Another road trip to Washington, DC, last Wednesday 09/24/08 to the FDA's Center for Food Safety in College Park, just over the Maryland line. The US Codex Delegation was holding a Public Meeting to discuss its policies for the upcoming Codex Committee on Nutritional Foods for Special Dietary Uses.
The usual cast of characters were present in the auditorium ... bureaucrats, lobbyists, a journalist and health claims researcher Maury Silverman and me as Public Observers.
The ten item agenda covered many of the issues that concern us at Natural Solutions Foundation. These include foods for children, labeling and health claims. We've prepared a draft set of comments that we will be submitting to the Delegation. We invite you to comment too.
Here is the US Position Paper: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/US_Draft_Positions_CCNFSDU.pdf
Here is the email address for your comments: CCNFSDU@fda.hhs.gov (due by 10/06/08)
Here are our Comments: http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?p=1059
What I found remarkable were the people present who questioned the Delegates directly about the US Codex Delegation supporting positions at the World Food Code meetings that seem to be contrary to US statutory and case law. We join those objections and the Comments we prepared specifically cite the US Supreme Court telling the FDA that it cannot censor truthful commercial speech about health even to protect us from making "bad" decisions with the information.
Here is what Dr. Laibow's written comments to the Delegation stated:
"NSF believes that the FDA’s position on health claims violates the US Constitution in restricting freedom of speech (see the Supreme Court Decision in Thompson vs. Western States), that it has been enjoined from doing so in the cited Supreme Court decision and that it also violates US law (i.e., DSHEA, USC 1325, FDA Revitalization Act of 1997 and S. 1082, FDA reorganization act 2007 so that the US position in the international context of Codex violates both national competence and is, in fact, illegal."
One of the public commentators asked, pointedly, "Why is there no discussion of current US standards in the position paper - it would be useful to state what the current US law is..." [These quotes are from my notes and may be paraphrased.]
The Delegate responded, "US policy is the foundation of our [Codex] policy..."
The commentator responded, "If Codex is setting the world standard, US should always tell how its position relate to current US law."
Later, the Delegate admitted, "Codex definition of health claims is much broader than the US definition..." but made no mention of urging Codex to adopt definitions that would permit our more permissive, pro-free speech rules to stand.
Most tellingly, the Delegate, responding to a question about how much dialogue occurs with other Codex member nations, stated, "Most interactions occur with the quad countries - US, Canada, Australia and Britain... and through NAFTA..."
Another commentator asserted that "S&F claims [the typical vitamin support for normal structure and function claims] are health claims under Codex..."
And it goes... with citizens and commercial interests alike questioning the assumptions of the US Codex bureaucracy.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Ron Paul on the Economic Crisis
Dr. Ron Paul, Member of Congress from Texas just sent this email about the economic crisis: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog/?p=616
---------------
Dear Friends:
The financial meltdown the economists of the Austrian School predicted has arrived.
We are in this crisis because of an excess of artificially created credit at the hands of the Federal Reserve System. The solution being proposed? More artificial credit by the Federal Reserve. No liquidation of bad debt and malinvestment is to be allowed. By doing more of the same, we will only continue and intensify the distortions in our economy - all the capital misallocation, all the malinvestment - and prevent the market's attempt to re-establish rational pricing of houses and other assets.
Last night the president addressed the nation about the financial crisis. There is no point in going through his remarks line by line, since I'd only be repeating what I've been saying over and over - not just for the past several days, but for years and even decades.
Still, at least a few observations are necessary.
The president assures us that his administration "is working with Congress to address the root cause behind much of the instability in our markets." Care to take a guess at whether the Federal Reserve and its money creation spree were even mentioned?
We are told that "low interest rates" led to excessive borrowing, but we are not told how these low interest rates came about. They were a deliberate policy of the Federal Reserve. As always, artificially low interest rates distort the market. Entrepreneurs engage in malinvestments - investments that do not make sense in light of current resource availability, that occur in more temporally remote stages of the capital structure than the pattern of consumer demand can support, and that would not have been made at all if the interest rate had been permitted to tell the truth instead of being toyed with by the Fed.
Not a word about any of that, of course, because Americans might then discover how the great wise men in Washington caused this great debacle. Better to keep scapegoating the mortgage industry or "wildcat capitalism" (as if we actually have a pure free market!).
