Only 38 more days to tell FDA and Congress that the proposed rules for supplements could lead to the elimination of thousands of supplements and make the surviving ones much more expensive.
When FDA issued their draft guidance for New Dietary Ingredients (that is, supplements), the agency was perverting congressional intent—the congressmen who wrote the original legislation even told the FDA commissioner before the guidance was issued that it needed to be fully consistent with DSHEA! FDA was also attempting to circumvent the notification system Congress intended by instituting a scheme that mirrors the Waxman supplement pre-approval system, introduced in 1993, which DSHEA was intended to stop.
Here’s some important background for you.
Supplement and integrative medicine champion Sen. Orrin Hatch made this statement when he introduced the bill for DSHEA, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994:
In our free market society, consumers should be able to purchase dietary supplements and companies should be able to sell these products so long as the labeling and advertising are truthful, non-misleading, and there exists a reasonable scientific basis for product claims.
Unfortunately, not everyone in our federal government shares these views. For more than three decades, FDA has tried to restrict severely the ability of the dietary supplement industry to sell and market its products and, consequently, the ability of consumers to buy them. The agency has repeatedly attempted to impose unnecessarily stringent standards that would leave many if not most supplement companies with no practical choice but to close their doors.
In sharp contrast, Rep. Henry Waxman wanted dietary ingredients and nutritional supplements to be considered food additives and therefore subject to FDA approval—not unlike the system that is used for drugs. So Waxman introduced the Dietary Supplement Access and Claims Moratorium Act of 1993. This bill would have amended the food additive definition to include dietary ingredients (supplements)—thereby making supplements subject to the food additive approval process.
Happily, cooler heads in Congress prevailed. Sen. Hatch explicitly stated:
As you know, [DSHEA] makes clear that dietary supplements are not food additives or drugs, and that the burden of proof shall be on the FDA to prove that a product is unsafe.
Consequently, when DSHEA was passed, dietary ingredients were specifically exempted from the definition of “food additives,” making supplements not subject to FDA pre-approval. All that was needed was a simple notification.
Now FDA has offered its draft guidance—which attempts to circumvent DSHEA as it was passed and create a new pre-approval system. Everything about this proposal is a perversion of congressional intent, and will (as Sen. Hatch told the world eighteen years ago) severely restrict your ability to buy nutritional supplements and leave many—if not most—supplement companies with no practical choice but to close their doors.
Time is running out—the comment period ends on December 2! Help us protect your access to supplements. We need everyone reading this to send their message to Congress and FDA right now to make sure the FDA and Waxman don’t win! Take action today!
Why does the government oppose supplements that are healthful and promote pharmaceuticals that kill 300,000 people a year and GMO foods that are changing our DNA as I’m writing this email. They also allow pesticides to be poured on our crops and we know that this is killing us slowly but surely. The increase in allergies and ADD and autism hasn’t increased exponentiall since GMO started in 1996, etc. It’s all about profit and greed and stupidity. These men don’t know anything about food or health and they are signing bills that effect all of us. Vote them all out.
In a country where millions of us can not afford Health Insurance, do not dare to make our supplements either unavailable or too costly. I have had no health insurance for 5 years and depend on supplements to stay well. I am caretaker of my 84 year old father, and must stay strong and healthy. Please do not restrict the only way those of us without insurance have to stay healthy. Please. I beg you to leave our vitamins and supplements alone.
Why does the Congress want to give the supplements industry into the hands of Big Pharma? Haven’t they enough money already? Many of us don’t take their drugs, but we do take supplements and have all our lives. They have helped us, enhanced our lives, and spared us some of the debacles of Big Pharma which is clearly seeking a kind of world domination. An apple is a nutritional supplement. Air is a supplement, water is a supplement, herbs are supplements. How much do they need to control? If this government wishes to assist its citizens in a fair and economic fashion it will not allow Big Business to contol EVERYTHING. What I put in my body should be pretty much up to me, not decided by Big Pharma who buys the legislators to make their domination legal. STOP assisting them. They need to help people, not consider them a usable commodity!
I use supplements regularly to maintain health along with excercise and good diet. It is important for these to be available and I do not understand why a Congressman would think otherwise. It is foolish to take away what people rely on as a supplement to their diets and unless a supplement does harm, they should not be restricted.
I trust the Life Extension Foundation a lot more than I trust the FDA. Leave them alone to do their good things and don’t take away DSHEA regardless how much the money-grubbing bastards in Big Pharma hate it.
We want nutritional freedom of food and suppliments. Over 38% of the population feel this way and growing every day.
I give my child Attend for ADD/ADHD, this is a wonderful product and can’t tell you how much it has helped my child excel in school, athletics and has helped him be less of an outcast. I don’t ever want to give my child amphetamines. Would you take them?
dear F.D.A.-please do what you do best HELP the drug companies bring drugs to market that kill people and leave my suppliments ALONE!!!!!!!
