“Regulate Supplements Like Drugs!” says Senator Durbin on NPR

In just under five minutes, Senator Durbin reveals his plan, which would effectively eliminate supplements from the shelves. Durbin says that supplement producers should be legally liable for identifying anything about the supplement that “might” interact with a drug or cause some vague and ill-defined additional difficulty. Even drug companies are not required to report how a drug might interact with all other drugs, because they could never do so. The senator also said: "I want at least to be sure, as a consumer, of what I’m consuming and what my family would be consuming." We agree, but this is already required by law for supplements and foods with one glaring exception: genetically modified organisms.

FDA Bans Natural Pain Treatment to Protect Patented Drug that does Same Thing

Some 92% of back pain sufferers were relieved by this natural treatment, and gout sufferers too, but now it’s banned to make way for an expensive new copycat FDA approved drug. Colchicine, the active compound in the herb Colchium autumnale, is a powerful healer. It should only be used with qualified professional supervision, but can be very effective. Now this powerfully effective natural medicine is gone, thanks to the FDA.

Dangerous Anti-Supplement Bill Would Give FDA Power Over Supplements

The FDA can count on mainstream media to mislead the public. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)’s bill, S.1424, is meant to “improve the safety of dietary supplements by [requiring] manufacturers of dietary supplements to register dietary supplements with the Food and Drug Administration and to amend labeling requirements with respect to dietary supplements.” Sounds innocuous, doesn't it? But this is nothing but a smokescreen—a naked power grab for the FDA and an attempt to regulate safe dietary supplements as if they were dangerous FDA-approved prescription drugs.

Report Reveals American Healthcare System Could Save BILLIONS Each Year Through Appropriate Use of Dietary Supplements

A new report reveals that proper use of certain nutritional supplements in protective doses could save the American healthcare system BILLIONS of dollars each year in avoided hospitalizations. However, researchers failed to evaluate the full impact of vitamin D on chronic disease. If they had, the annual savings in the US alone would have been in the trillions. Use of omega-3 supplements among adults aged 55 and over diagnosed with coronary heart disease could reduce annual hospital costs by more than $2 billion annually, on average. If every person over the age of 55 with age-related eye disease were to take lutein and zeaxanthin at preventive dosage levels, medical savings would average $57.4 million per year. According to the 2013 GAO Dietary Supplements report, there were 488 times as many adverse reactions reported for prescription drugs as from supplements. Data from the EU indicate that pharmaceutical drugs are 62,000 times more likely to kill you as dietary supplements, but the average underreporting rate of drug ADRs is 94 percent, which means that risk may be even greater.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Becomes First in Nation to Disallow Use of Dietary Supplements

Supplements have long been the objects of attack by Big Pharma, as most of them are natural and cannot be patented, threatening the huge profits made from much more toxic pharmaceutical products. The medical industry has long desired to bring supplements under government control, so they could either ban them outright or further refine them into patent-able products from which they could then profit from. But with strong consumer action preventing legal action (so far) to ban supplements or regulate them, it would appear the medical system is now taking matters into their own hands and banning them outright. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia became the first hospital in the country to ban supplements from being dispensed to patients. So patients at this hospital will no longer have access to such supplements as probiotics, vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes, herbs, etc.

A New Front Opens in the Battle to Protect Health Choice in the US

In new trade talks between the US and the European Union, we need to make sure “harmonization” doesn't make our supplement laws like theirs. Last March, the Obama Administration announced its intention to enter into Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations with the European Union (EU) to increase trade and investment between the two regions. According to the White House fact sheet, the goal of the negotiations is to boost economic growth in the US and EU, and increase jobs supported by transatlantic trade and investment. One of their stated aims is to reduce costly “behind the border” non-tariff barriers that impede the flow of goods, including agricultural goods. What we do not want to see a threat develop to our access to a wide range of higher-dose supplements or to legitimate health claims on products. With increasing harmonization of laws worldwide, it is important for us to fight back against inappropriate regulation of natural products among our trading partners. Inevitably, our regulatory agencies will come under pressure to conform, when trading partners adopt more restrictive policies.

New Legislation Threatens Supplements!

Just as Congress is preparing to recess until the second week in September, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) reintroduced legislation that would deal a deadly blow to nutritional supplements. This bill is a naked new FDA power grab—an attempt to move us one step closer to a full FDA pre-approval system for supplements. That, of course, would just make supplements insanely expensive, like drugs—if you could get them at all.

Ubiquinol Rescues Cells from Statin-Induced Side Effects

Ubiquinol, the reduced form of CoQ10, effectively rescues cells from the damage caused by a statin drug thereby protecting muscle cells from myopathies. Patients with statin-associated myopathy who took CoQ10 experienced significantly less pain, decreased muscle weakness and cramps, and less fatigue. Ubiquinol is not only important for those taking statins, it’s also been found to lower the risk of a variety of chronic diseases and has anti-aging properties.

Research: Garlic Supplement Slows Cardiovascular Disease Progression

Cardiovascular disease is the #1 cause of death within industrialized societies. A recent study published in the International Journal Cardiology indicates that aged garlic extract, in combination with vitamin B12, folic acid, vitamin B6 and arginine, is capable of favorably altering the ratio of brown to white adipose (fat) tissue surrounding the heart muscle, reducing homocysteine (a blood vessel damaging amino acid) and slowing the progression of coronary artery calcification in human subjects.

Senator Durbin to Reintroduce Bill to Restrict Supplements

Make no mistake, there is a well orchestrated campaign underway to take away your rights and access to vitamins and supplements. Illinois Senator Durbin is planning to reintroduce his supplement bill, the Dietary Supplement Labeling Act (S 1310), which would grant more power to the FDA to regulate dietary supplements like they were drugs.