Newly passed H.R.2900 FDA bill allows restriction of health supplements

[Guest guest]

Pretty funny video on big pharma:

http://www.mercola.com/townofallopath/index.htm

http://www.thenhf.com/press_releases/pr_02_may_2007.html

HR.2900/S.1082 began as a reauthorization bill for the drug-fee

requirements for pharmaceutical companies that were seeking FDA

approval of their drug products. It has now been revised so many

times it is becoming what is known as a legislative sausage with

perhaps some 5-6 other amendments in the works.

Regardless, the current version of S.1082 warrants strong opposition

from all of us for the following reasons:

1. It would create a so-called " Foundation " seemingly independent

of the FDA but in reality nothing more than a side-kick of the FDA and

its pharmaceutical-industry partners. Seven of its twelve board

members would be from the drug industry and the government. This

" fatal embrace " partnership - antithetical to supplements - would

dominate this new organization.

2. This Foundation would purportedly be scientific, with an aura of

scientific responsibility; but in reality, the Foundation would be a

political animal subject to the whims of politics and not rational

science. No good could ever come from such an organization, which

would simply provide political cover for anti-supplement actions.

3. Ostensibly intended to accelerate the drug-approval process, the

Foundation will - we predict - simply increase drug-approval costs and

the time involved in obtaining approval.

4. On the " research " front, the real risk here is one that

parallels the ephedra legal case that Washington attorney

Emord and his clients have been fighting and that we all hope will

result in a favorable decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. That is,

under current law, foods are presumed to be safe and there is no need

to prove their efficacy (unlike drugs). The risk here is that the

supposedly " independent " (but most likely biased) Foundation will

consider and assess as risky certain dietary supplements on a

case-by-case basis that will then lead to their removal from the

marketplace by the FDA. The Foundation, and the presumptions behind

it, create a slippery slope and an environment for this to happen.

This is quite dangerous.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=31911

The problem for the dietary supplements is that HR.2900/S.1082, as

written, gives the FDA broad new power to evaluate dietary supplements

using drug-related risk benefit analysis and thereby remove any

dietary supplement from the market at its whim. At the same time, this

legislation turns the FDA into a quasi drug company, allowing it to

work in partnership with Big Pharma and Big Biotech to develop,

patent, license, and market the next generation of drugs. The

unelected bureaucrats of the FDA have demonstrated time and time again

that they will abuse their power to defend Big Pharma and stamp out

its competition (dietary supplements and alternative health options).

HR.2900 grants the FDA the ability to do this based entirely on opinion.

http://www.newstarget.com/021932.html

On July 11, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 2900,

blocking debate on the law and preventing the introduction of any

amendments that might have provided meaningful drug safety protections

for consumers. This action demonstrates that the House of

Representatives, much like the Senate, is utterly controlled by Big

Pharma and has abandoned any responsibility to defend the interests of

the voters. Drug companies now have complete control over the U.S.

Congress, and through a campaign of intense lobbying and financial

influence, they have managed to easily water down a law that once

proposed to end the American monopoly on pharmaceuticals and ban

advertising on new drugs.

Instead of placing new restrictions on Big Pharma and the increasingly

dangerous power of the FDA, this new law (a combination of HR.2900 and

S.1082, when it is hammered out in conference) grants more power to

the FDA while deepening the financial ties between the agency and drug

companies. The law effectively surrenders America to a system of

medical tyranny under which a criminally-operated FDA will continue to

promote pharmaceuticals, censor nutritional education and discredit

alternatives that threaten drug company profits. Nothing in the new

law protects consumers' access to dietary supplements or natural medicine.

Got a law? Make it weaker

The House version of the bill is stronger than the Senate version in

terms of drug safety issues, but these differences could easily

disappear in conference, leading to a final signing of a useless,

watered-down " FDA safety " bill that is actually nothing more than an

FDA corruption rewards program. (It's better than a frequent flyer

program because the miles never expire and there are no blackout dates...)

The great Congressional sellout

Congress had the potential to pass a really good law here -- one that

would have ended direct-to-consumer advertising, banned conflicts of

interest at the FDA, required the open source publication of drug

trials and ended the U.S. monopoly on pharmaceuticals. Instead,

Congress chose to do none of these things. It staged a song and dance

about " FDA reform " while selling out the future of America's health to

a tiny but powerful group of ultra-wealthy corporations that now

virtually rule this country. There is nothing in the new law worth

celebrating unless, of course, you are the CEO or major shareholder of

a Big Pharma corporation, in which case you will like be stunned at

just how cheaply and easily U.S. lawmakers can be bought.

Notice, too, that this sellout crosses party lines and involves both

Democrats and Republicans. Only one Congressman, Rep. Ron (a

Libertarian-leaning Republican), was attempting to introduce

meaningful amendments that would protect the interests of the people.

His efforts were blocked by Speaker of the House Pelosi, a Democrat.

More information on Codex and HR 2900 go here:

http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php