Please contact groups that might not be aware of the threat, such as the Hispanic, Gay, and Black communities – so everyone knows that pharma is behind this and why this matters. Many people do not know what specific things supplements can do, such as turmeric for CF.
“Curcumin, a major constituent of turmeric, corrects cystic fibrosis defects.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15105504
Please Stop NDI Supplement Guidance time Is Running Out to Stop It!
A medically guided program, including supplements, has been a necessary adjunct to my diet. Severe health problems, often requiring antibiotics, were part of my daily existence. However, I could not tolerate antibiotics, always suffering side effects, as severe as anaphylaxis. My immune system was deficient. Supplements have improved my immune system for over 30 years; I am most thankful for the companies who manufacture the quality supplements for a cost which can be managed by the client. How dare a government official or government agency interfere with the lives of their constituents, when protective laws are already set in place!!
If it wer`nt for vitamin and mineral supplements I would be a cripple.Due to severe bone loss discovered 40 years ago.I am strong and healthy 71 year old.With out medications.With vitamin and minerals.
It is past time for the Congress to put a muzzle on the FDA.
Their attempt to “circumvent DSHEA as it was passed, and to create a new pre-approval system. Everything about this proposal is a perversion of congressional intent is going and will (as Sen. Hatch told the world eighteen years ago) severely restrict your ability to buy nutritional supplements and leave many—if not most—supplement companies with no practical choice but to close their doors.”
If you have not sent notification to Congress and the FDA… Please do so now!
In our free market society, consumers should be able to purchase dietary supplements and companies should be able to sell these products so long as the labeling and advertising are truthful, non-misleading, and there exists a reasonable scientific basis for product claims.
Unfortunately, not everyone in our federal government shares these views. For more than three decades, FDA has tried to restrict severely the ability of the dietary supplement industry to sell and market its products and, consequently, the ability of consumers to buy them. The agency has repeatedly attempted to impose unnecessarily stringent standards that would leave many if not most supplement companies with no practical choice but to close their doors.
As you know, DSHEA makes clear that dietary supplements are not food additives or drugs, and that the burden of proof shall be on the FDA to prove that a product is unsafe.
Now FDA has offered its draft guidance—which attempts to circumvent DSHEA as it was passed and create a new pre-approval system. Everything about this proposal is a perversion of congressional intent.
The proposed rules for supplements could lead to the elimination of thousands of supplements and make the surviving ones much more expensive.
Food Fascists! I keep myself healthy through prevention and supplementation. Allopaths don’t embrace prevention, they’re all about intervention in disease processes, and the pharm industry uses physicians to push their drugs. Everyone I meet is is on statins, for example, and statins are horrible! How many people realize that the resulting muscle pain is from Rhabdomyolysis? If I want to use Red yeast Rice instead of Mevacor® for hypercholesterolemia, or Celery Seed instead of Allopurinol® to reduce Uric acid, because of the absence of dangerous side-effects, it should be up to me, the informed individual. I’m a citizen, not a criminal, but I suppose I’d sooner become a criminal under new fascist laws, importing supplements from elsewhere, than become another sick U.S. citizen.
This is not needed. Orin Hatch introduced the bill DSHEA (The Dietary Health Bill) covers it all. To quote the old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
I do not want access to vitamins legislated away.
Leave our supplements alone.
I personally have had better results From using supplements of my own choosing To fix skin problems that I’ve had. Than going to different dermatologist for the last 15 years. I want to preserve my freedom of choice to use what supplements I feel are best for me.
The FDA would be put to better use to look more to the Pharmaceutical industry and leave well enough alone with our supplements. I consider this an infringement on my rights.
No to the NDI Supplement Guidance! The proposed rules for supplements could lead to the elimination of thousands of supplements and make the surviving ones much more expensive.
When FDA issued their draft guidance for New Dietary Ingredients (that is, supplements), the agency was perverting congressional intent—the congressmen who wrote the original legislation even told the FDA commissioner before the guidance was issued that it needed to be fully consistent with DSHEA! FDA was also attempting to circumvent the notification system Congress intended by instituting a scheme that mirrors the Waxman supplement pre-approval system, introduced in 1993, which DSHEA was intended to stop.
Save the free enterprise of safe supplements.
stop bait and switch
I strongly and vehemently oppose this legislation. Please do not put our nutritional supplements at risk by this.
Dear Sir [Mam],
It is such shame that our government has declared war on the health of the American people. Our health care system has turned into profit oriented alchemy. It is getting harder and harder to plan healthy meals, so a lot of us take nutrients to try to stay healthy and now our government wants to take those away.
It seems our representatives are far more interested in getting on a Big Pharma guest list than protecting the freedom of the American people.
I work at being positive and I hate to be negative, but just once I would like to see someone in our government stand up for our right to be healthy.
Big Pharma Business Agent, The FDA, builds straw man arguments about protecting us from nutrients while rubber stamping alchemy known to kill, cripple and maim.
