“Make no mistake, there is a well orchestrated campaign underway to take away your rights and access to vitamins and supplements.” Dr. Joseph Mercola
Here we go again! Â If taking supplements is a part of your daily regimen, pay attention!
Senator Durbin will be up for re-election in 2014, so he’s already hard at work appeasing the Big Pharma  gods by giving the FDA even more control over the dietary supplement industry. You should read the full background on Durbin’s misguided Dietary Supplement Labeling Act (S 1310),  in Dr. Mercola’s full article, but for brevity’s sake, here’s a recap on the legislation and what action you can take now to put the brakes on this oppressive  legislation.
Senator Durbin  first introduced  S 1310 in 2011. The bill would have allowed the FDA more power over the supplement industry with increased regulations.
Let me assure you, the supplement industry is plenty regulated. This bill would make the regulation of supplements stricter than prescription drugs. This isn’t about making supplements safer, it’s about the FDA allowing the pharmaceutical industry to take over the control of dietary supplements! The FDA is heavily biased toward drug manufacturers – they are, after all, the hand that feeds them.
So here’s what you need to know:
1) Vitamins and supplements are very safe. Statistics from the U.S. National Poison Data Systems annual report showed that ZERO people died from vitamins and minerals in 2010. The truth is, anyone can have a reaction to an ingredient in anything – especially foods. The FDA isn’t going after the big food corporations the way they are the supplement industry.
2) 80% of the poison control fatalities each year are from FDA approved drugs. Every year over 100,000 people die from legally prescribed, properly dosed medications.
If this bill would pass, most supplement manufacturers would go out of business because they couldn’t afford the expensive trials the legislation would require. And, as Dr. Mercola points out, they aren’t even necessary.
This over-regulation of supplements would also drive the cost of your supplement so high, it would make the cost prohibitive for most of us.
Thanks to the efforts of the natural supplement industry and you, Durbin’s bill failed in 2012 when he tried to slip it in with the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. But he’s clearly not giving up and we need to speak up now, before his bill gains any more momentum.
Just as in the ruse of  “food safety” this legislation is not about protecting you, it’s about giving more market control to government entities and their bed-fellows, Big Pharma. It will strip you of your right to manage your own health and the freedoms to use the supplements of your choice.
Now, here’s what you need to do!
- Contact your senators and congressional representatives and tell them to vote NO on S 1310, Dietary Supplement Labeling Act. The best way is to call or fax, but you can also sign the petition from the Alliance for National Health USA.
- Watch this video from Dr. Mercola – he gives you helpful tips on what to say when you call.
- Be polite and calm – we won’t garner support if we’re rude. Focus on the facts and thank them for their time.
I have to be honest, I get weary of the constant battle to defend health freedoms, but I won’t give up – nor should you! I think Thomas Jefferson said it best -Â “If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls who live under tyranny.” The WHO ranks the US 37th in the world’s health systems. That’s pathetic. Clearly giving more control to the FDA is not the answer.
If you contact your elected officials, please let us know how they responded in the comments section below.
