Fw: Don't Nuke Our Supplements!

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Don't Nuke Our SupplementsIMPORTANT Please, read, sign petition and forward.

Don't Nuke Our Supplements!

The American Association for Health Freedom opposes theirradiation of dietary supplements and supports the AmericanHerbal Products Association letter to the Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) to request that the agency deny a foodadditive petition that would allow the use of ionizingirradiation on dietary supplements and dietary ingredients. AAHFwill be submitting our own letter to the FDA supporting AHPA'sposition and providing our own comments.

We feel that if there was ever an approach that could, in asingle swoop, lessen the potency of herbs and other dietarysupplements, then it is irradiation.

There is good evidence now that almost any dosage of ionizingradiation does some damage (if it can kill pathogens, it candamage other cells and molecules), and any dosage above 10kGy isconsidered very high. 30 kGy is just plain crazy! Vitamins aremuch more prone to break down when not present in a food matrix,as is typically the case in dietary supplements. In other words,consumers could seriously be misled if the stated label contentis different from the actual content which has been reduced as aresult of irradiation.

There are other risks as well: the formation of radiolyticproducts which can be harmful and the increased risk ofmigration of components in packaging materials (e.g.plasticizers like bisphenol-A) into the food or dietarysupplement product.

Irradiation of bioactive compounds in these nutritionalsupplements is well known to change those molecules and destroythem, thus changing the unique structure that makes thesecompounds effective nutrients.

Bottom line, if something is irradiated, it should not bepermitted at the levels that have been suggested to the FDA andit should be clearly indicated on the label by ingredient.

What You Can Do

Contact Congress (using letter below, please take a moment topersonalize it, we list some talking points that you can cut andpaste) with a copy going to the FDA.

Help to spread the word.

Join and support AAHF

You can take action on this alert via the web at:

http://ga4.org/campaign/dont_nuke_supplements

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.http://ga4.org/campaign/dont_nuke_supplements/forward/wnx5x3g2r77b6jxd?

We encourage you to take action by December 31, 2008

Don't Nuke Our Supplements

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:If you have access to a web browser, you can take action on thisalert by going to the following URL:

http://ga4.org/campaign/dont_nuke_supplements/wnx5x3g2r77b6jxd?

Your letter will be addressed and sent to:Your Congressperson Your Senators

----THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT IN YOUR NAME----Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

As our elected member of Congress, I urge you to please tell theFDA we do want our supplements irradiated. I agree with theAmerican Association for Health Freedom (www.healthfreedom.net)and the American Herbal Products Association (www.ahpa.org) thatthis is a uniquely bad idea. Please refer to their letters foradditional detail. (In reference to the following FDA Dockets:FDA Docket No. 03F-0182 and FDA Docket No. 2005N-0272.)

Please contact your colleagues on the Agriculture Appropriationssubcommittee and on the authorizing committee that oversees theFDA, and urge them to tell the FDA not to approve irradiationlevels that would damage our supplements.

Though the petition to irradiate dietary supplements with up to30 kGy has languished since 2003, the more recent action by theFDA in Docket No. 2005N-0272, seeks to further relaxnotification of irradiation in food products, even calling thismethod "Pasteurization." This indicates the FDA is beginning tovisit these issues and rule on them.

Please do not allow the FDA to nuke our dietary supplements inthe name of food safety.

----END OF LETTER TO BE SENT----

Sincerely,Irena Franchi

cc:Dr. Lane Highbarger

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