Important - FDA Seeking to Withdraw Supplements.

[Guest guest]

Hi Everybody,

Please read the letter below from the Global Healing Center. The FDA may be

withdrawing the public's rights to remove many health supplements from our

shelves and this is your chance for your voice to be heard.

Peace, n

HEALTH ALERT! DEADLINE FEBRUARY 1st

Dietary Supplements are Important to YOUR Health

Tell the FDA to RESPECT your HEALTH RIGHTS

Take Action Today! It only takes one minute to send an email

message to the FDA. Click here.

FDA is reviewing portions of DSHEA, the Dietary Supplement Health Education

Act. The agency may propose new and overly burdensome regulations that could

restrict your access to new dietary ingredients and dietary supplements that

were not on the market prior to 1994 when DSHEA was passed.

Recall that 2.5 million concerned consumers contacted Congress between 1992

and 1994 to support DSHEA and assure access to their supplements. In response

to the overwhelming consumer support, Congress passed DSHEA and deliberately

created new and different regulations for dietary supplements. Congress enacted

DSHEA to stop the FDA from treating dietary supplements like food additives or

drugs and to protect consumer's rights to purchase these products.

We need to make our voices heard once again!

The deadline is February 1, 2005. Send YOUR Letter NOW

Tell the FDA to uphold DSHEA and your continued access to beneficial dietary

supplements today! Click here. At risk are many innovative and particularly

effective dietary supplements. The FDA needs to hear from you to preserve your

hard-won access to the most innovative and important health products. Any new

guidelines that require onerous food additive and drug like notifications,

excessive testing and documentation will make the introduction of new products

unnecessarily expensive.

This disincentive for companies to develop new health promoting products

will assuredly lead to the reduction of many products that can benefit the

health

of Americans. It could block consumer access to validated new and innovative

products -- for good . American consumers have the right to these health

enhancing products that are also shown, in many cases, to reduce the staggering

public health burden, and reduce the cost of health care.

We only have a few short weeks to send a strong message. The FDA is

considering comments until February 1,2005. Make sure your voice is heard.

Washington, DC needs to hear from at least 25,000 consumers who care about

their health rights. Urge the FDA to ensure that any new guidelines for New

Dietary Ingredients reflect the intent of Congress and continue to provide

complete access to the safe, affordable and innovative dietary supplements you

rely

on for your health.

Take action today!

Message Template to Use

You can use the Health Action Center's web site to automatically send your

request to the appropriate lawmakers and FDA administrators. We also encourage

you to use the below message template and send it by email or postal mail to

your state's Senators and House Representatives. A list of contact information

for Senators can be found at

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm. A list of

contact information for House Representatives can

be found at http://www.house.gov/writerep/.

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Re: Docket 2004N-0454

DSHEA (the Dietary Supplement Health Education Act) guarantees my ability to

choose a wide-range of dietary supplements and ensures the FDA regulates these

products appropriately - as foods, not as food additives or drugs.

I urge you to ensure that any new FDA guidelines for New Dietary Ingredients

reflect the intent of Congress and continue to provide complete access to the

safe, affordable and innovative dietary supplements I rely on for my health.

Recall that 2.5 million concerned consumers contacted Congress between 1992

and 1994 to support DSHEA and assure access to their supplements. In response,

Congress passed DSHEA and deliberately created new and different regulations

for dietary supplements. Congress enacted DSHEA to stop the FDA from treating

dietary supplements like food additives or drugs and to protect consumer's

rights to purchase these products.

I applaud the FDA's initiatives to fully implement DSHEA and to develop

clear guidelines for manufacturers to follow when introducing new ingredients to

the market, but I'm concerned that the questions FDA poses in their draft

comments may lead to barriers that may preclude many safe products from reaching

the marketplace.

Specifically, I am concerned about any new guidelines that require onerous

food additive and drug like notifications for new ingredients. Given that FDA

has a history of such actions, please do not create new guidelines that will

require excessive testing and documentation, making the introduction of new

products unnecessarily expensive. This will assuredly lead to the reduction of

many

products that can benefit the health of Americans and reduce the cost of

health care. These actions are counter to the intent of DSHEA and consumer

health

interests.

Most supplement manufacturers are small businesses that will be especially

hard hit by demanding notification requirements. As a result, many new products

will never make it to market, and many companies in this vital section of the

health market will not be able to compete. Please ensure that any new

guidelines take the unique situation of small businesses into account.

Congress created the New Dietary Ingredient clause of DSHEA to serve as a

gatekeeper, to keep potentially dangerous substances unknown to the human food

supply off the market. This clause is not intended to create burdens for safe

products that are not a threat to human health.

I am heartened by FDA's recent initiatives to fully implement DSHEA but any

changes to the way FDA interprets and implements DSHEA must remain true to

congressional intent. I implore the agency to use a transparent and

participatory

process with multiple public meetings and ample time for community comment to

develop guidelines that are sound, reasonable and consumer focused.

Supplements provide a low cost, natural alternative to help consumers

maintain their good health. The creation of any new standard that will undermine

that

intent will constitute an injustice to the American people.

Editor-In-Chief: Dr. F Group III, DC, PH.D, ND, DACBN

Executive / Managing Editor: Dr. Loretta Lanphier, ND, CN, HHP

Published monthly by:

Global Healing Center, Inc.

2040 North Loop West Suite 108

Houston TX 77018

713.476.0016

www.ghchealth.com