The Politics Of Health: Feature ArticleBig Pharma Trojan Horses Permeate Supplement IndustryTuesday, December 05, 2006Byron Richards, CCN Today I received an e-mail from the Natural Products Association (NPA) asking me to support the Dietary Supplement and Non-Prescription Drug Consumer Protection Act (the “AER bill”). Apparently they do not know I am one of the most outspoken critics of this legislation. I have already posted two articles on this topic for NWV, one in July and one in November. The NPA, formerly the NNFA (National Nutritional Foods Association), is the largest trade association for ingredient suppliers and health food stores. This group, along with CRN (the Council for Responsible Nutrition) has been taken over by Big Pharma and is selling out the supplement industry. You as a consumer must weigh in on this subject before it is too late. Your options for effective natural solutions are in serious jeopardy. Immediate action is required to defend health freedom and your right to have therapeutic choices in natural health options.
Unfortunately, it is up to “we the American people” to save the supplement industry from traitorous groups pretending to be on your side. There is a serious attempt underway to push this bill through prior to the close of the lame duck session (apparently to end on December 8). Click here to take action now, tell your congressional leaders to vote no on S. 3546/H.R. 6168.
We’re contacting you because an important bill may soon be voted on in Congress. This legislation, which the Natural Products Association – along with the other leading dietary supplement trade groups – supports, is, S. 3546 in the Senate and H.R. 6168 in the House of Representatives. Yes, these are the names of the bills and they are rotten to the core for consumers and the supplement industry. Contrary to what you may have heard, this legislation will not affect the availability of dietary supplements or lead to closures of health food stores. Wrong, an outright lie! This legislation may drastically reduce the availability of therapeutic supplements by linking them with adverse effects actually caused by drugs. True, health food stores are not likely to close. They will keep selling the lower quality Big Pharma brands, like One-A-Day (Bayer) and Centrum (Wyeth). About 80% of the supplement market is not really concerned about your health; this includes big box stores, most network marketing companies, drug stores, super markets, and internet fly-by-night operations. Big Pharma knows these brands pose no competition to their monopolistic drug cartel. Rather, Big Pharma wants all effective nutrition off the market – the really great products that fix diabetes, resolve depression, prevent heart disease, enable weight loss, fix fibromyalgia, and help a person survive cancer treatment. Big Pharma wants a sick America and will do anything to keep people in poor health and on multiple toxic drugs. It’s also important to remember that the legislation would require only serious – such as life threatening– experiences, not just any complaint, to be reported. And keep in mind that the government already tracks adverse experiences that could be related to dietary supplements. The FDA is currently unable to properly track adverse events caused by drugs and does not even know which drugs are safe. Over 100,000 Americans are killed each year by drugs, and at least 3 million are injured so severely it requires hospitalization. The FDA already has an adequate MedWatch reporting system for serious adverse events for dietary supplements. The proposed bill calls for supplement manufacturers to keep track of all complaints any person reports, serious or not, a standard far stricter than truly dangerous drugs! This is absolutely absurd. If such legislation becomes law it will be used as a vehicle for the FDA to remove supplements from the market based on hearsay data. There is no mechanism in place for any supplement company to collect health information on the person reporting, including existing medications or health history. This means the legislation can and will be used as a witch hunt against effective natural options for health. Certainly, the lawyers at NPA and those supporting this bill are licking their chops at all the business this legislation will generate for them. What’s new is that manufacturers who get reports of consumers being seriously harmed by their products can’t keep them secret. While we believe such occurrences are extremely rare, if they do happen, reporting is the right thing to do. True serious adverse events from dietary supplements are extremely rare and already covered by MedWatch. Any medical doctor or patient believing a supplement has injured them can easily fill out a MedWatch form. No one has any objection to serious AER reporting. That is not what this bill is really all about. It is about gutting DSHEA (Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994), the legislation that enables American consumers to have more options for health than in any other country in the world. By implying there is a safety problem (which there isn’t) and making supplement companies defend themselves, the burden of proof is shifted from the FDA to supplement companies, thereby drastically changing existing law in favor of Big Pharma and away from access to natural health options granted by DSHEA. The FDA already does what it can to discriminate against small and innovative companies. If H.R. 6168 and S. 3546 are passed and become law, they will amend the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to require the reporting of “serious” adverse events for both over the counter (OTC) drugs and dietary supplements to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. That