, but I dont feel MORE government regulation is the answer to a few isolated cases of abuse. Even if this bill passes, in the end all you have accomplished is making it more expensive and harder for the 98% of users to get what they want. After that, you will have bankrupt companies, higher unemployment rates and a lot of people driving to Mexico and Canada to get what they want at a reasonable price.
    Look at what more government involvement did for the prescription drug industry. Why do you think the dietary supplement industry will be any different?
    One major difference Capitol Hill can not see is that the prescription drug industry is a need and the dietary supplement industry is a want. People want to lose weight. People want to look better. Most will pay what they can to achieve that goal.
    In my opinion, the two major forces behind all of this is the fast food industry and Hollywood (the liberal media shining the light on the likes of Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton). If the youth of the nation had a role model that was worth a sack of bottle caps I think most of our problems would “self correct”.
    If it cost less to eat healthy I think it would impact the nation’s ongoing battle with the bulge as well. The average working man can not afford to eat lunch at $10 a day (or more). If thats what it cost to eat a little healthier, do you think someone with an income of less than $50K, a mortage and 3 kids is going to spend $500 a month eating lunch? Not when McDonalds has value meals at half that price. Why arent we punishing the media, Hollywood’s outcasts or the fast food industry?
    Weight lifting is a sport. Many are pushed into body building competitively after a sports injury from a more involved sport like Football or Hockey. Some are here because they want to feel good and look good. Bodybuilding has its perks, and its admirers. It has its superstars too. It has become an industry and its growing with many seeing the advantages of living well.
    Now one man wants to take that away from us, and (BIG SURPRISE) he is from Illinois.
    Im not a cold man. I do feel for the familes that have lost loved ones to health concerns or death resulting from the use of dietary supplements. At the same time you MUST assign blame where it belongs. Taking twice the…

    1. I can’t agree more with what was said above.
      If Sen. Durbin wants to attack someone don’t do it to the ones that are doing good. Go after the ones that are not honest. Punish the guilty if they distribute bad medicine. The majority of natural medicine companies are honest. Ir is too easy to just say punish every one of them because a few have been bad! This is old fashion thinking. We did that in school 50 years ago, that when one of the kids was naughty that the whole class had to stay after school until the guilty one had confessed.
      There are way too many fast foods restaurants in excistance to make it easy for young people to go to. Their food is NOT healthy.
      Don’t prevent people from wanting to be healthy. It is their choice. Don’t we live in a free country? Why take our freedom to choose away from us. Is the senator not proud to have this freedom that he is trying to take it away?
      Healtcare is already very expensive in our country. Too many people have suffered from prescription drugs as well. Our Big Pharma has too much say. Senator Durbin, are you going to work for them after you resign?

  170. Fellas; You must understand, Durbin is from Illinois, he wants to regulate everything. You must bow down to the almighty Senator. Congress is so inept and gridlocked, you probably don’t have anything to worry about.

  171. I want to be able to hear my body tell me what is good for me I am 81 years old and I take no med.from a doctor. so you see I don’t need more taken away from my good health.. joan little.

  172. without my suppliments I couldn’t walk.Please oppose amendment # 2127 to the FDA safety and
    innovation act (S.3187 ) Thank you in advance.

  173. I have been taking supplements for 34yrs an the Doctors tell me to keep taking them because I am in better shape than people that are 10-20yrs younger than me .An I bet that I am in better shape than the so called Sen Durbin or the other senators are an I know I am 10-15yrs older than they are .An I was shot when I was service Korea.An people an doctors still don’t know how I got around so well an I am still working an I drive a truck for a living. An I am in my 70’s

  174. supplements, (quality supplements) have helped me to avoid some prescription drugs which have dangerous side effects. I have always believed that for every disease or sickness there is a natural remedy somewhere on earth. Suzanne Somers is one testimony to this. Durbin has too much time on his hands. He needs to retire.—Bobby Wilson

  175. My husband has Lupis and
    rhumatoid arthritis. By using supplements, his health has improved. His doctor tells him, “what ever you’re doing, keep on doing it”. Most are for rebuilding connective tissue, the others are for inflammation . This has been since 1996. How dare someone try to take away his right to live in comfort. My husband can still ride his bicycle and motorcycle. One. Doctor told him he’d be in a wheelchair in two years. That was over five years ago. Due to supplements is is doing well.