Physiology 101 teaches we are an integrated set of biochemical interdependencies and when those interdependencies aren’t satisfied, systems deteriorate, processes shut down, health spirals downward, defenses aren’t in place and renegrade processes occur.
Pharmaceuticals .are a Wall Street mindset-building an alchemy product for a market; processed foods builds a market for those products. The result is the wealthiest nation on earth with the highest percentage of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and neuro degeneration.
Then to hear someone with a medical degree say they know of no nutrient that prevents disease, our new byword for deteriorating health. It makes you wonder what class they went through and if they slept through it. Two that comes immediately to mind are scurvy and pellagra-two deficiencies diagnosed before Big Pharma had a chance to introduce them to alchemy.
I am so sorry as I don’t mean to sound so negative, but with our Doctors forced to be Phama Business Agents and Health Insurance, Pharma Escrow, a lot of us are trying to stay healthy so we don’t have to succumb to alchemy or hack saw therapy. Our nutrients are our last hope beside God in staying healthy.
Won’t you please, just one time, vote in our favor.
Thanks.
Sincerely,
Mark E. Kroger
Leave our supplements alone !!!!
In our free market society, consumers should be able to purchase dietary supplements and companies should be able to sell these products so long as the labeling and advertising are truthful, non-misleading, and there exists a reasonable scientific basis for product claims.
Now that the FDA has offered its draft guidance—which attempts to circumvent DSHEA as it was passed and create a new pre-approval system. Everything about this proposal is a perversion of congressional intent, and will (as Sen. Hatch told the world eighteen years ago) severely restrict our ability to buy nutritional supplements and leave many—if not most—supplement companies with no practical choice but to close their doors.
This falls square on the issue of healthcare freedom. The Corporate Dictocrats are serving their masters well by using fear that the free market cannot be trusted without their over-sight. They (the regulators who really speak for BigPharma & BigAgra) assure us that they will provide the adequate level of protection, no matter how many of our freedoms we have to sacrifice in the name of “safety.” Yet their masters are the very culprits that allow tainted medical and food products to enter our food supply from foreign countries that cause illness and death. Isn’t this hypocracy at the highest level? No, it’s planned by design. A classic strategy out of the oldest playbook in the world. One that’s proven effective for thousands of years. I’ll explain…
They (the financial masters or elite behind mega Corp and Govt initiatives to user in a New World Order) call it the Dialectic (short for Hegelian dialectic.) It’s the creation of the ideal circumstance for willing sacrifice of the masses of their freedoms in exchange for security. Of course, it’s really not to protect us at all but to have us willingly turn over our freedoms to them. They are patient as they have been chipping away at it since at least 1830s in our modern era.
These are the same Elite who have been the force behind poisoning our water in the name of expediency and health (solvents and floride), food (herbicides, pesticides, chem fertilizers, GMOs, etc..) air (Chem trails, industrial pollution, etc..) and toxic medications (synthetic drugs conservatively 4th leading cause of death in US.)
Time for people to wake up and realize that we are not dealing with a friendly neighbor who is reasonable and sane. Yes, there are individuals who work within and throughout the FDA (and the rest of the US Govt for that matter) that are honest hard working people, many of which may even mean well. They are though compartmentalized in their function. Only the Elite set the agenda, which according to Obama appointed Science Czar (Holdren) is depopulation (EcoScience 1977.) In his book (or policy paper) he calls for mass sterilization and other technologies that can be applied to food and water needed to depopulate and save the earth.
So, we see that these draconian measures are coming from a group of megalomanic uber rich elite that are steeped in Gaia worship (earth worship) and approving slow-kill technology into the air, water, and food to kill and increasing number of people to reduce the strain on the earth’s resources. So, this is why they have to get rid of free access to natural therapeutic technologies (AKA Dietary Supplements) on the open market because they are in direct conflict with their agenda.
Now that we know who and what we are dealing with, we need to fight them on this NDI issue all the way!!! We need to convince the public and gain the popular vote for open access to supplements as outlined by DSHEA 1994. We need to pressure them throughout this process as they will take advantage of any opportunities to take liberties, expand power, and harmonize with Codex as much as possible.
If we are not successful, all of our lives will change for the worst in Dec.
Keep supporting groups like ANH-USA as they are at the tip of spear and doing a great job!
Please leave the dietary supplement industry alone. DSHEA already provides the necessary safeguards!
My opportunity to choose what supplements I need is essential to my survival!!!
Jordan L. Donovan
Please do not let the FDA take control of the suppliments sold in the USA. Many people will suffer when the suppliments they are using are stripped away from them. It’s also another job killer in an economy that’s already in big trouble.
I want to have access to supplements of my own free will. Do not apply restrictions against my ability to purchase supplements. Thank you.
this is a ridicules idea that makes no sense!
this is a ridicules idea that makes no sense!
this is a ridicules idea that makes no sense!
this is a ridicules idea that makes no sense!
this is a ridicules idea that makes no sense!
this is a ridicules idea that makes no sense!