is true. However, there is no way to differentiate between drug-drug interactions, drug-nutrient interactions, or food poisoning, meaning there is no way to accurately judge what is causing a problem. Furthermore, the real issue is the safety of drugs, not supplements. Until the FDA has a working system for drug safety, there is no way for the FDA to judge supplement safety. There is a reason the Institute of Medicine reported that the FDA is dysfunctional and not able to protect Americans from harm. Its drugs!!!! – not vitamins. While the Natural Products Association understands that the mandatory reporting requirements of the AER bill will add to manufacturers’ record keeping responsibilities, we believe the bill will benefit the industry in the long run. This opinion must be coming from the lawyers that stand to make a fortune defending supplement companies from frivolous attacks relating to non-serious adverse events. Also, doctors will attempt to blame vitamins for the devastating side effects of their commonly prescribed medications. Dangerous drugs, like statins, are in widespread use and making many Americans very ill and even causing premature death. When someone has heart failure from taking statins, doctors will try to blame it on vitamin E. It would be a major travesty to pass legislation that allows the side effects of dangerous drugs to be reported in such as way as to remove safe and effective supplements from the market. The Big Pharma goal is to maintain its monopoly at any cost. It is an agenda based on drug sales and a callous disregard for human life. First, by helping to change the perception by critics of the dietary supplement industry that it is not well regulated. This is the Big Lie. The truth is that supplements are safer than food. Supplements are not drugs. Critics of the dietary supplement industry are all getting a pile of money from Big Pharma and they pretend to be upset about network marketing companies making bogus health claims, companies with a history of paying off Senators Hatch and Harkin for protection. Since most of these companies that seemingly cause problems are members of CRN and NNFA, why don’t these junk trade organizations clean up their own members? There is no need to put out of business the many nutritional companies providing a true quality service to millions of Americans in true need of real help, unless of course you are simply trying to put your own competition out of business. Second, over time, the recordkeeping and reporting requirements will substantiate what many in the industry have been saying all along – that the safety record of dietary supplements is exemplary, especially when compared to other health-related products. Obviously, true serious AERs will be very infrequent, unlike the several thousand people dying each week at the hands of Big Pharma. However, the recordkeeping requirement for non-serious adverse events opens the door for unlimited FDA harassment of any company. Since the FDA is currently bought and paid for by Big Pharma, that is a huge problem. Ultimately, safety reporting is the right thing to do for a responsible industry that puts consumers first. In a world where Big Pharma and the FDA have spent decades trying to obliterate competition, such a naïve statement is designed to appeal to “reasonableness” and “political correctness.” NPA has no concept of integrity to the US Constitution or what makes America great. If anyone wants to believe the utopian garbage put forth by NPA, try to get the statement to apply to Big Pharma. The e-mail is then signed by the Natural Products Association. Yes, not one person in this pathetic group had the nerve to put their name on this embarrassing e-mail. I wonder who wrote it. Was it Senator Hatch’s younger son who works at NPA? Was it Senator Hatch’s older son who lobbies for NPA? Or was it one of the Big Pharma members sitting on the NPA board? Companies supporting this horrid legislation and the related anti-American globalization agenda of Codex Alimentarius include Mannatech, Herbalife, Shacklee, Now Foods, Dr. Weil Vitamins, Jarrow, and many more.
Besides faxing, phoning, and e-mailing Congress to vote no on S.3546, any person purchasing supplements should demand that whomever they buy supplements from is not a member of CRN or NPA. Health food stores and ingredient suppliers should withdraw from these bogus Big Pharma pro-globalization organizations. If you need more facts to convince you of the magnitude of this problem, read my book Fight for Your Health: Exposing the FDA’s Betrayal of America. If you buy supplements from such companies or stores then answer this simple question: why are you paying money to be shot in the back?
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On April 2, 2008 CNN spent the day bringing awareness to the problem of autism. Larry King’s segment, which included Jenny McCarthy along with a panel of guests, was particularly enlightening. My hat is off to Jenny, a celebrity mother who is making it quite uncomfortable for the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to ignore parents of autistic children seeking answers. Why does a mom have to do the work of the CDC? The answer is rather simple: our government’s zeal to insist on too many vaccines while ignoring the actual risks is the driving force behind the autism tragedy.
The Senate is about to approve legislation (Mothers Act – S.1375) which mandates the indoctrination of pregnant and nursing mothers into the use of extremely dangerous psychiatric medication. We already know this class of medication poses serious health risks to both mother and baby. Consequences to the baby are now proven to cause nerve-related changes that can adversely affect health for a lifetime.