  176. My husband has Lupis and
    rhumatoid arthritis. By using supplements, his health has improved. His doctor tells him, “what ever you’re doing, keep on doing it”. Most are for rebuilding connective tissue, the others are for inflammation . This has been since 1996. How dare someone try to take away his right to live in comfort. My husband can still ride his bicycle and motorcycle. One. Doctor told him he’d be in a wheelchair in two years. That was over five years ago. Due to supplements is is doing well.

  177. My husband has Lupis and
    rhumatoid arthritis. By using supplements, his health has improved. His doctor tells him, “what ever you’re doing, keep on doing it”. Most are for rebuilding connective tissue, the others are for inflammation . This has been since 1996. How dare someone try to take away his right to live in comfort. My husband can still ride his bicycle and motorcycle. One. Doctor told him he’d be in a wheelchair in two years. That was over five years ago. Due to supplements is is doing well.

  178. My husband has Lupis and
    rhumatoid arthritis. By using supplements, his health has improved. His doctor tells him, “what ever you’re doing, keep on doing it”. Most are for rebuilding connective tissue, the others are for inflammation . This has been since 1996. How dare someone try to take away his right to live in comfort. My husband can still ride his bicycle and motorcycle. One. Doctor told him he’d be in a wheelchair in two years. That was over five years ago. Due to supplements is is doing well.

  179. My husband has Lupis and
    rhumatoid arthritis. By using supplements, his health has improved. His doctor tells him, “what ever you’re doing, keep on doing it”. Most are for rebuilding connective tissue, the others are for inflammation . This has been since 1996. How dare someone try to take away his right to live in comfort. My husband can still ride his bicycle and motorcycle. One. Doctor told him he’d be in a wheelchair in two years. That was over five years ago. Due to supplements is is doing well.

  180. My husband has Lupis and
    rhumatoid arthritis. By using supplements, his health has improved. His doctor tells him, “what ever you’re doing, keep on doing it”. Most are for rebuilding connective tissue, the others are for inflammation . This has been since 1996. How dare someone try to take away his right to live in comfort. My husband can still ride his bicycle and motorcycle. One. Doctor told him he’d be in a wheelchair in two years. That was over five years ago. Due to supplements is is doing well.

  181. Please give us a break Senators from this constant harassment over our personal rights to take supplements that make us feel better and enhance our quality of life. Most of these supplements go back thousands of years in many cultures, and even some of American Doctors are starting to see the benefits of using some of them. My dad’s Heart Doctor had him taking Co Q 10, L-Carnitine, and Fish Oil. for many years , and one of his other Doctors had him taking Calcium, Vitamin D on top of a Multi Vitamin, for several years. I would suggest you Senators try taking some of these supplements before you mess with them. I personally take about 18 a day, and sice I have been doing that I have lowered my high cholesterol, and brought up my low calcium. I am a middle aged woman, and calcium is important at my age but you need vitamin D to make it absorb. So please consider trying some supplements for a couple months before you even consider messing with them. Thank you

  182. Senator Durbin,
    Please stop trying to push this amendment through for I oppose this.
    Please allow people their right to decide on what diet pills they can
    have by insisting on having stricter guide lines
    on showing ingredients on bottles, package, etc..
    Thank you
    Laurene Rusing

  183. This is quite the fear mongering and I expected better.
    This amendment may be redundant, but it is nowhere near disastrous. It just requires some paperwork and I can’t fathom how this will lead to anything legal coming off of shelves. If the FDA hasn’t implemented something from 10 years ago, the government has reason to pass a new bill for a plan that can work to be implemented.
    Do not waste everyone’s time calling their senator over a bill that does not matter.
    Again, it’s just a requirement to send in your labels and manufacturing info to the FDA. Maybe we should feel a little assurance that companies have to give some evidence of their manufacturing practice, product changes, etc. It might keep banned ingredients and shady companies off the market so people don’t villainize this industry.