Speaking about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the president said: "Because these companies were chartered by Congress, many believed they were guaranteed by the federal government. This allowed them to borrow enormous sums of money, fuel the market for questionable investments, and put our financial system at risk."
Doesn't that prove the foolishness of chartering Fannie and Freddie in the first place? Doesn't that suggest that maybe, just maybe, government may have contributed to this mess? And of course, by bailing out Fannie and Freddie, hasn't the federal government shown that the "many" who "believed they were guaranteed by the federal government" were in fact correct?
Then come the scare tactics. If we don't give dictatorial powers to the Treasury Secretary "the stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account. The value of your home could plummet." Left unsaid, naturally, is that with the bailout and all the money and credit that must be produced out of thin air to fund it, the value of your retirement account will drop anyway, because the value of the dollar will suffer a precipitous decline. As for home prices, they are obviously much too high, and supply and demand cannot equilibrate if government insists on propping them up.
It's the same destructive strategy that government tried during the Great Depression: prop up prices at all costs. The Depression went on for over a decade. On the other hand, when liquidation was allowed to occur in the equally devastating downturn of 1921, the economy recovered within less than a year.
The president also tells us that Senators McCain and Obama will join him at the White House today in order to figure out how to get the bipartisan bailout passed. The two senators would do their country much more good if they stayed on the campaign trail debating who the bigger celebrity is, or whatever it is that occupies their attention these days.
F.A. Hayek won the Nobel Prize for showing how central banks' manipulation of interest rates creates the boom-bust cycle with which we are sadly familiar. In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, he described the foolish policies being pursued in his day - and which are being proposed, just as destructively, in our own:
"Instead of furthering the inevitable liquidation of the maladjustments brought about by the boom during the last three years, all conceivable means have been used to prevent that readjustment from taking place; and one of these means, which has been repeatedly tried though without success, from the earliest to the most recent stages of depression, has been this deliberate policy of credit expansion."
"To combat the depression by a forced credit expansion is to attempt to cure the evil by the very means which brought it about; because we are suffering from a misdirection of production, we want to create further misdirection - a procedure that can only lead to a much more severe crisis as soon as the credit expansion comes to an end... It is probably to this experiment, together with the attempts to prevent liquidation once the crisis had come, that we owe the exceptional severity and duration of the depression."
The only thing we learn from history, I am afraid, is that we do not learn from history.
The very people who have spent the past several years assuring us that the economy is fundamentally sound, and who themselves foolishly cheered the extension of all these novel kinds of mortgages, are the ones who now claim to be the experts who will restore prosperity! Just how spectacularly wrong, how utterly without a clue, does someone have to be before his expert status is called into question?
Oh, and did you notice that the bailout is now being called a "rescue plan"? I guess "bailout" wasn't sitting too well with the American people.
The very people who with somber faces tell us of their deep concern for the spread of democracy around the world are the ones most insistent on forcing a bill through Congress that the American people overwhelmingly oppose. The very fact that some of you seem to think you're supposed to have a voice in all this actually seems to annoy them.
I continue to urge you to contact your representatives and give them a piece of your mind. I myself am doing everything I can to promote the correct point of view on the crisis. Be sure also to educate yourselves on these subjects - the Campaign for Liberty blog is an excellent place to start. Read the posts, ask questions in the comment section, and learn.
H.G. Wells once said that civilization was in a race between education and catastrophe. Let us learn the truth and spread it as far and wide as our circumstances allow. For the truth is the greatest weapon we have.
In liberty,
Ron Paul
www.CampaignforLiberty.com
---------------
Dear Friends:
The financial meltdown the economists of the Austrian School predicted has arrived.
We are in this crisis because of an excess of artificially created credit at the hands of the Federal Reserve System. The solution being proposed? More artificial credit by the Federal Reserve. No liquidation of bad debt and malinvestment is to be allowed. By doing more of the same, we will only continue and intensify the distortions in our economy - all the capital misallocation, all the malinvestment - and prevent the market's attempt to re-establish rational pricing of houses and other assets.
Last night the president addressed the nation about the financial crisis. There is no point in going through his remarks line by line, since I'd only be repeating what I've been saying over and over - not just for the past several days, but for years and even decades.
