Posted on 02/26/2010 3:13:44 PM PST by La Lydia
lternative remedies such as natural health supplements using vitamins and herbs, natural herbal remedies and holistic treatment are at risk...Senator John McCain proposed The Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA ), February 4, 2010, to put the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in charge of regulating natural health supplements. Alternative remedies are protected because they are classified as food. However, the new bill reduces potency a product with 1/2 carrot's worth beta carotene for example and provides a list of acceptable ingredients.
This is the same FDA that allows dangerous prescription drugs on the market with long lists of side-effects. Watch any commercial on television that has 15 seconds on therapeutic effects of the drug and 45 seconds on side-effects including 4-hour erections and “sudden death.”
The new bill even requires minor adverse effects from natural health supplements to be reported which is believed opens the door of harassment and allowing the FDA to pull products from shelves they deem appropriate. “A dietary supplement which contains a new dietary ingredient shall be deemed adulterated under section 402(f) unless there is a history of use or other evidence of safety.”
This wording means new ingredients can be squashed. The difference between regulation of drugs and natural health supplements is astounding. What is suggested is drugs are safe and food is not. If alternative remedies are to be protected, many feel this bill needs to be stopped...
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
McCaine, go to h@ll!
Ditto. Is he being 0’s lackey and out to destroy any possible means we have of caring for ourselves. He cannot leave the Senate soon enough, IMO.
Edited to add: Is it possible to stock up?
Some choice we had in the last election - McLooser or the O’Fuehrer.
Here's what happened in Canada:
"Canada's pharmacy regulation organization, The National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA), issued a directive in late January telling druggists to stop selling unlicensed natural remedies. This comes from a 5-year old program to regulate natural health goods...NAPRA issued the ultimatum despite the fact that the Health Canada system is backlogged heavily in the approval process for dietary supplements. Makers of natural-health products are now bracing for widespread layoffs, millions in losses, and worse as their products are removed from drug store shelves throughout the Great White North.
"The directive from NAPRA hinges on a 2004 regime set in place by Health Canada to regulate the natural health and remedies market. These products had been virtually unregulated before and are now suddenly pending approval by Health Canada, who allowed the products to continue sales provided they had applied for approval. HC found itself suddenly buried under tens of thousands of applications as everything from St. John's Wart to Kelp await approval as dietary supplements.
"The pharmacy regulators, of course, aren't interested in this waiver and have asked their member pharmacies (virtually every drug store in Canada) to stop selling the products until they're approved.
"In the case of Canadian regulation of dietary supplements and remedies, it is obvious what happens when Big Pharma-controlled organizations get the ability to control their natural medicine competition. Now, in the United States, Senator John McCain of Arizona wants to make that the reality here too.
"Here in the Land of the Free (to get injections) and Home of the Brave (few who refuse the needle), our ability to choose for ourselves what type of medical treatment we prefer is once again being threatened."
Sure, but vitamins do lose potency over (an extended) time. Cool dark places are ideal.
I'm sure this will be the immediate response if this bill passes. Plus there will certainly be a huge black market for supplements smuggled in from Mexico and Canada. Plus the difficulty that the government will have in pushing their regulations onto Internet based companies that can pop up and disappear overnight. I think enforcement would be a real problem.
This effort by McCain is just one more nail in his liberal coffin. I've had enough of this guy to last a lifetime.
Looks like McCrazy has no idea about the passions he will stir with a turkey bill like this one.
I say it’s dead ... whether he knows it or not.
The Supreme Court just nullified an aggregious part of McCain-Feingold, the part that criminalized political speech 60 days before an election, and here he goes again with another hair-brained bill, trying to get a political gain to get re-elected.
I wish the people in Arizona would call him home and let him retire. It would do my heart good to see a picture of him relaxing in an inner tube on Lake Havasu. That is where he belongs now, not in Washington trying to create more government control as this dietary supplement bill that nobody wants.
The people in Washington had better start listening. See the CNN Poll at this link:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/26/cnn-poll-majority-says-government-a-threat-to-citizens-rights/?fbid=pSgyaJghCnJ
He only has one co-sponsor, Dorgan, and I don’t see people rushing to him to sign up. It has been sent to the appropriate committee, HELP, but as far as I can tell, the committee has scheduled no action on it. This needs to be monitored. Nor can I find any companion legislation in the House.
I don’t know what political gain he hopes to get from this, other than some big donations from pharmaceutical companies. There are a lot of small businesses in Arizona that manufacture and sell supplements. They can’t be all that happy with him at this point.
Juan McLame is an @$$hole.
John McCain comes up with some of the most blatant intrusions on the rights of ordinary Americans that I’ve ever seen from any member of Congress, Democrat or Republican. The supplement industry is fine - who besides the pharmaceuticals and McCain is asking for this?
I’m praying on my knees that my state has learnt its lesson and will give McCain a retirement this November. We need to stop romanticizing him or getting teary-eyed come elections and give him the door.
I doubt Harkin, chair of HELP, will want to touch it. Can remember reading in newspaper about how he takes bee pollen supplements for his allergies. Claimed it is the only thing that ever worked, all the drugs sucked, etc.
On the House side, if Waxman has anything to do with it, am skeptical that he’ll move anything that he hasnt written himself. As you know, ego happens up there.
That is the only positive thing I have ever heard about Harkin in my life. Usually I think he is a raving loony. I guess this is his “broken clock” moment.
Experts recommend yearly flu vaccine for all Americans, not just those at high risk
Snip: The 2010-2011 seasonal flu vaccine will include the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, as the pandemic virus appears to have replaced the seasonal H1N1 virus covered by previous vaccines. The new seasonal vaccine will also include protection against the predominant "Perth" H3N2 type A and "Brisbane" type B flus.
Every member of Congress needs to get the H1N1 vaccine they recommend to the peons.
So, no shot for me again this year, eh?
Oh well.
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