  184. Regulating food for profit is not working to the great good of humanity. We don’t need to give the FDA any more power over our food choices.

  185. Turbin Durbin you are a piece of work. How much did big Pharma. pay you off to outlaw vitamins!

  186. I oppose the Durbin & Blumenthal amendment #2127 to the FDA Ssfety and Innovation Act(S.3187).
    Please take action on my behalf and allow me to make my own decisions on my health care and what I choose to put into my body.
    Thanks.

  187. This is not his business what we put in our body, mr. d stay the hell outta what you don’t understand

  188. My 103yr old Grandmother had a ‘vitamin closet’. She lived disease free for 103yrs. As American freedoms dwindle, the right to health is all that seems left. Remind: There are attacks on Organic Farming too!! The burden of new harsh regulations w outrageous penalties is the wrong path.

  189. Stop interfering with our supplements- we want to freedom to chose any type and any quantity. Leave us along you have no knowledge in this area. I have used supplements to keep several our of limit lab tests in check and the m.d. was surprised. Thank you.

  190. This is outrageous! I ecercise daily and rely heavily on the use of supplements as a part of my diet! Please do not revoke this right! The persons behind and pushing these ideas are obviously working out of the pockets of big genetic medical giants! Pathetic!!

    1. why everyone getting mad for… what he trying to do is to get the supplement to pass through the FDA before its sell to the public. I would rather take supplement approve by the FDA than just on the shelf. I think this is a great idea for safety reasons. Also think about this, supplement that pass through FDA are most likely going to work. I hear people buying pills to lose weight and don’t. The reason why GNC and other supplement store are mad because they can’t sell their false product to the customer now. At least now if it’s pass through the FDA we can actually spend our money on honest supplement… so remember the store aren’t here for us is only mad because they going to lose money they don’t care for us… so people don’t get it twisted…

      1. Thanks for your comment. There are many problems with the idea of having the FDA “approve” supplements. First, would you like a government agency that receives half of its operating budget from Big Pharma to be in charge of telling you what supplements you can and can’t take? Considering supplements have to be constituents of foods, having the FDA approve supplements places the government in charge of deciding which naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and botanicals are legal to consume. Would you like the FDA to have your local farmer submit their lettuce and tomatoes to the FDA for approval before they can sell it at a farmers’ market? There are dozens of safety, marketing, packaging, and inspection laws, regulations, and requirements that regulate the industry as well as multiple state and federal agencies. Check out our coverage of this issue here: http://www.anh-usa.org/dietary-supplement-regulation-facts. Keep in mind that Durbin’s amendment is a solution looking for a problem. Roughly 65 BILLION supplements are consumed yearly, yet there are only about 1200 “adverse events” reported for supplements in a year, most of them for mild symptoms like nausea or headache, as opposed to the the 160,000 adverse events reported for pharmaceuticals and over the counter drugs each year. According to Poison Control Centers data, in 2009 there were 122 deaths from Tylenol alone. Remember that “FDA-approved” doesn’t mean they’re safe. In fact, FDA-approved drugs kill and injure more people now than ever before.

      2. Because the FDA is evil of evils. You can’t trust them. They approve food that is terrible they approve artificial sweeteners in diet sodas which is poison. Being ill is a trillion dollar a year industry and they want us to be sick. WAKE UP AMERICA!

  191. I believe we should have the right to take care of our bodies. Thank you. Elizabeth

  192. Don’t these politicians have anything better to do with their time like reduce government spending/deficits, stopping wars, etc. Unbelievable!

  193. America needs Dietary supplement and no one should be able to take them away from us,that would NOT be the AMERICAN way. Thank-you

  194. Just leave this part of our life alone. Isn’t it enough that you and your party are trying to force
    Obama care down our throats, but now you want to take away the method that many of us
    use to stay healty. Doctors only prescribe pills for the symtoms and do not go after the cause
    of our problems.
    If you are into socialism, then the Scandinavian countries will better suit you way of thinking. And since the tax rates on individuals approach 50%, it should feel like nirvana to you.
    Gerald Kantin
    Carson City, NV

  195. These politicians should find something better to do with their time! The American economy is suffering enough as it is!