In our free market society, consumers should be able to purchase dietary supplements and companies should be able to sell these products so long as the labeling and advertising are truthful, non-misleading, and there exists a reasonable scientific basis for product claims.
It’s hard to believe that in a country that’s supposed to be free, that there’s a possibility that we may not be able to decide what supplements we want to take without government intervening in our personal business. Fully knowing that cigarettes are responsible for killing nearly 500,000 Americans every year they still allow them to be freely marketed with known toxins and carcinogens in them. There’s not doubt that big pharma is behind this effort as they view these supplements as a threat to their bottom line. That’s incredibly egregious.
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS PROPERLY PRESCRIBED AND SUPERVISED KILL OVER 100,00+ PEOPLE A YEAR…HERE IS MY RESPONSE!!!!!
No Deaths from Vitamins, Minerals, Amino Acids or Herbs
Submitted by Drew Kaplan on March 24, 2010 – 9:53 am
There was not even one death caused by a dietary supplement in 2008, according to the most recent information collected by the U.S. National Poison Data System. The new 174-page annual report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers, published in the journal Clinical Toxicology, shows zero deaths from multiple vitamins; zero deaths from any of the B vitamins; zero deaths from vitamins A, C, D, or E; and zero deaths from any other vitamin. Additionally, there were no deaths whatsoever from any amino acid or herbal product. This means no deaths at all from blue cohosh, echinacea, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, kava kava, St. John’s wort, valerian, yohimbe, Asian medicines, ayurvedic medicines, or any other botanical. There were zero deaths from creatine, blue-green algae, glucosamine, chondroitin, melatonin, or any homeopathic remedies.
Furthermore, there were zero deaths in 2008 from any dietary mineral supplement. This means there were no fatalities from calcium, magnesium, chromium, zinc, colloidal silver, selenium, iron, or multimineral supplements. Two children died as a result of medical use of the antacid sodium bicarbonate. The other “Electrolyte and Mineral” category death was due to a man accidentally drinking sodium hydroxide, a highly toxic degreaser and drain-opener.
No man, woman or child died from nutritional supplements. Period.
61 poison centers provide coast-to-coast data for the U.S. National Poison Data System, which is then reviewed by 29 medical and clinical toxicologists. NPDS, the authors write, is “one of the few real-time national surveillance systems in existence, providing a model public health surveillance system for all types of exposures, public health event identification, resilience response and situational awareness tracking.”
Over half of the U.S. population takes daily nutritional supplements. Even if each of those people took only one single tablet daily, that makes 154,000,000 individual doses per day, for a total of over 56 billion doses annually. Since many persons take more than just one vitamin or mineral tablet, actual consumption is considerably higher, and the safety of nutritional supplements is all the more remarkable.
If nutritional supplements are allegedly so “dangerous,” as the FDA and news media so often claim, then where are the bodies?
Those who wonder if the media are biased against vitamins may consider this: how many television stations, newspapers, magazines, and medical journals have reported that no one dies from nutritional supplements?
http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n04.shtml
F D A stands for ‘For the Death of Americans’ or ‘For the Death of America’ and I have heard of some others. This is an agency that needs to be given the same treatment as the DEA and INS received when they got out of hand: DISMANTLED.
Dietary ingredients and nutritional supplements are not food additives and therefore should not be subject to FDA approval.
This is America – In our free market society, consumers should be able to purchase dietary supplements and companies should be able to sell these products so long as the labeling and advertising are truthful, non-misleading, and there exists a reasonable scientific basis for product claims.
Please do not restrict our ability to buy nutritional supplements….please do not.
Keep supplements from being heavily regulated and eliminated
Please let us make our own choices when it comes to supplements. It should be a free choice to take them or not
I’m sending this as I feel that our vitamin supplements should be left alone. I personally have horrible reactions to all the drugs on the market approved by the FDA. I don’t have any problems with supplements. Dailey I read in the newspapers about drugs approved by the FDA prescribed by their doctors & they have been severely injured or death has resulted. I feel this is a political move to benefit big business. We need to maintain our freedom of choice.
Does anyone know where to find a list of the dietary supplements that would be affected? My favorite is fish oil. If we can alert consumers that their specific favorite dietary supplement (glucosamine, chondroitin, glutamine, whey protein, soy protein, etc) is in danger of being taken off the shelves, I think we can spur more people into rabid action. Thanks.
I think it incredible that the FDA would even consider making any change to our ability to buy and use whatever supplements we choose. Tell me when the last death was from a vitamin or mineral? Then again, how about the thousands of people that die every year from Tylenol poisoning? How about the many thousands that die from properly prescribed drugs? Hoe about the peoole that are sickened over many years because of the toxins you say are “ok” tp put in our food? There is only one reason I can think of-and you know what that is-and so do many thousands of other people. Shame on you for your cowardly words and actions.
All of this fire about supplements what about GMO.
