Posted on 02/28/2010 4:14:22 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
At age 72, I have been taking a full range of vitamin and mineral supplements for years. Even I find it amusing to open more than a dozen bottles every morning to extract vitamins A, B, C, D and E, along with zinc, potassium, selenium, and fish oil. On the advice of my physician long ago, I also take a low dose aspirin every day. I also take some herbal supplements.
In early January, I fell and broke my collar bone. A month later, it was completely healed. I don't get the common cold, although I do experience seasonal allergies that are controlled with anti-histamine. In sum, I am as healthy as a person of my age can hope to be.
So why have Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) joined to introduce an amendment to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act that would deny freedom of easy access to these vitamins and minerals that are now commonly available in supermarkets, pharmacies and other outlets at affordable prices?
Why would they conspire to make dietary supplements such as purified fish oil seven times more expensive than it is today?
It is irrational, not to say obscene, at a time when a debate is raging over the costs of Medicare and the various illnesses that afflict Americans to introduce a law that would raise the cost of vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements that are among the best forms of preventative medicine available to the general public.
Who, ultimately, will benefit from such a law? The answer is the pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Steven Joyal, M.D., vice president of science and medical affairs of the Life Extension Foundation, says, "This bill aims to further pharmaceutical profits by creating wide-ranging, unprecedented FDA power to reclassify natural nutritional products as drugs"
I am a free market capitalist, but I also know that many companies engage in "rent seeking," a term to describe how they use the ability of Congress to pass laws and regulations that improperly and unfairly increase their profits.
The bill, titled that "Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010" is a classic example of how an ever-expanding federal government continues to get between Americans and the freedoms they have come to take for granted. High on the list is the freedom to maintain one's health; in this case with affordable and easily accessible vitamins and minerals.
The "Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010" has nothing to do with freedom and everything to do with increasing the profits of pharmaceutical companies. It does not enhance safety because vitamins and mineral supplements are already manufactured under some of the most stringent restrictions placed on any products sold anywhere in the world.
My friend, Frank Murray, is the author of nearly 50 books on health and nutrition. He is the former editor of Better Nutrition, GreatLife, and Let's Live magazines. His books have documented how various vitamins and minerals, as well as herbal supplements have preventative and curative affects on a wide range of ailments and afflictions.
His latest book, "Sunshine and Vitamin D" describes the research concerning this vitamin's ability to reduce or ameliorate cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, and a host of other ailments. And that is just one common vitamin!
It is astonishing how vitamins, minerals, and herbal supplements can aid the body to resist the many pathogens in our environment, to digest the food we eat, and to enhance many of our mental and physical abilities.
This latest bill in Congress should be defeated. Its two sponsors should be held up to scrutiny to determine how great a role the donations of pharmaceutical companies to their election campaigns played in the drafting and introduction of this bill.
There is not enough scorn that can be heaped upon the bill's sponsors and any member of Congress that votes for it.
I don't want and I don't need a doctor's prescription to purchase the vitamins and minerals I take daily. Neither do you!
*******
Alan Caruba writes a daily post at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. An author, business and science writer, he is the founder of The National Anxiety Center.
sw
They tried this in the ‘90s and the public response against it was enormous. It is time to do it again and the protest will genuinely be bi-partisan. I suspect that 90% of the public will reject this across all political lines.
My son is dating a young woman from Spain.
When visiting she was shocked by the types and amounts of over the counter pain-killers (motrin etc) antihistamines, vitamins, and minerals we in the US can buy.
I guess in Spain you are limited to a small amount and for many of the items you need permission from a doctor to buy.
I told her this is America. We are free to buy most things. We don’t want to live under a nanny-state govt.
Her reply was that it would be so easy for someone to overdose or make themselves sick.
My answer was “we are adults, do your homework, and take care of yourself”.
She still couldn’t understand it.
_____________________________
I remember when ephedra products were banned or limited. Most Americans didn’t care. Because they didn’t take them, so, so what.
Now tobacco products are being wayyyyyy over taxed and over regulated. Most Americans say, so what. Because they don’t use them.
I didn’t take ephedra, and I don’t use tobacco, but I care.
I know that at some point this nanny state govt. will come after something I do use and do care about.
Vitamins and minerals are just one of those.
Please wake up everyone. Every small thing this govt. bans or regulates mean one less freedom we have.
I do not want to be like Europe, where they rely on the govt. to tell them what to do and how to do it.
In order that the public may be forced into the “public option”, the alternative and home medicine appliances and preparations must conform to the “highest” government standards (usually means, costs a lot more).
Just another facet of the same crapola gem the kindly Congress of the US is cutting for us.
Roe v. Wade was supposed to take certain surgical procedures “out of the back alley”. This move is certain to return a large number of procedures and preparations to the “back alley”.
I see a strong black market trade in the supplements and additives that will be “controlled” under the terms of this legislation.
We have had to fight these battles since the ‘70’s and perhaps before but that’s when I got involved. These goons never let up. CALL, WRITE, EMAIL McCain and tell him we ABSOLUTELY will not stop fighting this ridiculous legislation. Join all the associations that have been fighting this for so many years.