  196. I highly OPPOSE the Durbin and Blumenthal amendment no. 2127 to the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187). I wish he would find something real to work on!

  197. Why not worry about big macs and whoppers? Why not regulate “Extra Value Meals” those are real health concerns… Obesity has reached epidemic levels and your worried about dietary supplements???? Stop wasting our hard earned money on your own personal agendas… Gas tax, Ammunition tax; now what a Supplement tax?

  198. We have the right to take care of our bodies. Stop trying to control what we do to ourselves.

  199. I have taken alternative medicine for years. MSM (Organic Sulfur) has literally kept me in remission with my Crohn’s disease for the past 20 plus years. I feel it’s just another bureaucratic measure to control our lives. I am NOT for the anti-supplement amendment.

  200. Seriously!! Another Senator/politician trying to tell us how to live our own lives-?? This is offensive to our freedom ! If we let people like this tell us how to live then what is next? It all has to do with how money hungry these people like Durbin are and they are being played by the drug companies and don’t even realize it because they want to get rich!! Sick!!! Leave us all alone to decide how we want to live our lives—-being healthy!!!

  201. Don’t take away my source nutrition! I’m vegan and I need supplements in order to stay healthy! It’s my right to stay healthy and no one can take that away from me! Stop trying to take the right away from people who care about their health and great lifestyle!

  202. I stay in Canada 6 months out of the year. They have different rules that limit the products they can sell. ITS TERRIBLE. Literally the best protein supplements are simply not available there. I really appreciate coming back to the US where we can purchase the best products made. Adding legal process that could stop this or add price is unacceptable.

  203. Stop being against organic and vitamins! We don’t want to live on pills every day that were never truly meant for our bodies and harm us. . The burden of new these harsher regulations with the outrageous penalties is directly against our health.

  204. What is happening to freeom of choice in America?
    Every day we seem to loose another freedom.

  205. Greed, greed, greed, greed, greed, greed. The pie is always big enough for everyone to have some, providing that the big fat bullys don’t take it all, first. You government hacks and Corporate theives are the ones making the pie smaller and smaller. If this continues, One Bully will have the whole pie, and even those who thought they were on top won’t even get any. Why? Because the way you are all playing the game, eventually, everyone loses. Competitinon is healthy, Greed is NOT! Somewhere along the line you all will have to stop throwing the little guys under the bus and realize that as long as no one is being harmed, everyone is welcome to the table. Please stop this never-ending assault on our freedoms, Don’t forget, you have relatives that have to live in this world, too and you are harming them, and eventually yourselves, as well. We should have stopped you guys when you started making car insurance mandatory and conducting sobriety checkpoints.

  206. If Congress would spend as much time and energy on solving America’s real problems as they do on trying to regulate every aspect of our lives, this country and its citizens would be so much better off!

  207. Time and money would be better spent on getting mercury out of our mouths, but the FDA, who is suppose to protect us, covers this up with the ADA.
    We need supplementation just to stay even with all the toxins that are allowed in our food, water, and soil.
    Help in preventing the diseases we will get from all the toxins, is much more needed than regulation of supplements.
    Help us keep the right to choose what we think is best for out health, and not regulated once again by the FDA who seems to be on the side of killing us. After deaths, from a drug the FDA approves, it is removed from the market.
    Thank you for your time and keep America with the freedom to choose!!!!!

  208. Big government = no more substances for American people is what it sound like. Isn’t obesity still a hot topic amongst politicians, let alone the American public? Without the use of dietary substances to use as prevention items, the problem might as well continue to grow. Why waste time and money on a cause like this when there are obviously greater problems at hand domestically and abroad for our country and supplement use is not one of them.