Immediate Consumer Action is Needed to Stop Mothers Act The Mothers Act is pending legislation that will indoctrinate hundreds of thousands of mothers into taking dangerous psych drugs. It is a great example of how the Big Pharma lobby controls Congress to the detriment of health, as well as needlessly and dramatically inflating the costs of our health care system for everyone. Like any piece of legislation it purports to address a troubling issue – in this case the mood distress of mothers following birth known as postpartum depression. It is true that 10% - 15% of women need some assistance in dealing with this topic – but the majority of them sure don’t need it from Big Pharma. That is the Big Lie.
It now appears that the FDA Chief Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D. has committed perjury before Congress. Unlike Roger Clemens, who also seems to be putting his foot in his mouth before Congress, von Eschenbach’s actions appeared to have allowed unnecessary deaths to Americans – hardly the mission of the FDA. By contrast, Roger Clemens is simply causing death to his own reputation. Hopefully Congress can quit wasting taxpayer money on baseball and get to the bottom of what is really going on at the FDA.
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Women across the country are being duped to consume billions of dollars worth of bone poisons under the false pretense that if they take them long enough they will not develop osteoporosis. Even the FDA is becoming alarmed by the side effects of these bone drugs. The biggest selling drug in this class is called Fosamax, made by Merck – the very same company that killed thousands of Americans with Vioxx while hiding cardiovascular risks from the FDA and patients. Does anyone trust them?…
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On November 29, 2007 the FDA made a rather surprising, almost honest announcement. It said that it could not protect Americans from the dangers of drugs. A 56-page report by its Subcommittee on Science and Technology stated the FDA “suffers from serious scientific deficiencies and is not positioned to meet current or emerging regulatory responsibilities.” This blistering report on the life-threatening shortcomings of the FDA was released with the stamp of approval of the head of the FDA, Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach. The flagrant disregard for human health by the FDA…
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On Wednesday, July 11, 2007 the House passed HR.2900 without allowing the Ron Paul (R-TX) amendments to protect dietary supplements. Representatives Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), John Dingell (D-MI), Henry Waxman (D-CA), and others falsely proclaimed that they were doing America a favor by passing this sweeping FDA-supported legislation that grants the rouge agency more power and money, and even transforms it into a quasi drug company.
The FDA, emboldened by its transformation into a drug company, has embarked upon an anti-American plan of interfering with business and intentionally eliminating various dietary supplement companies from the market. The FDA announcement came on Friday, June 22, 2007 under the guise of a final rule for dietary supplement good manufacturing practices (CGMPs). Within this 800 page rule the FDA states, “We find that this final rule will have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.... Establishments with above average costs, and even establishments with average costs, could be hard pressed to continue to operate. Some of these may decide it is too costly and either change product lines or go out of business.... 140 very small [less than 20 employees] and 32 small dietary supplement manufacturers [less than 500 employees] will be at risk of going out of business.... costs per establishment are proportionally higher for very small than for large establishments....The regulatory costs of this final rule will also discourage new small businesses from entering the industry.”
Under the false pretense of improved food and drug safety the FDA is re-inventing itself as a kingpin drug company. This charade has so far hoodwinked virtually all members of Congress. The Senate has already approved this FDA transformation. The House will bring similar legislation out of committee next week, with a vote in the full House likely in July.
The Andrew von Eschenbach FDA era is upon us. The Avandia scandal is the tip of the iceberg. Is anyone ready? The words “illicit financial collusion” have been replaced by the politically correct term, “collaboration.”
The penalty in China is death, in America its business as usual. Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of China’s FDA, was sentenced to death for accepting $832,000 in drug company bribes and for dereliction of duty. Like China, our country is in the middle of a drug and food safety crisis. Why is FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D. getting a free pass? Why did the Senate just pass legislation (S.1082) that gives von Eschenbach significantly more power to do whatever he pleases? And exactly what is it that von Eschenbach is doing?
Senate Attempts Damage Control – House Braces for Onslaught Senators were taken off guard by the public outrage over the passing of bill S.1082 with language that can be used to seriously harass dietary supplements by enabling the FDA to apply drug-related risk analysis to the safety of food and food ingredients (and thus dietary supplements).
The FDA is Acquiring New Powers to Suppress Alternative Health Your right to have free access to safe and highly effective dietary supplements is under an intense multi-pronged FDA attack. On May 14, 2007 the Supreme Court sided with the FDA by deciding not to hear the case of Nutraceutical v FDA, letting stand a federal appeals court ruling that permits the FDA to use drug-related risk/ benefit analysis to determine if a nutrient is safe.