**Taking away our rights and putting them in the hands of the FDA and government has sealed McCain’s fate once and for all**
Last time Congress tried this.. it kinda faded away when, According to the legislation, we would need a Doctor’s Prescription for Bananas and Oranges.
McLAME, McLAME GO AWAY.
Have you read the bill?
The one thing that drives me crazy is the hoops you have to jump through to get Sudafed, the generic equivalent or any kind of antihistamine with Sudafed in it-which us allergy sufferers need.
Seems like almost every time I go to the grocery, I have to buy a package of it to keep us supplied because you can only buy a small amount at a time. Used to be able to buy a bottle of 50 tabs.
I know it’s because of meth, but it inconveniences everyone.
Yep, wait until toilet paper rationing.
I’d advise planting corn.
I understand the meth cookers are using the ephedrine. But why do we have to bow down to the lowest common denominator.
I am not a criminal. I and other citizens shouldn't be treated like we have already committed a crime.
This pre-cognition of a crime has got to stop.
Well if we wait long enough our paper money will be worth less than the toilet paper so.......
McCain should be asked about this at every stop on the campaign trail!
What I see is this vast underground market developing...like the guys who make illegal drugs today...who will be making illegal vitamins tomorrow. You’ll drive over to some strip mall...meet Jose...who has your monthly brown bag of vitamins for $40 (you would have paid $80 at the store). You buy your stuff and quickly drive away.
It amazes me that people don’t grasp how quick these chemistry guys figure the profit margins out and start manufacturing drugs out of the garage.
Please Arizona, vote this old fool OUT!
Yes, they were just examined about a month ago. They’re fine. He’s only 4 years old. He’s always been terrible about eating.
I have only read others’ assessments of the bill, not the bill itself. Why? Do you think there is something I am missing in my assessment?
CODEX ALIMENTARIUS -The Ultimate Evil, Dr. Rima Laibow’s Presentation at the 2005 NANP Conference
(National Association of Nutrition professionals)
Rima E. Laibow, M.D. is a successful natural medicine physician who graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1970. Dr. Laibow has studied more than 16,000 pages of Codex Alimentarius documentation. Her conclusion? Codex Alimentarius is a very serious threat to health freedom. We must take it seriously.
VIDEO PRESENTATIONS:
PART 1 of 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmrF9KjlGsc&feature=fvw
PART 2 of 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEqB41Ow0vU&NR=1
PART 3 of 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkAvFhTjU-M&NR=1
PART 4 of 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJgHXHCNPvI&NR=1
PART 5 of 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKLDRf1XdgA&NR=1
“Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”- Oliver Wendell Holmes
19th Century U.S. author and physician
14 points provide you with understanding about Codex Alimentarius – health freedom threat number one. Codex Alimentarius (Codex for short) means “Food Code.” This world food code is a United Nations agency, jointly sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It has existed for nearly 50 years, and its International Statute gives it a joint mission: protecting food safety and promoting world food trade. It is supposed to do so by adopting voluntary Guidelines and Standards (defining foods in international trade) Its decisions are enforced through the World Trade Organization (WTO) which considers its Guidelines and Standards as presumptive evidence in WTO trade disputes. It is a creature of the Bigs – Big Govt, Big Agra, Big Pharma… etc.
1.) Not About Consumer Protection: Codex Alimentarius has nothing to do with “consumer protection”. That is propaganda for the sake of getting people and Congress to yield to its implementation.
2.) Origins: Codex Alimentarius is Latin for “food rules.” The organization was born in 1962 when the UN established the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) as a “Trade Commission,” created to regulate, and thus control, every aspect of how food and nutritional supplements are produced and sold to the consumer. It is about trade and the profits of multi-national corporations.
3.) Pharmaceutical Industry Profit: The more natural health products people use, the fewer drugs they use. Millions are turning to natural health. Big Pharma fears this, as it would diminish profits. Codex is designed to protect Big Pharma profits by eliminating natural health products and treatments. Health food stores and wellness companies would be hit hard.
4.) Unscientific: Codex classifies nutrients as toxins, and uses “Risk Assessment” to set ultra low “safe upper limits” for them. Risk Assessment is a branch of Toxicology, the science for assessing toxins. The proper science for assessing nutrients is Biochemistry. Codex does not use Biochemistry.
5.) Tyrannical Napoleonic Legal Code: Codex is based on the Napoleonic Code, dating back to Bonaparte. Under this code, anything not explicitly permitted is automatically forbidden. Under Common Law (our system), something does not have to be explicitly permitted to be legal. The tyrannical Napoleonic Code allows the banning of natural health options by default.
6.) Frog in the Pot: Codex went into global effect December 31, 2009. Right now, we are like a frog boiled slowly, the heat raised gradually so we won’t jump out of the water. The media is used to make us believe that Codex is about “consumer protection.” Part of the media strategy is to tarnish the image of natural health options, through for-hire studies.
7.) Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing One-time defenders of supplements and nutritional products, such as the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA) and Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), have fell prey to new pharmaceutical members and are spreading disinformation saying that Codex is “consumer protection.” Their boards used to be run by health freedom fighters.
