US SUPREME COURT SCREWED THE VITAMIN CONSUMERS OF AMERICA TODAY MAY 14, 2007- WHATS NEXT....
IAHF List:
Today, May 14, 2007 the Supreme Court
denied the Writ of Certiorare in the Ephedra Case
(See http://www.supremecourtus.gov/orders/courtorders/051407pzor.pdf
see 06-922 Nutraceutical et al v Echenbach, Comm'R, FDA et al
WHAT THIS MEANS
By taking this action, the Supreme court has effectively scuttled DSHEA because this now means that the FDA can do the same sort of flawed, drug based "risk/benefit" assessment that they used to (fraudulently) ban ephedra to ban ANY dietary supplement on equally flawed grounds (on a whim), in other words, the Supreme court intends to allow the FDA to regulate foods as DRUGS despite congressional intent with DSHEA that dietary supplements be regulated as FOODS and NOT as DRUGS (!!!)
HOLD ONTO YOUR HATS FOLKS- THIS IS GETTING REALLY UGLY
This truly puts vitamin consumers behind the 8 Ball, leaving us wide open to anything the FDA wants to do from here on in unless we can mount a campaign big enough to get a now ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL amendment into S.1082/HR1561 to protect ourselves, but we find ourselves in the following very strange predicament:
Senators Hatch/Harkin/Kennedy and Enzi all INSISTED in a colloquy in the May 2 Congressional Record that there is "nothing" in S.1082 that undoes DSHEA, and the (pharma dominated) Natural Products Assn (formerly NNFA) has announced this colloquy to the world on the front page of their website which will put vast numbers of health food stores and vitamin manufacturers to SLEEP on the issue unless we can all work together to WAKE THEM UP! (See their announcement for Thursday May 3: http://www.naturalproductsassoc.org/site/PageServer
Ironically, even as they made this erroneous announcement, the Natural Products Assn filed an Amicus Brief regarding the Ephedra case which fully bears out the importance of the Supreme Court taking this case on to stop the FDA from continuing to violate the law as they did when they banned Ephedra by using a drug based risk/benefit analysis that DSHEA doesn't allow them to do: http://www.naturalproductsassoc.org/site/PageNavigator/ic_amicus
Its obvious to IAHF that the Natural Products Association, Senators Hatch, Harkin, Kennedy and Enzi either fail to grasp the nature of the threat posed by allowing the words "Food" and "Food Ingredients" to remain in S.1082 in the provision establishing the Reagan Udall Institute, and fail to grasp the sort of arbitrary decision the FDA will be allowed to make regarding Food Safety via their "Critical Path" technology, or they DO understand this all too well and are just PRETENDING not to understand our concerns.The NPA does have pharmaceutical companies amongst their membership, and have never enforced their conflict of interest disclosure bylaw and the front office of the trade association has always seemed unduly influenced by pharma due to this.
The huge number of dietary supplement consumers
who have contacted Hatch and Harkin's offices requesting
that the words FOOD and FOOD INGREDIENTS be REMOVED from the section of
S.1082 that creates the Reagan Udall Foundation for the FDA were
ABSOLUTELY CORRECT in their concern!!
Biomarkers are changes in proteins at the cellular level. Through the critical path initiative outlined in S.1082, Hatch/Harkin/Kennedy/ and Enzi intend to allow the FDA to evaluate FOODS and FOOD INGREDIENTS (including Dietary Supplements) on a totally ARBITRARY BASIS based on FDA's interpretation of how they effect biomarkers. This new science of Proteomics is in its infancy, yet it is highly PREDICTABLE that if you allow the FDA to create a pharmaceutical drug development company inside of itself (as you clearly are with this Reagan-Udall Foundation) that you've created a much bigger conflict of interest than has EVER existed at the FDA.
Such an entity would profit from the creation and patenting of drugs that it develops and this would absolutely set the stage for the FDA to go after SAFE dietary supplements based on totally arbitrary interpretations of safety based on how a given product impacts certain biomarkers. It is ESSENTIAL that we get language written into this legislation which protects us.
Back in 1989, NNFA (now the Natural Products Association) was initially in FAVOR of a horrible bill called the NLEA or Nutrition Labelling and Education Act. This legislation effectively repealed the Proxmire Vitamin Act and set the stage for huge FDA attacks on the dietary supplement industry. Due to Pharma penetration of the trade association back then which persists to the present day, incredibly, NNFA was initially in FAVOR of this bad bill and didn't REVERSE their position til our grass roots information campaign kicked into high gear and the trade association realized that unless they pulled a "180" on the issue that their membership would MUTINY in large enough numbers that they wouldn't be able to pay the salaries of their office staff or keep the organization going.
When I first read the language of the NLEA it was the summer of '89, the hardest time of year to rally the grass roots to do anything due to so many people being on vacation or doing things outdoors so that they weren't paying attention to what was happening right under their noses. I was shocked by the magnititude of the threat, and dropped everything I was doing to jump in with both feet to try to educate anyone who would listen in an effort to catalyze a fight back.
I remember at first being perplexed and astonished when the vast majority of health food store owners wouldn't lift a finger to help circulate the form letter that Clinton Miller had told me needed to be urgently circulated to get people calling Congress.
When I learned that NNFA was behind these store owners sitting on their hands my jaw dropped and I really got frantic!
We find ourselves in a nearly IDENTICAL dilemma today! IAHF is teamed up with Byron Richards in an effort to take certain actions which can hopefully rapidly generate a MUCH higher level of awareness and understanding so that (hopefully) we might yet get Senators Hatch/Harkin/Kennedy/Enzi and the Natural Products Association to OPEN THEIR EYES.
Byron Richards is currently working on a new article that we'll have out very soon with a new set of instructions that will help us all to fight back with maximum possible firepower.
Those who do not learn from history are too often doomed to REPEAT history. Well I LEARNED a LOT from what happened back in '89 because we FAILED to turn NNFA around fast enough, we FAILED to kill the Nutrition Labelling and Education Act. As a result, the FDA came out with the implementing regulations from HELL in the form of the Dykstra Report--- and that NECESSETATED the FRENZIED 4 year campaign to pass DSHEA which in TURN is now under the biggest attack that its EVER BEEN, yet you would never know it by going into ANY health food store in this country! Together, we're going to wake up these health food store owners, just like we did in the early 90s!! WE CAN TURN THIS AROUND, WE MUST!!!
Stay tuned folks, lots of phone calls and important emails got sent today relative to this situation. IAHF is not asleep at the switch, and thank God neither are ANY of you!
We'll have a complete new set of instructions out momentarily and I will be going to Capital Hill soon in an effort to get a now even MORE needed amendment in to S.1082/HR1561, but you never just GO to the Hill, you go with a PLAN and we're developing one NOW! Your donations will help us make the trip to DC that we're planning. In the mean time, please alert more people to sign on to the IAHF email distribution list for updates at http://www.iahf.com because there is safety in numbers.
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Point Roberts WA 98281 USA
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