Dear Reader,
It is once again time to put you on alert about Government activity that might adversely affect your healthcare rights as a consumer. If you are taking vitamins, eat healthy foods, and think there should be viable alternatives to prescription drugs but haven’t heard of S. 1082 the FDA Revitalization Act of 2007, then I believe that you must STOP everything you are doing right now, put your undivided attention to the below Newsletter and then take action. With Senate Bill S. 1082, which passed the Senate, the very people who are supposed to represent their constituents essentially voted to outlaw natural supplements & alternative medicine! It is up to the House of Representative to stop this insane piece of legislation. Please read the enclosed letter from Rima E. Laibow, MD, Medical Director, Natural Solutions Foundation, (www.HealthFreedomUSA.org) in its entirety and then take action by calling your representatives and e-mailing them. It is vital that your voice be heard, unless of course you believe that vitamins, carrots, apples, oranges, in essence any food product you can attach a health claim to, should only be available via a prescription from your Medical Doctor. TAKE ACTION NOW!
Beste Gesundheit,
Werner
UPDATE ON LEGISLATIVE HEALTH FREEDOM ASSAULT
Please Forward Widely
May 12, 2007
The shameful Big Pharma giveaway called S. 1082, the FDA Revitalization Act of 2007, was passed by a bought-and-paid for Senate by a vote of 93-1. Other than Independent Bernard Sanders (Vermont), every member of the Senate voted to weaken the few protections left to the American people from dangerous drugs and corrupt regulators so focused on their own conflicted interests that they regularly allow the people of the United States (and, through the "Trilateral Cooperation Charter, of Mexico and Canada, too) to literally die while they make a killing.
It is interesting to look at the Statistics presented by USA Today on May 11, 2007 in an article entitled "Senators who weakened drug bill received millions from industry".
(Burr was the sponsor of Bioshield III, a the biggest Big Pharma give away every until 1082)
* John Kerry (d-MA) 304,888
* Joe Lieberman (I-CT) 281,040
* Arlan Specter (R-PA) $259,699
* Orin Hatch (R-UT) $241,850
* Chuck Grassley (R-IA) $216,599
* Max Bacus (D-MT) $199,000
* Chris Dodd (D-CT) $192,025
* Tom Carper (D-DE) $183,749
* Mike Enzi (R-WY) $174,338
* Ted Kennedy $71,000
For shame that the Senate took no steps to protect food and dietary supplements, the single greatest economic competitor to pharmaceutical profits from a marauding FDA which already seeks to put the competition, natural medicine, out of business. For shame that this Senate could not protect the American people from the same FDA that issued their malignant FDA "Guidance on the Regulation of CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine)" which Representative Ron Paul, MD (R, TX) calls "an abuse of the power of the FDA."
After the US Senate all (save one) abandoned the American people in favor of their big $ugar daddy (that's not sugar as in sugar pill, you understand), there was great confusion about whether Senator Durban's amendment protecting DSHEA covered supplements had, or had not, been included in the final bill. The Federal Register reported that it had been tabled. Our legal researcher, an attorney, called various Congressional offices and was told that the Durban Amendment
would establish a rule of construction that states that nothing in this title should be construed to effect the regulation of dietary supplements under DSHEA or the reporting system under the Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription
Drug Consumer Protection Act."
Nothing in this title (or an amendment made by this title) shall be construed to affect– (1) the regulation of dietary supplements under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act; or (2) the adverse event reporting system for dietary supplements created under the Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription Drug Consumer Protection Act. "
Now that is good news but you will notice that the Durban Amendment does nothing whatsoever to protect foods and products not covered by DSHEA. This is a significant loophole and one, which the House MUST correct if we are to have meaningful health freedom in this country.
The Congressional Record report of the proceedings are at the end of this email. When you read the discussion on the floor of the Senate you will notice that several senators make reference to the fact that their offices have been besieged with calls from concerned citizens. The Senators were highly tuned to the fact that the people that give them their jobs and their astonishingly generous health care plans and pensions are not happy. If more people living in America had called and emailed (yes, your emails DO reach Congress: we use a special service which assures that your emails reach your Congressmen and women) perhaps we would not now be working so hard to make sure that the House of Representatives protects us from the marauding, and possibly illegal outrages of S. 1082.
202-224-3121
Although the Natural Solutions Foundation website has been repeatedly hacked (our domain name actually totally disappeared from the domain registry system yesterday!) and our links have been broken over and over again, I believe that you emails are so important that I have created another way for you to get them to your Representatives reliably.