    1. The pharacutical companies, amongst other Big Buisinesses, ARE the government. They put their people into political offices and pay off people in political offices to change the laws in their favor. Therefore this is not a waste of time and money for them. If they take away the peoples rights to manage their own health using herbs and supliments, they force the people to be dependant on pharmacutical companies. It is a way of controlling the people, making them dependant and helpless to be preyed upon by greedy corporations. They are not concerned about the problems of the people here or abroad, except for the problem of how to put more wealth in their already overflowing pockets.

  209. I normally vote for Democrats in Congressional races and at a state level, though I often vote for 3rd party candidates like Ralph Nader in national contests. But if the Dems keep insisting on trying to curtail nutritional supplements in favor of their friends in Big Medicine and Big Pharma, I’m going to bail completely and make it a regular policy to ALWAYS vote against them in EVERY race. This is the equivalent of my “single issue voter” motivator for life. Without nutritional supplements of my choosing, I would be in such bad shape I could not work or function by now. Doctors and pharmaceutical drugs do nothing but make me and most people worse. This was the one big problem I always had with my late friend, Paul Wellstone. The Democrats have to tread cautiously on this issue or they will lose MANY of us on the Left who are normally part of their base.

  210. This new attempt and many other attempts that politician keep trying to add to and change to the existing laws is only distroying us as a nation with each one changed. They bombard us at the grocery stores with our familys can you help this & that ballot all you need is to sign, yah Literally sign away yoyur rights ! These senators and politians are trying to completely change the whole meaning behind Freedom ! Domocracy ! really what will they try to make worse next ? They have done ENOUGH…. with the nations signatures.
    Thank you for letting me rant 🙂

  211. Regarding those who are in political office and who push for these kinds of legislation, would it be stretch for anyone to think that it may just be that, , big pharma has their hands up the butts of these puppets and that they’re saying just what big pharma wants them to say?

  212. How about the government officials work on jobs and our economy instead of attempting to take away our supplements because big pharma is afraid too much money is being spent on supplements instead of their drugs which keep us sick.
    These traitors in our government do not have control over what I choose to put in my body no matter what they may think. Get off the power trip and mind your own damn business.
    How about closing our borders? How about stopping all he abuse of taxpayer monies? Instead, these fools think their time is better spent regulating supplements? Really? You’re all a bunch of human predators and will answer for the abuses you have heaped onto humanity for your own selfish gains.

  213. The government wants people to be sick and this is another attempt to stop Americans from hopefully waking up to the FDA and the garbage they happily let us eat and drink.

  214. Typical big government over-regulation and nanny state thinking. Dont vote for these kind (Obama).

  215. Please do not infringe anymore on our rights. The more you impose on us as Americans and regulate, the bigger the government will be for your grandchildren in the future. Please reconsider, I take my vitamins and supplements and they definitely make a difference. Our food is already depleted through our soil and processing, not to mention delivery time. We need our supplements.

  216. I am getting fed up with the government regulating just about everything in sight. I want to decide if I want a product expecially one produced in the United States of America. Remember, we have a ECONOMY problem in this country and a jobs problem as well. But the huge problem would be if your proposed act is passed I will have but another freedom taken away. Last time I looked I am a citizen of a free country, the USA. Oops! Maybe it is not free any more.
    Stop the insanity now.

  217. I strongly oppose the durbin amendment. It’s just dumb politicians trying to take away jobs as usual from the hard working citizens. Plus senator durbin has his own personal agenda to get rich for himself

    1. I hope it does get passed… less deaths and harm caused by carelessness in the industry.

  218. Dr. Benjamin Rush, back in those years, said of the newly forming Bill Of Rights that:.”…there should be included the right for the individual to choose health care or in future some monolithic power will emerge and eliminate any such right”. You, reader, may know the precise words used, I can only paraphrase.
    The power we see in the triumvirate of the FDA-Big Pharma-AMA is far and away more than Dr. Rush could have predicted. Big Pharma to embellish their $260Billion as traded on Wall Street, will do its all to quash this adversary our access to Supplements. Is it really their interest altruistically in our health? Their own processes are responsible for deaths by use of medicines manufactured in their labs. This First World country which is at 50 in the global survey of all countrires’ “long life and over-all health” would tell us their system of laboratory concocted chemicals are the sole answer to good health. We are balking at paying for their product, they are more powerful than us: we must go.

