Stopping the FDA’s Attack on Supplements with H.R.3380

By Scott. C Tips
National Health Federation

If the Food and Drug Administration has its way, thousands of supplements will be removed from store shelves. We’ve heard this cry before, but this time it is very true. Supplements that you and I might take for granted – like resveratrol, L-GABA, curcumin, bioperine, and many more – which have not hurt a soul but only helped the health of millions, are slated for oblivion because the outlaw FDA thinks that it alone can decide whether they are safe or not. It might seem like a joke, but the FDA is dead serious.

Ignoring the law passed by Congress back in 1994, the FDA wants all new dietary ingredients (i.e., those on the market from October 15, 1994 on) to jump through regulatory hoops that Congress never intended for them. More specifically, the FDA’s draft Guidance for Industry on New Dietary Ingredients (issued last July) would subject these “new” supplements to expensive, drug-like testing requirements for safety that will effectively eliminate thousands of supplements because it simply will not be cost-effective for companies to spend the millions of dollars on each dietary-supplement ingredient. Sales will not justify the expense and the products will be dropped like hot potatoes.

The NHF’s Answer

Immediately upon hearing the news last July about the FDA’s latest power grab, the National Health Federation (NHF) decided that the FDA should get a taste of its own medicine. Through the astute work of NHF’s lobbyist Lee Bechtel in Washington, D.C., that reflexive thought has taken substance in the form of a new bill introduced last October in the House of Representatives by freedom-oriented Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN). Called the “Dietary Supplement Protection Act” (H.R.3380), the DSPA moves the defining date of October 15, 1994, to a more realistic and recent date of January 1, 2007. In this one simple act, the bill encompasses within that previous grandfathering clause all of the “new” dietary-supplement ingredients that have appeared in that 13-year interval and that would otherwise be subject to the onerous requirements of the FDA Guidance.

Of course, NHF wanted a later date as the new grandfathering date. But the legislators pointed out that January 1, 2007, could be logically tied to the starting dates for the Adverse-Event Reporting (AER) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) start dates. Their arguments in support of H.R.3380 are that the old 1994 grandfather date should no longer apply since supplements are both safer and more accountable under the AER and GMP rules and regulations.

To be honest, H.R.3380 is not a panacea for all of the problems found in the FDA’s draft Guidance. But then it was never meant to be. Instead, it is a politically expedient “salami slice for freedom” that will take care of our FDA problem for now. Later, the problem will need to be addressed again; but, it does buy us valuable time right now and it will set a precedent for future legislative action.

This is the most realistic and pragmatic approach to tackling a large part of this FDA usurpation of our health rights that would otherwise occur were its draft Guidance to be put into effect. The anti-supplement and anti-health forces have been salami-slicing their way into our rights for years now. It is about time that we turned that strategy right back on them in order to keep our health rights.

The Only Answer

H.R.3380 now has three sponsors/cosponsors. It needs more. If the trade and other organizations supposedly representing your interests are too slow to take action, then those of you reading this need to give them all an appropriate kick in the butt to get behind this important bill. Now. We need more co-sponsors, we need more groundswell of support. And if we do not pass it, then the FDA will succeed. You and I will lose thousands of vitamin-and-mineral supplements that we have come to rely upon. It’s time for action, not cowardice.

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CLICK HERE TO ACT NOW – http://www.thenhf.com/DSPA

So, today, not tomorrow, read the Bill for yourself and then contact your Congressional Representative and ask him or her to co-sponsor and support H.R.3380. Contact your trade organization, your friends, your family, your customers and ask them to do the same thing. Make as many copies of this News Release as you want, which you are free to do, and distribute them far and wide, to every one of your customers and contacts. Those who want to help even more, contact NHF directly.

Read the Full Article: http://www.thenhf.com/article.php?id=3212

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