Posted on 09/27/2010 2:29:11 PM PDT by mlizzy
The war on your ability to make decisions about your own health continues with the introduction of a new bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee that would put draconian laws on natural health supplement companies and small and mid-sized farm and food facilities.
The bill is the Food Safety Accountability Act of 2010 (S 3767) and it increases fines and penalties for any person who knowingly introduces or delivers for introduction into interstate commerce any food that is adulterated or misbranded. It also imposes increased regulations and fees, including a $500 annual registration fee, which is a great imposition on small producers.
While at first glance it would seem a good thing to police adulterated or misbranded food, the problem is the vagueness of the definition of adulterated or misbranded. For instance, misbranded could mean the supplement was marketed using perfectly sound peer-reviewed research but without the approval of the FDA.
An example of this that has already occurred is a cherry producer who cited peer-reviewed scientific research from prestigious universities on the health benefits of cherries, but the FDA decided by citing that research it had, in effect, turned cherries into drugs through “false and actionable misbranding.” The FDA regularly censors science and quashes constitutionally protected free speech on healthful, natural supplements at the bidding of Big Pharma.
The bill is so draconian that even minor mistakes in record keeping can cause the supplement manufacturer and distributor to be guilty of a violation. It also holds the seller responsible for mistakes made by the manufacturer. This is part of an ongoing effort by Congress to control your ability to make your own health decisions.
The House version of this same bill — which passed a few months ago — is even worse. It imposes prison terms of up to 10 years and fines of up to $100,000 for individuals and $7.5 million for corporations, regardless of the size of the corporation.
While these harsh provisions aren’t in the Senate bill, they could be included in the final bill that comes out of the Conference Committee that merges the bills from the two Houses into one.
We urge you to contact your Senator immediately to state your opposition to the bill. For more information on the bill from the Alliance For Natural Health, go here.
Why do I sense that Monsanto et al are a big driver in this? Here in Texas, the community supported agriculture movement and small local farms have, you’ll pardon the pun, bloomed outrageously in the last 24 months. I’d rather pay a bit more for really good, really fresh, really clean produce than give HEB, SuperTarget and Walmart more money.
Colonel, USAFR
TOTAL GARBAGE!It’s all about power and control!
I thought vitamin supplements would be banned after the passage of CAFTA? I read it here.
Has anybody even gotten slightly ill as a result of thinking that cherries were a healthy food?
Would it be any better (or worse) if a “National Cherry Council” touted the studies, rather than the individual cherry producer?
While the blather about the purported health benefit of this or that food has sometimes reached hysterical, facepalm-inspiring levels, I’d be the last person on earth to want to stop it or even put burdensome regulations on it. If the “National Strawberry Council” wants to argue that its product is healthier than cherries, and the “National Cherry Council” wants to disagree with that, more power to their debate. Maybe the customer will say a pox on both their houses and choose peaches instead.
/johnny
My BIL is an organic farm manager, and when he brings over a box of vegetables, I go crazy (with delight). Even my kids devour the stuff. So I know what you mean.
/johnny
Just like Obamacare this is about money and power not about health
Sponsor:
Sen. Patrick Leahy [D-VT]
Cosponsors:
Richard Durbin [D-IL]
Dianne Feinstein [D-CA]
Al Franken [D-MN]
Amy Klobuchar [D-MN]
Herbert Kohl [D-WI]
USUAL SUSPECTS!!!!!
Bill cosponsored by a bad comedian has to be a bad joke.
“marketed using perfectly sound peer-reviewed research but without the approval of the FDA”
BS meter goes off the board. I tell my patients to use whatever they feel is going to help them but there ain’t no such thing as a “natural” food supplement. As long as they don’t use food, mortgage or utility bill money they can line the pockets of our new age snake oil charmers without compunction.
If I have time I tell them the story of a very wise Organic Chemistry Indian prof I had years ago. He firmly stated that he could cure all the undernourishment of the world if he could find a way to bottle and market American’s urine
“TOTAL GARBAGE!It’s all about power and control!”
It started when the Brits put Heroin under control because the Docs were PO’d because the Chemists (Pharmacists) were making all the money. Now big Pharma wants all the coins.
A few months back it was Waxman who was trying to get something like this through. He keeps trying year after year but apparently the Senate decided to get in on the act now.
The FDA has been in love with censorship for at least as long as I have been reading newspapers (a long time). However, this is driven by bureaucratic ego, not "Big Pharma," which is also harassed by the agency's censorship regime.
Bottom line: the FDA abuses everyone.
I'm not a lawyer, but that does sound like interstate commerce to me. Which would mean the feds can claim a right to regulate.
A lawyer once told me that the courts have interpreted the commerce clause so liberally that virtually everything is interstate commerce.
Call Senators, email, letters, whatever you can. This bill needs to be stopped. You won’t even be able to go to a road side stand to get fresh fruit or vegetables if this goes thru.
I intend to ignore the law anyway. It's federal over-reach.
/johnny
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