Keep the congress and the FDA out of Supplements, I have used these for many years
and have had no ill effects. Congress get busy doing what you should be doing and get out of
trying to regulate eveything. FDA stay out of personal dietary supplements! Labeling or otherwise.
This bait and switch policy is deceptive and dangerous. It must be stopped!!
Please do not mess with my supplements. I have always taken natural supplements & they have kept me reasonably healthy for 68 years. I realize the drup companys would rather I take their expensive chemicals which cause side effects, which they can then sell me another chemical to fix the side effect, which causes further side effects.. you get the idea. Please side with the people instead of the big drup companies.
With over 110, 000 deaths annully attributed to pharmaceuticals it seems the focus on supplements is a diversion tactic, not warranted in any way, a waste of taxpayer money, and an attempt to take away our freedom. Anyone who doesn’t focus on the real issues needs to be replaced. Not to worry. They’ll be paid by the drug companies, or are they already?
Supplements are not drugs which are made from chemicals and should not be treated as though they were.
This is unAmerican.
For 20 yrs I didn’t have health insurance!
I relied on supplements to stay healthy.
If I’m not able to buy the supplements I need I will be very angry!
Don’t tell me what I can or cannot ingest.
Drugs kill more people than anything.
I believe they are the 4th leading cause of death.
I prefer taking supplements over drugs!
Stay out of my business!
(You’ve probably being paid off by the drug companies to promote this bill!)
Since the FDA is continually trying to impede our free choice in supplements it is long past time to get rid of the FDA! They do not have the best interests of the public in mind.
AMEN! You said exactly what I was going to. The FDA needs to go away altogether.
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but I believe the FDA is a broken ineffectual agency who already has their hands full with unapproved prescription drugs flooding into the market.
And of course, every couple of years the FDA seems to be pulling another FDA reulated approved medication
off the shelves for harmful side effects.
And this of course is after the damage has already been done on the unwitting ginuea pigs after the medication has already made millions or perhaps even billions of dollars for rthe companies and after they’ve all divied up their profits and walked away fat and rich from their latest oversight.
It is no wonder people are turning to the more common sense approach of alternitive health care supplements. ” What ?” Now we want them taking away what choices we have because it is cutting into their profits… There is no other elegent way saying that this is nothing more than corporate greed reaching an all time low.
My husband and I are in the natural health business and many people have “had it” with prescription drugs and their side effects. God gave us everything in nature we need to live healthy and prosperous lives. We are the ones who have polluted our soil, air and water. If this bill passes, people will not be able to afford supplements or will be afraid of reprisal from the government. What is this country coming to? What happened to our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The side effects of FDA approved drugs are being made public almost daily and yet the FDA allows them to continue poisoning men, women and children without censure. Please continue to fight for the rights of the American people. Thank you for what you do. God Bless you
That couldn’t have been said any better. Nature is here for us to use as food and remedy. To manipulate nature more for money and power instead of the well-being of humankind is a disgrace.
Add no new restriction on supplements. They are fine. It is prescription drugs that are killing people. Restrict prescription drugs.
Great website! I am letting all of my customers in the autism community know about what is going on and linking them to your action alerts. The future of individuals on the autism spectrum depends upon protecting the supplement industry. The vast majority of the 40% of individiuals who eventually lose their autism labels take supplements. Running an autism product website for almost 11 years now, I have heard story after story of children on the autism spectrum who have dramatically improved or have lost their autism spectrum labels after taking specific supplements or a implementing a supplement protocol.
Supplement and integrative medicine champion Sen. Orrin Hatch made this statement when he introduced the bill for DSHEA, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994:
In our free market society, consumers should be able to purchase dietary supplements and companies should be able to sell these products so long as the labeling and advertising are truthful, non-misleading, and there exists a reasonable scientific basis for product claims.
I agree with Senator Orin Hatch, then and now. Help protect our access to supplements as a freedom of choice I believe all Americans should have. Thank you.
In 1994 Senator Orrin Hatc stated the “In our free market society , consumers should be able to
purchase dietary and companies should be able to sell these products so long as the labeling and
advertising is truthful, non-misleading, and there exists a reasonable scientific basis for product
claimes.” He further stated that “As you know (DSHEA) makes clear that dietary supplements
are not food additives or drugs, and that the burden of proof shall be on the FDA to prove that a
product is unsafe.”
We consumers want Senator Hatch’s words to still be the standard of the FDA. Keep dietary supplements specifically exempted from the definaition of ‘Food Additives, keeping supplements
not subject to FDA pre-approval..
I like Senator Hatch’s statements and believe them to show that consumers can not be run over on
the issue of thier taking food supplements that are valueable for good health.
I have come to depend on supplements to keep myself healthy. Please don’t take away my right to choose supplements that I have come to depend upon. It does not keep me safe or make me healthier to deny my options to choose from. Supplement options that have a history of safety should be my right to purchase.