The Senate has sold out the American people. Anyone voting for change in the last election can now plainly see the shenanigans of a Democratic-controlled Senate. Under Republicans no FDA reform ever took place. Big Pharma owns so many Republicans that all meaningful legislation to curtail the deaths and injuries of American citizens at the hands of Big Pharma and the FDA had been completely thwarted for the past six years. Under Democratic control sweeping FDA reform favorable to Big Pharma was proposed and the majority of meaningful reform was blocked or seriously watered down. Which is worse? As Kennedy stated in his opening remarks today, S1082 (the Kennedy/Enzi FDA bill) was an “elaborate scheme.”
For approximately four days Americans lived in a delusional state that they may soon pay drug prices the same as every other country in the civilized world. Euphoria over breaking the Big Pharma monopoly turned to disgust as the chameleon, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), changed sides and lead a contingency of Democrats against fellow Democrats lead by Byron Dorgan (D-ND). By passing the Cochran amendment the Dorgan amendment is poisoned and will no longer be effective. Maybe Democrats are now learning what Republicans have known for some time – you can’t trust Kennedy.
In May of 2006, after months of research and investigation, I published my ominous findings in the book Fight for Your Health: Exposing the FDA’s Betrayal of America. Everything I predicted in this book is on the fast track to becoming reality. A majority of Americans, not informed on current events and unaware of the history involved, are silent. Mainstream media, one of Big Pharma’s largest clients, is silent. Only the power of the internet, which rivals the invention of the printing press in significance, is making it possible for individuals to understand what is going on.
There is still time to stop FDA, Inc. Bill S1082 is a bill that helps fund the FDA with Big Pharma money. It is known all over Capital Hill as Big Pharma-designed legislation. It is running into all sorts of credibility problems. A vote is likely on Monday – delayed due to all the opposition flooding the Senate by “we the people.”
S1082 Update – Tuesday’s Activity. Fight Erupts on Senate floor: As the Senate continues to debate the Big Pharma-friendly sweeping reform of the FDA a new problem for Big Pharma’s prize Senators has erupted and quickly turned into confrontation on the floor of the Senate. At stake is at least 10 billion dollars per year in exorbitant Big Pharma profits. In one corner is Big Pharma-puppet Orrin Hatch (R-UT), representing the Kennedy/Enzi drug cartel. In the other corner is a majority of Senators lead by Byron Dorgan (D-ND).
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S1082 Update – Monday’s Activity at the bottom of this article. Bill S1082: The Food and Drug Administration Revitalization Act (also called the Prescription Drug User Fee Act of 2007) is one of the greatest scams and con jobs ever foisted on the American public. Current FDA management is grossly incompetent on the subject of drug safety.
A new attack against health freedom, drug safety, and dietary supplements was launched last week by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) with major support from Michael Enzi (R-WY). It is called the Food and Drug Administration Revitalization Act (S1082). This legislation was planned over the past few years working hand-in-glove with the FDA’s dysfunctional management and legal team – meaning this legislation was written for the profits of Big Pharma and Big Biotech AT THE EXPENSE OF SAFETY AND HUMAN HEALTH.
Americans are up in arms that our pets are being injured and killed by a toxin sent to America by a Chinese company. Melamine, a toxic fertilizer used in China, is the suspected culprit behind the deaths and injuries to potentially hundreds of thousands of our pets. The FDA assures us that this toxin has not entered the human food supply – does anyone believe in the competence of the FDA? It is only a matter of time before this type of problem happens to humans, as the inept FDA has no control over imported food intended for humans, let alone pets.
On February 13, 2007 the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations opened hearings lambasting the FDA regarding the safety of drugs. The opening statement by Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) set the tone, “It is clear … that the FDA is badly broken. I expect that before we finish this investigation, which is just getting underway, we will discover whether the problems we have found are due to the work of scoundrels, irrational penny-pinching, or because the doors to the FDA “hen house” have been thrown open to foxes. It may be a combination of all three.”
Wall Street, international bankers, President Bush, pharmaceutical companies, new biotech companies, the Rockefeller empire, and the FDA have created a new plan for public health. It is a grand vision based on profit. It will use the FDA and, as needed, the Department of Homeland Security as the regulatory police force that ensures compliance in the name of public safety. Legitimate objections may be overpowered in the name of national security.
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