  219. Though I understand that many are frustrated about the supplement issue, there are some false statements being thrown out about Senator Durbin’s intentions, actually if all of you knew the guy you could see that he tries to be proactive and does care about the country. I see where people who want their supplement manufacture’s to be left alone can feel irritated, but there are shady tactics involved with some of the supplement manufactures claims, just take the time and watch the unbiased documentary Bigger,Faster, Stronger. Nobody is saying don’t take care of mind and body.

    1. FUNNY JAMA HAS ADMITTED THAT DR’s KILL OVER 100,000 PEOPLE EVERY YEAR WITH CORRECTLY PRESCRIBED DRUGS. NOT TO MENTION INNCORRECTLY PRESCRIBED DRUGS. Big pharma is one of the most corrupt industrys . Doctors prostitute there profession to the highest bidders…big pharma.Now how many people are killed by supplements yearly ? 100? 1000? WHICH BUISNESS NEEDS MORE REGULATIONS? THIS IS JUST ANOTHER PLOY TO CUT OF FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN HEALTH CARE. DRUGS DO NOT CURE THEY NEVER HAVE AND NEVER WILL.RISE UP AND FIGHT FOR YOUR FREEDOMS AND FREE YOURSELFS FROM TYRANNY!

    2. Well if that’s the case, then he should be working to change the honesty in labeling and claims policies, not by restricting our ability to purchase supplements as a whole. There are a great many companies who ARE honest and whose products do what they claim so this approach is BS. This is just another attempt to keep Americans unhealthy and unable to do anything about it ourselves, rendering us helpless and dependent on the ever-growing medical/pharmaceutical industries which are their money making machines. Think about it.

  220. Food is Medicine or can be poisonous. Will the Government try and control that ???
    With the proper Supplements, we have been able to keep the Pharmacutecal pushed medicines and Doctors endorssed chemicals out of our bodies. Results, No side effects and Great energy levels.
    When we have Grave issues like crumbling Ecconomy, Jobs being lost, Housing Sector melting, Crime on the rise, … We have to ignore these and work about limiting peoples Choices for their GOOD HEALTH ???????
    Give us a BREAK !!!!

  221. The type of action taken by Senator Durbin is typical of a senator who wants to appear as a defender of the general public and commerce, yet woefully cripples us with ever more burgeoning legislation. Here is the one place where the adage “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it” applies!
    His panties are apparently in a bunch again….PLEASE fix it Sen. Durbin and leave we the people the hell alone! We already have legislation in place for this.

  222. I’m strongly in favor or a more informed public, but government regulation that serves to restrict freedoms in the interest of public health takes us in the wrong direction. The opposite of freedom is not slavery, but safety and security. Sure, it’s a balance, but in this country we strive to err on the side of liberty. What we all agreed upon at the outset.

  223. These big gov’t Dem’s will never be satisfied, it’s amazing. The arrogance that they “know better”, and push to regulate every single aspect of business, and our lives, is a major reason we need to make a change come November. This latest Amendment against supplements is just another example of a too-big gov’t sticking their nose where it’s not welcome or needed.

    1. Agreed, and in my opinion every frog who’s been in a particular office longer than one term should be forced to give up that position unless their record indicates that they have been working for the people and have done a good job in being our representative.. The rest, that is the toads, should be ousted after their first term (if it reveals lack of cooperation) not voted out but GET out and let someone else prove their worth. these two rodeo clowns are pathetic, seems every three months or so they bring up the same crap that was rejected the times before. Whether it be Dem or Pub, slackers like this should not be tolerated especially from their own ilk. If I were in politics and punks like this were around, I’d feel ashamed and get rid of them before they made us all look bad but i guess they don’t have the backbone and don’t really care what the public feels about any of them.. Pathetic.