Stay out of the nutritional supplement game and try to do better the things you are actually supposed to do. Why don’t you do current measurements of mercury in fish? How about more poultry plant inspections? ETC.
Please do not subvert the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994.
Keep Pharmaceuticals off your board and make it easier for women to get beneficial bio-identical hormones—not the disastrous ones made from mare’s urine that increases the chances for heart attack and breast cancer.
This is America. I have maintained my good health from dietary supplements. DO NOT limit my access to these important products. Pharmaceutical companies may not like the competition, but their products have had deadly consequences and supplements do not. Please do not take away my right to buy dietary supplements.We should be free to do what is right for us and not be controlled by the lobbyists that buy you off.
To the powers that be,
Please do not cause natural cures to be taken from within my grasp. I have spent a small fortune over the years on pharmaceuticals via Doctors recommendations and prescriptions until in 2010 I nearly died from all the side effects. I decided to try natural cures and began eating a vegan diet and taking a few supplements and now my health is much improved. I have dropped over 12 inches in my waist line and about 60lbs and at 57 I feel 47or younger again. Pharmaceutical drugs are killing people every day. Don’t stop “we the people” from having our choice of how to be healthy. The AMA is certainly not interested in us being well, just in how much they can make off us before we die.
That’s not nearly enough said but you get my drift.
Randy Felder
Stop this assault on our supplements!
I have used supplements since 1974 and enjoy good health at 57.Supplements have been a significant contribution to my work stamina. My experience with supplements is they have continously improved on performance as science gained better understanding of the various forms which the body best utilizes. I have never experienced adverse reactions to supplements and wish to continue doing so. 37 years with no adverse affects is very good odds and speaks to the integrity of the nutritional supplement industry. Long live the gurus’ of health!
Gipson Guitar, Boeing, the oil and coal industry, and now the supplement industry. The attitutude of these stateists in Congress seems to be seek and destry job producers!
Suppliments are very healthy for the human body.
Please leave them alone. They are so very helpful to so many people.
Thank You.
Suppliments are very healthy for the human body.
Please leave them alone. They are so very helpful to so many people.
Thank You.
Suppliments are very healthy for the human body.
Please leave them alone. They are so very helpful to so many people.
Thank You.
Suppliments are very healthy for the human body.
Please leave them alone. They are so very helpful to so many people.
Thank You.
Suppliments are very healthy for the human body.
Please leave them alone. They are so very helpful to so many people.
Thank You.
Suppliments are very healthy for the human body.
Please leave them alone. They are so very helpful to so many people.
Thank You.
I am a health care provider with 27 years in health care. By suggesting the use of effective, properly produced organic supplements, I have helped patients recover their health, when other physicians told them to go home and suffer and prepare to die. Supplements and clean food and water can reduce our health care costs and establish a healthy society. Take these away and we are forced to endure needless surgeries, useless dangerous pharmaceuticals and a crippled citizenry.
Please, vote against this. We need our supplements. So many people need them to keep good health. I know i really need my nutritional supplements. Nutrilite is the best and no other are like them. Every company should follow Nutrilites direction of product control and organic properties.
All Congress Vote against this DSHEA bill Please!!!!
this is a clear cut case of corporate medicine and Big pharma imposing thier will on the american people.
We have a supposed freedom of choice in America.
If this is allowed to happen to yet another freedom. We will be a poorer nation for it.
i
Leave our supplements alone! For many allergic persons these are our only resources!
Consumers should be able to purchase dietary supplements and companies should be able to sell these products so long as the labeling and advertising are truthful, non-misleading and there exists a reasonable scientific basis for product claims.
Please do not allow the FDA to restrict the ability of the dietary supplement industry to sell and market its products and, consequently, the ability of consumers to buy them. As you know, [DSHEA] makes clear that dietary supplements are not food additives or drugs, and that the burden of proof shall be on the FDA to prove that a product is unsafe. Consequently, when DSHEA was passed, dietary ingredients were specifically exempted from the definition of “food additives,” making supplements not subject to FDA pre-approval. All that was needed was a simple notification.
Please do not allow the FDA to circumvent DSHEA as it was passed and create a new pre-approval system. Everything about this proposal is a perversion of congressional intent and will (as Sen. Hatch told the world eighteen years ago) severely restrict our ability to buy nutritional supplements.
Thank you for preserving our ability and our freedom in this regard.
You dont have the expertise or experience to promote such a bill that takes away MY CHOICES. no one has ever died from taking vitamins yet you will see all these disclaimers about Avandia, celebrex and so many other drugs which were approved by the FDA. i do not trust, i do not want my rights taken away from me to choose WHAT I DEEM PRUDENT. This is a blatant attempt to form a police state. i will call upon the thousands, millions of people in the holistic community and we are ever-growing exponentially and call upon the masses to fight this with every breath we collectively have. you will also not be re-elected……..
please stop FDA from having the general public from having access to supplements without restrictions. inposeing harsh requirements on those who manufacture them. SUPPLEMENTS ARE FAR FAR SAFER THEN PRERSCEIOTION MEDS. THANK YOU.