8.) VMG: Banning Our Supplements: Codex is made up of many standards for every aspect of food. One of these standards was ratified in July 2005 – the Codex Alimentarius Vitamin and Mineral Guideline (VMG). The VMG can ban all high potency and clinically effective vitamins & minerals. For example, Vitamin C would be restricted to only a few milligrams per dose. Other nutrients, such as amino acids, are also under threat.
9.) DSHEA, Best Legal Defense: A powerful tool for health freedom, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), was passed in 1994. DSHEA classifies nutritional supplements as food, and prevents dosage restrictions; Codex unscientifically classifies suppliments as toxins and sets ultra-low doses. The VMG violates U.S. law because it violates DSHEA. We must protect DSHEA, our best legal defense against Codex.
10.) Congressional Effort Underway to Undermine DSHEA: The pharmaceutical industry works through irresponsible and corrupt politicians [Think John McCain (R, AZ) and Susan Davis (D, CA)] to do their bidding. The path to institute Codex in America is to “influence” Congress to pass laws friendly to drugs and unfriendly to nutritional supplements, so that slowly everyone comes to believe that nutrients are “dangerous,” and drugs are “proper medicine.”
11.) U.S. Government Illegally Supports Codex: The U.S. Codex Office (the U.S. Codex “point of contact”) is supportive of Codex, as is the rest of the government, including the pharmaceutical-friendly FDA. They should not be. DSHEA and other U.S. law means their support is in direct violation of the law.
12.) Congress: Congress has the power to keep America Codex-free. It can defeat bills designed to destroy DSHEA, support health freedom bills, and reprimand the U.S. Codex Office and the FDA.
13.) Call to Action: Thanks to the Internet, millions of health conscious Americans can unite to protect health freedom from Codex Alimentarius. We have the power to turn Codex into a blessing if all of us in the natural health community use it to get active, get organized, and stand up for health freedom. Together, we will let Big Pharma know that we see through their deception and will protect our access to natural health care.
14.) Citizen’s Petition: http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?page_id=184
Health Freedom USA http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/
Codex Alimentarius (World Food Code) Summarized in 7 Points http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?page_id=157
Dr. Rima’s Video Deconstruction of Codex Alimentarius:
http://www.youtube.com/naturalsolutions#p/u/4/Hyo_VjJSVFo
Forthcoming CODEX Meetings: http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/current.jsp
CODEX CCNFSDU REPORTS
Codex Alimentarius Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses, CCNFSDU
This Committee is run by the infamous Dr. Rolf Grossklaus, MD. Dr. Grossklaus has a long association with the German Government’s BfR, a Risk Assessment evaluation organization. Dr. Grossklaus has presided over the transition of a world view of nutrients as necessary components of heath and life (pre-Codex) to nutrients considered as toxins which require RISK ASSESSMENT strategies designed to reduce the amounts that may be used only in doses so small that they bring about no biological change which can be detected in even the most clinically sensitive person.
When the world adopts these Codex Guidelines (December 31 2009), it will mean literally billions of preventable deaths through mandated under-nutrition around the world. Countries will have Nutritional Risk Managers to limit and exclude nutrients from their peoples.
If the US adopts these Codex guidelines and concepts (The FDA announced its plan to do so on October 11, 1994 in the Federal Register, IN DEFIANCE OF US LAW AND REGULATION) it means the end of high potency nutrients, which over 90% of the US public says they value and take. It means the end of the rule of US law since the Congress passed the 1994 DSHEA legislation which says that nutrients are to be considered foods, although Codex treats them like toxins. More, it means that the very under-nutrition that the WHO and FAO, Codex’s parent organizations, say cause the chronic, non-communicable, but preventable diseases of under-nutrition: Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Stroke, Diabetes, and Obesity, which are the 5 leading killers (after PROPERLY used prescription drugs) in the developed world (and the 5 leading money-makers for Big Pharma) will be perpetuated to the benefit of Big Pharma and, of course, Big Medica, while helping to speed the depopulation of the planet through these nutritionally preventable diseases.
CCNFSDU is the committee in which we created a coalition that defeated the US’s intent to add fluoride to infant formula. It is also the committee whose feet Dr. G. has dragged in implementing the Global Strategy which could actually enhance health and save life. We will provide daily reports on the doing (and misdeeds) here at Codex’ vitally important CCNFSDU.
You can follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/healthfreedomus
VIDEOS
Nutricide: http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=-5266884912495233634#
The Calling: http://www.kewego.es/video/iLyROoafMeGr.html
Dusseldorf Video Report No. 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r54v1bjJoUQ
Dusseldorf Video Report No. 2: http://blip.tv/file/2796528
Counsel Ralph Fucetola JD – ‘One on One’ with the Vitamin Lawyer http://www.filmbaby.com/films/4101
Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD, Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org
Valley of the Moon Eco Demonstration Project
www.NaturalSolutionsFoundation.org
www.Organics4U.org
www.NaturalSolutionsMarketPlace.org
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.