    2. This isn’t a move from big gov’t Democrats — this is a move from the kind of massive, power and money hungry corporations (read Fat Pharma) that present day Republicans support more in terms of philosophy but that both parties support in reality. Follow the money: whether it’s shutting down access to supplements, corrupting the FDA, or robbing us all to fatten up bankers again, members of either party can and are bought for certain jobs — and members of either party can oppose such intrusions.
      Look at the ‘small’ governments of Reagan and Bush (ha!), and the Republican efforts to have video cameras in people’s bedrooms to monitor their behavior. The anti-health-freedom movement isn’t a matter of ideology, it’s a matter of greed. It doesn’t come from either party — members of either party can be enlisted to push corporate interests over our well-being.
      Usually it sneaks in under safety concerns, but various labels will do. McCain was on the same bandwagon not long ago.
      Until we realize that we’re being churned as sometimes Dems, sometimes Repubs are used, there won’t be effective enough unity to protect our rights.

    3. So sad these guys are so hungry for more money and more power they could care less about “choices and independence” they just want control so pitiful their lives must be; I honestly feel sorry for them makes to pray for them more and more.

    4. While I am not for any politician pushing for regulation based on scientific nature when they themselves have absolutely no background or understanding in the field I am surprised that you bring up that he’s a Dem and clearly must mean the party wants a giant government and be completely obtrusive in everyday life. Yet you don’t seem angry about republicans ruling the country by the bible….or their intrusion into the female reproductive system….or their intrusion into private citizens sexlives and partnerships….or their promotion of de-regulation of the financial industry so they can repeat what got us into this mess….the continued push to stop all taxation and regulation of business saying it will create jobs when all studies correlating job growth and corporate tax breaks/deregulation show profit increases for companies, but decreased jobs, pay, and benefits….i clearly could go on and on. I am not a particular fan of either “party” but kills me that people just like to point and blame everything on one party when we have a whole pile of political failures from both parties running the country.

    1. Forget about those as well, it’s freedoms no matter how you look at it and concentrating on cigarettes and booze is just as unconstitutional as the vitamin issue, in short. The g’ment should get out of state issues. You don’t want to smoke cigarettes, vote on it in your state, don’t applaud the feds as they ride into town to save the day, it over inflates their egos then they begin to anticipate what else the people should be protected from.. You allow one freedom to sink, your opening the flood wall for the rest to follow. Complain at all points whether you personally agree or not, it’s the only weapon we have so when you say, get rid of cigarettes or booze or ice cream trucks but leave vitamins alone, it only enforces them to come back because at one time you said no to the cigarettes and the booze and the ice cream trucks but soon changed your mind and said ‘yes’ giving them the belief that ‘no’ isn’t final.

    2. I’m not certain that I fully agree with this proposed legislation, however, I am CERTAINLY concerned for the safety of anything a consumer takes. We must concede that dietary supplements should never be endorsed with the blanket ideology that it can’t hurt you. There is plenty of evidence that certain manufacturers have blatantly used materials (whether organic, herbal, natural, or otherwise) that have been taken off the market due to a variety of reasons, and rightly so. Conjecture and prejudice of increased prices and job loss, appear to be fuel for those who are in bound opposition to any form of regulation. This prompts the idea that they (personally and financially) have more to lose than to gain my this legislation. I am not an advocate of BigPharma, but as a provider, believe there needs to be proof of safety and efficacy in everything we consume. The ideology that “these food-like substances necessarily have milder effects, making them safer to use than drugs. The term “natural” on labels is not well defined and is sometimes used ambiguously to imply unsubstantiated benefits or safety. For example, many weight-loss products claim to be “natural” or “herbal” but this doesn’t necessarily make them safe. Their ingredients may interact with drugs or may be dangerous for people with certain medical conditions.” [http://www.fda.gov/Food/DietarySupplements/ConsumerInformation/ucm110567.htm] Having had the experience in the clinical setting of seeing how wrong and uneducated choices are often made, gives me a great deal of concern for what patients will consume. There HAS to be a happy medium somewhere.

