Call to action... Proposed FDA supplement bill.

I got this letter from GNC today:

Proposed Senate Bill 722 would dramatically alter the current marketplace and every dietary supplement would be at the mercy of government bureaucrats who are notoriously anti-supplement. S.722 would give the FDA the power to disapprove the continued marketing of any supplement for which even one adverse event report is received.

The burden of proof provision in DSHEA was specifically crafted to insure that the FDA could not eliminate supplements simply by taking an arbitrary position that a supplement was unsafe. S. 722 is an attempt to amend DSHEA so that the FDA can do exactly just that.

Sure it is from GNC and they want to protect there sales. But this could also mean that we do not have the freedom to buy the supplements that we want. I can see some things going away now, ephedra, yohimbe, ginseng. I urge you all to contact your congress people and tell them how you feel about this bill. Here is a link to find more information: http://capwiz.c … /nnfa/S722.html

It also has a place to input your zip code it automatically finds your congress people and writes up a letter you can print to send, or email to them. You can also write your own messages. The whole process is pretty simple and only takes about 5 minutes.

Thanks.
~Q

I went to the site and sent the e-mails to my senators. Easy. Took 3 minutes.

FDA is good sometimes but should not be given unlimited power. Bureaucracies have a tendency to grow into cancers. I believe this is an example.

Thanks Girth! I knew if you saw this you’d pull through for me. :D

This type of thing erks (is that a word? I don’t know) the heck out of me. It is like they are saying the only thing that we want you to have is what we give you. Excuse me but I don’t want anymore prescibed medications for things I can deal with naturally. Herbs, vitamins, supplements are our friends. Let them be free!

Otherwise I will have to start a botanical garden in my basement to get what I want.

~Q

being in the medical profession it may surprise you that I have mixed thoughts on this. I do believe the govt has a right to ensure that some quality control is done. I think the main thing is to clamp down on outragious claims made by these food “supplements”, I would like to see no limitation on availability but I think their marketing is snakeoilsalesmanlike (hows that for a word?).

Nice word there! How’d it make it through spell check? :bigwink:

I agree with you that claims that are outstanding should be squelched. But in no way should the supplements themselves be controlled like that.

~Q

>Nice word there! How’d it make it through spell check?

Cancer Web’s online dictionary says ERKs are “externally regulated kinases.” But the word you wanted was irks, and the FDA irks me too. IMO, it should be eliminated.

Thanks I knew it was something like that! ERK’s sounds good too though.
I am off to bodybuilding.com to see if they have heard of this yet.

~Q

Message sent. I agree with luvdadus that there should be some way to moitor the snake oil salesmen of the world and to protect the public from unsafe products. But what they are proposing is not the way to do it.

Imagine how much more the prescription drug companies can make without these supplements. Did you know that prescription drug companies are one of the largest and most powerful lobyists around? I know this goes into a creepy Oliver Stone area but it is worth a thought.

But then again I voted in the majority, so I’m a liberal hippie. I can’t really be trusted.

I found the link to the whole bill, and from my skimming I found it kind of scary.
The link is at: www.usfa.biz in there News Forum.

~Q

Two sides to the story Ubu.

If the pharmacuetical company didn’t have to spend so much money satisfying the FDA just to release a drug viagra might only be 60 cents per dose. They must lobby because they are easy targets for those assholes running for re-election posturing for the voters. I would favor shutting down the FDA since the medical community itself ends up deciding which drugs get used and which don’t. Believe me its not all about who brings the fanciest promotional pens to the office either. Docs want drugs that do the job safely otherwise it makes them look bad. But I would have an agency to police advertizing claims by both pharmaceuticals and supplement companies.

On a legislative level, however, there is a decreasing amount of care for the good of the general public. I trust my doctor (if I had one) to really care about my well being. I don’t trust a politician to refuse a giant fist full of money for a few shady favors though. Especially not…eh, I won’t get into it. Enron, anyone?

*Fighting back temptation to get too political*

Me thinks you are worrying about something that will never happen what with Orrin Hatch, Utah Senator running the show. He has championed the supplement industry for years since Utah is a major player in the supplement industry.

Maybe, maybe not. But if you don’t tell them how you feel they will never know.

~Q

Good points. But sometimes the govt. does become “too involved.” It’s a fine line we want them to walk. But keeping cigarrettes legal shows the hypocrisy. I’m not into governmental control, and I even smoked myself, but if the govt. really “cared” about our well-being then tobacco should be outlawed.

Besides, I still see manufacturers making outrageous claims about supplements….so where are the feds?

Ubu, you obviously don’t know much about the pharmaceutical industry. I have a close friend who is an M.D. and he is sickened by the industry-wide bribery that goes on between drug reps & physicians. The drug reps basically bribe the docs into prescribing their drugs. This rampant abuse is very widespread - it includes dinners, gifts, airline tickets, vacation expenses, etc., etc.

Money talks….