Here is how Plan B works: if the links above not work for you, send an email to me with "Submit" as the subject and your full name and address in the body of the email. My email address is dr.laibow@gmail.com and the staff whom I have hired specifically for this purpose will submit the comments at that link for you. You can expect our links and our site to be hacked and hit from now on. We are just too effective for the other side to leave the site up. Think what that says about their weaknesses! Think what it says about our strengths.
Involve your entire circle of influence. Every one of them is touched in some way by an out of control, corrupt, biased and blatantly lethal FDA. The American Public has really caught on to the dangers and deceit of the FDA. When you give your contacts the opportunity to express that understanding and disgust, they will. Forward this email and ask them to become part of the forward movement to take control of our health back from dangerous, corrupt and heedless bureaucrats who stifle science in favor of their own interests, approve deadly drugs and simultaneously attack natural health options.
Please consider making a tax deductible donation right now. We especially appreciate recurring donations so that we know what we can count on each month!
Dr. Rima
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
From Senate Recorded Vote 149 (S.1082) you find, in part:
Mr. DURBIN. "…pursuant to the unanimous consent request, I ask that the roll be called on amendment No. 1022.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is on agreeing to amendment No. 1022, as modified, offered by the Senator from Illinois. The yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the roll. The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
The result was announced?yeas 94, nays 0, …[Rollcall Vote No. 149 Leg.]
The amendment (No. 1022), as modified, was agreed to.
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote and to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
Mr. VITTER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and that I may call up amendment No. 983.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to setting aside the pending amendment?
Mr. VITTER. Madam President, I renew my unanimous consent request that any pending amendment be set aside and that amendment No. 983 be called up.
The PRESIDPRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, the amendment is set aside, and the clerk will report.
Then on page 5491 we find:
OVERTURNING DSHEA
Mr. HATCH. My office has been inundated by calls from people throughout the country who believe that this legislation, specifically the provision establishing a Reagan-Udall Institute, will overturn the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. That has not been my reading of the bill, but I wonder if other Senators have heard similar concerns?
Mr. HARKIN. Yes, I have received a good many calls as well. And, I have to say that I would be very concerned, as I know the Senator from Utah good many calls as well. And, I have to say that I would be very concerned, as I know the Senator from Utah is, if anything in the bill we are considering, S. 1082, would overturn DSHEA, a law we fought side-by-side to see enacted.
Mr. ENZI. It might be helpful if I explained the provision you are discussing, as my office has received many calls as well and I believe the callers are not informed about this matter. Subtitle B of title II of S. 1028 establishes the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug Administration. That simple purpose of that nonprofit Foundation is to lead collaborations among the FDA, academic research institutions and industry designed to bolster research and development productivity, provide new tools for improving safety in regulated product evaluation, and in the long term make the development of those products more predictable and manageable.
Mr. KENNEDY. That is exactly the purpose of the Foundation, which was included in the drug safety legislation Senator ENZI and I introduced last year. The Foundation will be financially supported by industry and philanthropic donated funds. A chief scientist t FDA will promote intramural research and coordinate it with efforts at the Foundation.
Mr. HATCH. That explanation is very helpful. What, specifically, would the role of the Foundation be with respect to dietary supplements?
Mr. KENNEDY. Let me make absolutely clear that the Reagan-Udall Foundation will in no way override, overturn or conflict with the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. Nothing in this bill would have that effect.
Mr. ENZI. Yes, we took great pains to make certain there would be no conflict with DSHEA. Regarding foods, and dietary supplements are generally regulated as foods, the general directive of the Foundation is to identify holes in the evaluation of food safety and identify ways to address those deficiencies through collaborative research with industry.
Mr. HARKIN. So to make this absolutely clear, what you are saying is that the bill we are debating would in o way interfere with consumers' access to dietary supplements?
Mr. HATCH. To add to that point, it seems that the language could, in fact, help dietary supplement consumers, because it would allow collaboration between government and industry to conduct research on issues that might be helpful to supplement consumers?
Mr. KENNEDY. Yes, that is the case.
Mr. ENZI. I agree with Chairman KENNEDY's assessment.
Mr. HATCH. I thank you for those assurances and that clarification.
Mr. HARKIN. This has been a very helpful discussion, because Senator HATCH and I could never support legislation that would interfere with DSHEA and we are glad to receive the assurances of the chairman and the ranking Republican on the committee."
Napoleon Bonaparte