      1. I believe there is a problem with the collective messaging from doctors, researchers and especially those citing the research and its supposed conclusions and implications. For example, many MDs have an embarassing dearth of nutritional education. Something as fundamentally important to health as food!!! Never mind nutritional supplements!
        On one hand we hear all about “placebo effects” and inefficacy, then on the other we hear vitreolic attacks of how “powerful” these supplements are in their effects to interfere with other medicines. Well which is it? Powerful or useless? With such contradictions one can surely understand why most folks are suspicious of the villainization of supplements.
        With such highly educated people one would expect that this community can put together a more convincing and cogent argument, but instead we hear contradiction and emotional knee jerk generalizations on how wasteful and dangerous these supplements are.

  224. Regulating a market is not the same as taking away a market. This is a call for registration, not removal. At present numerous supplementary products are not required to be registered with any US administration. This makes tracking both the claims of products and the products themselves difficult.
    No products will be “taken away”, they will only be required to register with the FDA. Some companies may fail to register their products, but given a thirty day grace period they have no excuse not to. Nor do I understand why registration is so adamantly fought. We register human beings with the government in the manner of birth certificates and social security numbers, why not register supplements? Ad-hominems about communism needn’t be committed.

    1. I can tell you don’t run a business, nor can you analyse economics very well. If you did and could, you would know that there is already more time and money spent on taxes and complying with government bureaucracy than spent on providing the goods and services themselves. Those who can’t do, regulate and try to prevent others who can do something worthwhile!

  225. “The FTC also forces you to sign a “consent decree” which involves you admitting to committing crimes that you have actually never committed. These crimes include the “criminal misrepresentation of a product” by, for example, explaining that walnuts help support healthy cholesterol levels or that cherries ease symptoms of inflammation.”
    This kind of language is just barring criminal acts, not censoring freedoms. People (GNC) are crying over the fact that they don’t want anything supplement and supplement related to be “REGULATED” because they know they are constantly falsely advertised by the companies making them. How about this, stop falsely advertising the effects that these basic CHEMICALS (supplements) have on people. It’s mostly placebo effect, so in effect.

    1. “It’s mostly placebo effect…” Hmm… sounds like a disgruntled MD. Are you afraid there will be fewer victims on the meds treadmill, and your $$$ annuity from writing quick scripts will be diminished? Keep your paws off my “placebos”. If they are so much of a placebo, then why are you so worried about regulating them? It shouldn’t concern you at all. What’s next banning pet rocks, and good luck charms? Get a life!

  226. Wow don’t you think his time would be better spent on something like economic recovery. What is wrong with this picture? Once this country is back on its feet and humming along then worry about these type of issues. Until then stay focused on improving our economy.

  227. I agree with so many statements above. DO NOT do this. Absolutely ridiculous.
    Lisa M. Foster
    Nebraska @ present.

  228. Honestly, I would really like to see the facts stated. How many deaths and Health problems are caused by Big Pharma Dr prescribed drugs vs Dietary Supplements. Is Big Pharma really any better than our dietary supp manufactures? I believe thats the issue hear is money and jealousy. The greed of our government wants to tap in to the millions in profits the supp companies make by taking control over our low cost dietary supps. They wanna take Oxy Elite (which really works for weight loss) off the market. However,they want to start prescribing a new fat burner to the obese population with a side effects list a mile long. This choice should be left up t the people. This is suppose to be a free country but its seems the only freedom we have is to choose what the government offers us. Every day that goes by our government puts there noses where they dont belong. Letting governent make our choices is not the way to go.

    1. in answer to your question – great breakdown here, note how “adverse effects” are differently reported for supplements vs drugs – amazing scam.
      http://www.anh-usa.org/durbin-and-waxman-strike-again/
      and
      http://thepeopleschemist.com/creepy-antidepressant-side-effect-still-being-hidden/
      Please pass this kind of info to other like minded health conscious citizens. Durbin and Waxman are simply bought and paid for shills for big Pharma and have never represented the people’s interest.

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