Do you take vitamins? Do you take herbs? Do you like the fact that you can purchase the products from where and when you want to? Hold on to your hat, because currently, there are some leaders in Washington that do not want us, as individuals, to have access to dietary supplements. This includes entire stocks of safe, effective, and affordable vitamins, minerals, and herbs you depend on for your health.
More than 70 percent of us take dietary supplements. Since the early 1980’s, 129 people have died from taking nutritional supplements (documented in the US) - 5 were from an L-Tryptophan contamination in the 1980's and 124 were from the ephedra/caffeine (guarana) combination in the past 10 years. (CDC/FDA) This does not include the Laci Lebeau death in the 1990s because it was sold as a tea. Because of this, some people feel that all supplements should be regulated and controlled so that no one else gets hurt.
Lets put these numbers in perspective:
Over 5,000 people die every year from food poisoning. (CDC)
140,000 people die from taking prescription drugs ever year (in the US) JAMA, 1997, 277(4): 301 – yes EVERY YEAR and counting!
There is a common misconception among lawmakers and the media that dietary supplements are unregulated. In reality, good laws exist on the books and need to be enforced by the FDA. After the l-Tryptophan issue in the 1980’s, Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) – this happened in 1994, and requires that all manufacturers of dietary supplements, ensure the products that they put on the market are safe. The law holds manufacturers directly accountable for product safety and demands truth in labeling and advertising. DSHEA gives the government agency enforcement power to remove dietary supplements from the market at any time it believes a product is unsafe. And, DSHEA already requires manufacturers of dietary supplements to notify the FDA and provide scientific proof before releasing a product containing a new ingredient. This legislative safeguard is now under attack by some members of Congress and key regulators.
While the safety record for dietary supplements far surpasses many drug products and conventional foods, some in Congress want to impose standards that exceed those for over-the-counter and prescription drugs. These legislative hurdles could cause vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other products consumers now enjoy to disappear from store shelves or become unaffordable.
What happened?
Since 1994, there were a few companies that were irresponsible and mixed the herb ephedra (Ma Huang) and another herb guarana – which is extremely high in caffeine, or some just added caffeine into the pill with the ephedra. They did this because of some research that showed that caffeine has a “thermogenic” or heat producing or calorie burning effect when mixed with ephedrine (the main alkaloid in ma huang or Chinese ephedra). Because of this, 124 people died – making the rest of the responsible supplement community look bad. There were many companies that didn’t succumb to this dangerous mixture, and now are on the verge of being punished because of a few bad apples.
This attacking of supplements and herbs is not a new thing. Many years ago, the FDA came after lobelia and companies had to reformulate a whole bunch of products because of it. Then, they came after comfrey and we had the same problem. They also came after chapparal. Lobelia is back, comfrey is still available in but only in bulk and topical products, chapparal is back in another form.
It is completely unjust that ephedra the herb is not allowed to be sold, while ephedrine (the drug derived from the herb is). It is sold in many popular sinus and cold formulas sold over the counter at your drugstore. It is completely unjust that a big fuss is made over an occasional bad reaction to an herb, while the millions of bad reactions to drugs are accepted as normal. It has been like this for a long time. It will likely be like this for some time to come until the consciousness of people shifts.
More Questions
A customer of mine that wanted to learn more, sent me what I thought were two very good questions;
1- "…Would the (supplements) I take no longer be available and could I live without it in exchange for knowing that the risk of supplements hurting me is now reduced...?" -
Answer - Yes - I don't know what you are taking now, but whatever it is, it won't be available unless you see a medical doctor. I don't know if you could live (or ultimately live optimally) without your supplements. Would I exchange the fact that I currently can purchase safe supplements now - with the fact that I would be getting inferior products from a doctor? No.
What this law will do if it is passed is require you to see your doctor, just to purchase your basic vitamins. And unfortunately the FDA does not distinguish between different types of vitamins - (for example: there are many forms of vitamin E, the natural forms (d-tocopheral) are easier and better utilized by the body then the synthetic forms (dl-tocopheral) which can be toxic for our bodies - this is documented in many books per doctors including Dr. Russell Blaylock who has been a neurosurgeon for the past 24 years - in his book he discusses this in depth - Health and Nutrition Secrets that Can Save Your Life. If this passes, the pharmaceutical companies would most likely be responsible for making these products available. Many people believe, the products will then be of less quality, and higher cost.
This would make ultimately make my doctor responsible for my healthcare - and I choose to be responsible for my own healthcare. Personally I would take any supplement, any brand - before I would take any drug. This may sound a little extreme, but I have done the doctor route and was almost killed, and herbs & good nutrition saved my life (you can read about my specific health past more at http://www.truhealth.com/voice_of_choice_0704.htm). There are many people across the nation that feel the same way.
As far as risk, this would not reduce any risk; in fact I think it would raise it because just like any other industry that the government has tried to regulate, black markets appear which would most likely be of less quality, which could cause even more problems.
Today there are several different levels of quality products out there (again just like other industries). Most people do not understand this and assume that Vitamin X is Vitamin X - but there are differences, sometimes many differences. If this law were to pass, there would only be one level of quality that would be legal to purchase – and it wouldn’t necessarily be the most organic, energetically positive, or optimum for each person.
2 - So what are the proposed changes and why should we object, what alternatives do we propose to prevent injury and death to consumers?
Answer - There are several organizations that are trying to set standards, and other proposed changes to ensure each company follows certain guidelines. We should object to being forced to purchase a product through one channel (monopoly). We should object to the fact the pharmaceutical companies have killed 3,500,000 people in the past 25 years, while supplement companies have killed 129 – and the government is worried about the smaller instead of the larger numbers. We should object to the fact that the FDA isn’t enforcing the laws that Congress has already set for this issue. Too bad this same question isn't being asked of the pharmaceutical companies.
The only way to fix this problem is for consumers to get educated. Educate yourself on what you are taking. If you don’t know what you are actually taking, ask a health professional, open a book at the library, check on the web. All the information is there if you search for it.
Educate yourself as to what is going on in your government on these issues. Here are some websites that can help you do this, but this is by no means complete:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ds-ephed.html
http://www.laleva.cc/petizione/english/ronlaw_eng.html
Congress needs to hear from consumers that they want lawmakers to protect access to safe, effective and affordable dietary supplements. Tell them to enforce DSHEA and trust consumers with their own health decisions. Become a voice for supplement choice and help ensure all Americans continue to have access to the dietary supplements they depend on for good health.
Tell your legislators you oppose pending dietary supplement legislation before Congress that undermines your health choices. Visit www.saveoursupplements.org to voice your opinion to our leaders. You can also visit our store or other health food stores and put your signature on a list that we will be sending to the NNFA (National Nutritional Foods Association) on your behalf.
We'll have to continue writing letters, supporting lobbyist groups and educating others to try to shift people's attitudes for some time to come. The vested interests aren't going to give up with out a fight. I have long understood that DSHEA was a temporary cease-fire, not an end to the war. I've been anticipating more stuff like this for a long time. But, I believe that truth will win in the end.
If you believe consumers deserve real health choices, tell Washington to Save Our Supplements.