Congress fights to take your supplements and vitamins

Why is Congress Trying to Take Away Your Supplements?

With prescription drug abuse on the rise – to the point where it’s becoming more of a problem than street drug use (i.e. cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines) – why in the world are some members of Congress fighting for a bill that would literally make it harder for you to take natural supplements than something chemically-based for which you need a doctor’s written permission?

At this point, your guess is as good as mine.

But that’s exactly what is happening on the Hill. One player in this scheme is Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL),who has, in the past, pushed for supplement legislation. First was the Dietary Supplement Labeling Act in 2011, which would have given the FDA more power to regulate supplements as if they were drugs. When that didn’t pass, he attempted to sneak an amendment into the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act in 2012. He was thwarted once again, much in part due to consumer objection. But despite the defeats, Durbin is not backing down. He continues to fight for supplement legislation… which raises the question: how much are the prescription drug companies putting into his pockets?
The Safety of Supplements Speaks for Itself

When you take a good look at the research, it’s quite unbelievable the lies Durbin and his like-minded counterparts would have you believe. Here are just a few things to consider.

Supplements are ALREADY regulated. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 ensures that supplement companies provide “ good manufacturing practices and mandatory reporting of adverse events.” In fact, in the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Dietary Supplements Report, published in March 2013, the following was stated: FDA officials told us that the current regulatory framework is sufficient to identify and act on safety concerns regarding foods with added dietary ingredients.

Supplements are safer than prescription drugs and vaccines – and not by just a little. The government has a system by which it tracks reports of adverse effects of supplements, drugs, and vaccines. This is called Adverse Event Reporting, or AER for short. To give you an idea of the disparity in safety, in 2008 – 1,080 AERs for supplements were reported to the FDA, while 526,527 prescription drug AERs and 26,517 vaccine AERs were reported, respectively.

Senator Durbin would make the claim that these supplement AERs are “underreported.” Even if that was mildly the case… over 500,000 for Rx drugs versus just over 1,000 for supplements? You make the call on that one.

Plus, the number of deaths reported from supplement use in 2010 was zero. As in none. On the other hand, the number of deaths reported from pharmaceuticals in 2010 was over 1,100. According to the U.S. National Poison Data System’s annual report, poison control centers report 100,000 calls, 56,000 emergency room visits, 2,600 hospitalizations and nearly 500 deaths each year from acetaminophen (aka: Tylenol) alone.

Regulation Could Put Supplements Out of Business

It takes years – sometimes an entire decade – to approve a prescription drug. All the research, development and drug trials cost up to hundreds of millions of dollars. Even with approval, prescription drugs often have devastating side effects and may cause death; whether death is due to overdose or dangerous interactions. Many prescription drugs have been pulled off the pharmacy shelves post-approval because they simply were too dangerous (and deadly) for human consumption.

Now consider supplements. Many supplement companies are small, privately funded operations. They don’t have even close to the budget of Merck or Pfizer. If supplements were suddenly to be as regulated as pharmaceuticals, just imagine how many of these companies would go out of business. The ones that might survive could only do so by raising their prices to astronomical figures, which very few Americans would be able to afford.

Not only that, but if regulation was to be put into place – the only companies wealthy enough to manufacture supplements would become the drug companies themselves. If they take over control of the supplement industry, they can charge higher prices and do what they do best: make money.
Again, supplements are SAFE. The strict regulations Durbin and others are promoting do nothing but ensure the pharmaceutical industry becomes more profitable than it already is.

Take Action
If you’re concerned that Big Government is taking far too much control by first regulating, and then possibly taking away vitamins, minerals and supplements that help make you the healthiest you can be, you don’t have to sit by and watch it happen. There are many ways you can make your voice heard. One is by signing the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) petition https://secure3.convio.net/aahf/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=590.

You can also contact your legislator, or even Senator Durbin directly. We’re teetering to a point in our nation where Congress is influenced by lobbying dollars more than the wants and needs of its constituents; but there is hope. You can still voice your opinion, and make it matter. Speak out and speak loud.
Related Articles:
1. 6 Dangerous Prescription Medicines
2. Conventional vs. Natural Medicine

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