Friday, February 26, 2010

Bill to Ban Over the Counter Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Sales


by Jean Henry Mead

A senate bill has been proposed to permanently take away our rights to buy vitamin and natural supplements without a prescription.

If Bill s3002 passes, the FDA will have the right to prevent consumers from purchasing anything from One-a-Day vitamins to enzymes over the counter. And with Big Pharma producing the products, the costs will rise astronomically.

We have the right to choose what we take into our bodies and that includes natural and nutritional supplements. Or as the philosopher John Stuart Mill once said, “Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.”

Imagine vitamin A becoming illegal? Or if you could only take CoQ10 with a doctor’s prescription at ten times the price you're now paying. The bill intends to take away our rights to have control over our own bodies.

The Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010 would empower the FDA to permanently ban any nutritional supplement it considers “adulterated” or “misbranded.” That may sound reasonable, but in practice, it means the FDA can make a list of accepted vitamins and ban all the rest, according to Dr. AL Sears, a well known alternative medicine practitioner. "[Some] Europeans already live under a similar law. It’s so restrictive that they buy their vitamins in the U.S."

If the bill passes, traffic to Canada and Mexico will undoubtedly increase and the border patrol will be looking for contraband herbal remedies as well as drugs. And what will happen to health food stores?

Sears says, “Part of the problem is the way the bill is written. The language is open-ended and subject to broad interpretation. Even if a vitamin company makes a mistake with their paperwork, or the FDA claims they made a mistake, they can take that product off the market forever. Even if that product has a clean track record.”

Also at risk is the dosage of a vitamin or nutrient. That means the FDA can determine that “Vitamin C is only safe at a dose of 10mg. . .If your vitamin C only has 10mg per tablet, you’d have to take an entire bottle to get a one-day supply. That’s another strategy the FDA could use to kill off a vitamin or nutrient."

The bill is dangerous both to your health and to your rights as a citizen. Please contact your senators and tell them to vote NO on the McCain bill. It's another right we can't afford to lose.

There are a number of independent health organizations online warning about the McCain bill as well as the FDA. Among them the Alliance for Natural Health and American Association of Health Freedom.

If you're unable to access the sites, please try again later. Every time I list the sites online, within minutes the sites go down. You can also try: https://secure3.convio.net/aahf/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=283 and http://www.anh-usa.org/new_site/?p=2438 (My apologies to the sites mentioned because I know they will be blasted offline before many of you read this.)

10 comments:

Mark W. Danielson said...

Jean, it's good to have you back, but this proposal makes no sense at all. I'm not sure what Congress hopes to gain from this nonsense. Would a monarch be meddling in such things?

Jean Henry Mead said...

Mark, Big Pharma funds the FDA in large part and has wanted for years to make over-the-counter vitamin and supplement sales illegal. If you consider Big Pharma a monarch, you're absolutely right. Conventional medicine is big business and more and more people are turning to age old herbal remedies instead of prescription chemicals whose side effects can kill. I was nearly one of their victims.

Jaden Terrell said...

Part, this is an awful bill, and I'm afraid it's just precursor for more government interference.

Jean Henry Mead said...

I couldn't agree with you more.

Jean Henry Mead said...

Thanks, Mark, and everyone else who wrote their senators telling them not to vote for the McCain bill to ban over the counter vitamin and herbal sales. I just received a message from the Alliance for Herbal Health thanking me for getting the word out. They said they've been swamped with tens of thousands of emails protesting Bill s.3002 and that the bill has been officially dropped.

People power!

Jean Henry Mead said...

Thanks also to Ben, who posted this article on his Facebook page. You also helped to kill a terrible bill.

Unknown said...

WORLD WIDE VITAMIN, MINERAL & HERB BAN ... without your approval or consultation all dietary supplements will not be available for sale ...

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Jean Henry Mead said...

I know that vitamin and herbal remedy over the counter sales have been in danger of extinction, but please explain your statement.

paul said...

It's important for us to choose the right vitamins and supplements to be sure of our health.

Supplements Canada

vivaherbal said...

Most of the supplements are available without prescription. The risk rests in the dosage within the drug. Always talk to your doctor before taking any herbs or supplements to avoid overdose.
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