As Senator Hatch stated when he introduced the bill for DSHEA, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994:
In our free market society, consumers should be able to purchase dietary supplements and companies should be able to sell these products so long as the labeling and advertising are truthful, non-misleading, and there exists a reasonable scientific basis for product claims.
Unfortunately, not everyone in our federal government shares these views. For more than three decades, FDA has tried to restrict severely the ability of the dietary supplement industry to sell and market its products and, consequently, the ability of consumers to buy them. The agency has repeatedly attempted to impose unnecessarily stringent standards that would leave many if not most supplement companies with no practical choice but to close their doors.
I agree with his views.
I am Sick and Tired if the FDA trying to take away my right and ability to purchase dietary ingredients and nutritional supplements which keep me and others HEALTHY.
Gentlemen : I am very much in favor of the freedom to pick my own healthcare. I want
and need alternative medicine. It is cheaper and more effective than that offered by
traditional medicine. God has provided supplements in contrast to drugs and surgery
that kill hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. This statistic does not compare
to dietary supplements. Why are vitamins unsafe ? I have been using them for almost ten years.
I have never had a problem with them. In fact my health has never been better than it is
today because of vitamins. I want to be assured that I will be able to buy my supplements
in the near future and for the rest of my life. If the federal government takes them away
from me, then I may get sick and unable to pay for traditional medicine. With drugs and
surgery I might die an early death. The FDA does NOT know what it is doing to us Americans.
For several years the pharmaceutical industry has been using their lobbyists in Washington DC to try to get our congress to give them the power to control supplements. This needs to stop!!! Using the spin that they will make supplementation safe for the American people is a lie. What they want is profits from the American people. What the average American can currently pay for safe supplements will no doubt increase tenfold or more once the pharmaceutical industry is granted control. Supplements will no longer be readily accessible to the general public without a prescription or some other type of approval process and those that do not follow the new regulations will become criminals. I urge all Americans to contact their legislators and put a stop to this nonsense. A true patriot protects their country from their government. Lon live the free people of the United States of America.
In our free market society, consumers should be able to purchase dietary supplements and companies should be able to sell these products so long as the labeling and advertising are truthful, non-misleading, and there exists a reasonable scientific basis for product claims.
Unfortunately, not everyone in our federal government shares these views. For more than three decades, FDA has tried to restrict severely the ability of the dietary supplement industry to sell and market its products and, consequently, the ability of consumers to buy them. The agency has repeatedly attempted to impose unnecessarily stringent standards that would leave many if not most supplement companies with no practical choice but to close their doors.
Just because you don’t choose to take vitamin supplements doesn’t mean you should remove them so that I cannot. My wife and I take a number of dietary supplements and wish to continue to do so. Give us that choice.
The proposed rules for supplements could lead to the elimination of thousands of supplements and make the surviving ones much more expensive.
In our free market society, consumers should be able to purchase dietary supplements and companies should be able to sell these products so long as the labeling and advertising are truthful, non-misleading, and there exists a reasonable scientific basis for product claims.
Please oppose FDA’s attempts to control the suppliment industry.
More people die from prescription drugs than have ever died from taking vitamin supplements. The Pharmaceutical Corporations wish to see vitamins labeled as drugs so that they may have control over the pricing, you would be required to obtain a prescription for higher dosages (another doctor bill) and right now the RDA for most supplements is sub-standard. Most prescription drugs advertised today have side effects far worse than the illness or disease for which they are being taken. Not so with supplements. Please do yourself a favor and obtain a copy of the book Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Balch and Balch. It will list ailments and diseases, tell which supplements will help, which NOT to take, which NOT to combine with other supplements OR prescriptions. This bill and others like it are NOT in the best interest of the people…it will take away the FREEDOM OF THE PEOPLE TO MAINTAIN GOOD HEALTH. Without supplementation, they will be forced into worse health situations which will bring greater profit to the already corrupt Pharmaceutical Corporations.
Please stop the attacks on supplements. Americans should not be deprived of effective, low-cost means of staying healthier.
The government should let the american people choose to buy supplements on their own.They need to do a better job regulatimg big pharma oh thats right thats where they get all their dirty money from.People are tired of the government over stepping their authority.Supplements need to be left alone in a free market.They should get rid of the fda they are incompetent
Once again the corruption of our democratic processes is responsible for proposed legislation and FDA rules to protect the big drug companies. The revolving door between the FDA and the drug companies faux science labs and the executive positions presents a threat to the American citizens. I wish elected legislators and the FDA could abide by the law and the truth of science instead of pandering for money from those who distribute dollars for votes. Leave supplements alone—take a close look at drugs and the deaths and disabilities they cause.
Dr. Robert Travis, Jr.
Please don’t take away my nutrients. I have Celiac Disease. My digestive system is badley damaged because Several Doctors missed it over many years. I was not able to absorb nutiants from my food. The only teatment is to totally avoid Gluten and try to add nutients to build up my body. If you restrict my ability to buy my nutients I will be sicker. Medicare is not paying for medical cost on me now. If you take away my nutients, I may need expensive medical care. Louise Cates
If someone in gov’t doesn’t share the view that citizens should be able to buy whatever supplements they want, maybe they ought to be recalled…….. This is still America. Make them regret taking kickbacks for removing our rights.
It is horrifying to think, that after successfully addressing joint pain, bone density, fulfillment of basic nutritional needs, i.e., a basic multi-vitamin/mineral, anxiety and depression successfully, with a disciplined balance of diet, exercise, meditation and carefully researched supplements, that I may lose that segment of my regimen. Traditional medications have co-pays that add up fast, and the side effects of medications that I have personally had prescribed for me in the past have been unacceptable. Please leave this alone, and redirect your energy to more pressing issues-illegal drugs, jobs, the economy, child abuse, violent crime, to name a few…..
Please stop the manipulative attacks on supplements. I am sure there is an ulterior goal by ruining businesses and our health, obviously to help Big Pharma make more money, both with supplemental sales and medicines when the public’s health goes further down hill.
Please leave my supplements alone. I depend on them to help me stay healthy.
What are you people thinking?? It is a known fact that dietary and nutritional supplements are necessary as our food is so over factory farmed that the nutritional value is almost non-existent. To back pedal on a Bill passed in 1994 is the height of arrogance, stupidity and thoughtless waste of money in these trying times. This pre-approval system being introduced is nothing but a smoke screen to shut down reputable companies. When will you in Congress do your job as mandated by the people of the U.S.?? Enough – and I am a voter!
Those in the pockets of Big Pharma are promoting this as the supplement industry will then be taken over by B.P. where their greed for profit trumps all else. I’m not against profit – I’m against those lining their pockets at the expence of us who use vitamins to promote quality of life and health.
Please leave our vitamins and supplements alone! It is bad enough you allow harmful ingredients in our food and our water. GMO’s etc… poison toxic pesticides proven to cause birth defects are allowed to be used! Banned in other countries! I enjoy the option of choosing natural alternatives for my health! Thank You!
Idon’t want the government meddling into my right to take supplements. Leave the FDA out of
our business and let us make the decisions.
Please help reduce American healthcare costs that are beginning to skyrocket — Secure the rights of the American people to pursue healthy living by preserving the right to purchase and use proven dietary supplements (doing preventative, cost-cutting maintenance).
Much more could be said but this is the kernel focus.
Thanks, Ron
You know what I just can’t figure out is the FDA wanting to be so hard on supplements, but I could go across the street and buy a pack of cigarettes!!!!!!!!! Are they for real????? If they want to regulate something that could be harmful, regulate them.
It was stated in here that the FDA didn’t know what they were doing. I wish that were the case; it is chaired by a majority of ex-food industry and big Pharma CEOs. They are giving closer and closer to exactly what they are striving for: FULL CONTROL of food, water, medicine, drugs and ultimately wealth and power. Driven by a insatiable greed. In my eyes they all should be brought up on charges of involuntary manslaughter if not murder. The FDA I believe also knows what all that food additives and drugs are doing to the general public. It ought to be criminal in the first degree.
Let’s thank government in big business for screwing up our food by not supporting small farms and changing things so it is robbed of all nutrients. My family had a farm where my grandmother grew up and they could eat pork and beef with no health problems. She said they even drank a tea with cow manure in it to cure colds and similar things. She is 80 and only started having bad health after taking prescription medicines. I gave her some cissus and curcumin and her energy improved and she lost weight.
We require supplements to replace what no amount of food can give us anymore. The meats are processed full of steroids which are banned for use in athletes, and the vegetables are GMO. Even organics are not 100% great.
We need to take our freedoms back. All of them. Or we are going to end up like the very nations that we went to war against. Except that ours is going to be undercover and subtle lies instead of outright force.
Good that you are covering this destruction of consumer choice and also the hinderence of so many suplement companies. Especially the small ones, without full legal divisions. Say good bye to some of the cleanest and best mom and pop suplement companies. Especiall the organic ones.
Pretty scary!
Just another example of Congress being sold to corporations. They do not represent the people anymore. There is no logical way they can say they are trying to protect the consumer if they would just look at the CDC’s own website and check adverse reactions from supplements compared to prescription medicine. Prescription medicines kill more than heroin and cocaine combined. Look at all the news coverage of the oxy problem. We must R.I.O.T. in the next election. R.I.O.T. Now.
I have celiac sprue and if you people go through with this I will be in great danger, and so will many more people.
Please work on keeping are food safe and label all food from can foods to all neats and vegies and fruits both in and out of cans. Meaning ALL FOODS OF EVERY KIND.
Thank you for doing the right thing. Think of all the people you will save. We all trust that you will do the right thing.
This is terrible. The system is broken. Protect our freedoms!