Still, at least a few observations are necessary.
The president assures us that his administration "is working with Congress to address the root cause behind much of the instability in our markets." Care to take a guess at whether the Federal Reserve and its money creation spree were even mentioned?
We are told that "low interest rates" led to excessive borrowing, but we are not told how these low interest rates came about. They were a deliberate policy of the Federal Reserve. As always, artificially low interest rates distort the market. Entrepreneurs engage in malinvestments - investments that do not make sense in light of current resource availability, that occur in more temporally remote stages of the capital structure than the pattern of consumer demand can support, and that would not have been made at all if the interest rate had been permitted to tell the truth instead of being toyed with by the Fed.
Not a word about any of that, of course, because Americans might then discover how the great wise men in Washington caused this great debacle. Better to keep scapegoating the mortgage industry or "wildcat capitalism" (as if we actually have a pure free market!).
Speaking about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the president said: "Because these companies were chartered by Congress, many believed they were guaranteed by the federal government. This allowed them to borrow enormous sums of money, fuel the market for questionable investments, and put our financial system at risk."
Doesn't that prove the foolishness of chartering Fannie and Freddie in the first place? Doesn't that suggest that maybe, just maybe, government may have contributed to this mess? And of course, by bailing out Fannie and Freddie, hasn't the federal government shown that the "many" who "believed they were guaranteed by the federal government" were in fact correct?
Then come the scare tactics. If we don't give dictatorial powers to the Treasury Secretary "the stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account. The value of your home could plummet." Left unsaid, naturally, is that with the bailout and all the money and credit that must be produced out of thin air to fund it, the value of your retirement account will drop anyway, because the value of the dollar will suffer a precipitous decline. As for home prices, they are obviously much too high, and supply and demand cannot equilibrate if government insists on propping them up.
It's the same destructive strategy that government tried during the Great Depression: prop up prices at all costs. The Depression went on for over a decade. On the other hand, when liquidation was allowed to occur in the equally devastating downturn of 1921, the economy recovered within less than a year.
The president also tells us that Senators McCain and Obama will join him at the White House today in order to figure out how to get the bipartisan bailout passed. The two senators would do their country much more good if they stayed on the campaign trail debating who the bigger celebrity is, or whatever it is that occupies their attention these days.
F.A. Hayek won the Nobel Prize for showing how central banks' manipulation of interest rates creates the boom-bust cycle with which we are sadly familiar. In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, he described the foolish policies being pursued in his day - and which are being proposed, just as destructively, in our own:
"Instead of furthering the inevitable liquidation of the maladjustments brought about by the boom during the last three years, all conceivable means have been used to prevent that readjustment from taking place; and one of these means, which has been repeatedly tried though without success, from the earliest to the most recent stages of depression, has been this deliberate policy of credit expansion."
"To combat the depression by a forced credit expansion is to attempt to cure the evil by the very means which brought it about; because we are suffering from a misdirection of production, we want to create further misdirection - a procedure that can only lead to a much more severe crisis as soon as the credit expansion comes to an end... It is probably to this experiment, together with the attempts to prevent liquidation once the crisis had come, that we owe the exceptional severity and duration of the depression."
The only thing we learn from history, I am afraid, is that we do not learn from history.
The very people who have spent the past several years assuring us that the economy is fundamentally sound, and who themselves foolishly cheered the extension of all these novel kinds of mortgages, are the ones who now claim to be the experts who will restore prosperity! Just how spectacularly wrong, how utterly without a clue, does someone have to be before his expert status is called into question?
Oh, and did you notice that the bailout is now being called a "rescue plan"? I guess "bailout" wasn't sitting too well with the American people.
The very people who with somber faces tell us of their deep concern for the spread of democracy around the world are the ones most insistent on forcing a bill through Congress that the American people overwhelmingly oppose. The very fact that some of you seem to think you're supposed to have a voice in all this actually seems to annoy them.
I continue to urge you to contact your representatives and give them a piece of your mind. I myself am doing everything I can to promote the correct point of view on the crisis. Be sure also to educate yourselves on these subjects - the Campaign for Liberty blog is an excellent place to start. Read the posts, ask questions in the comment section, and learn.
H.G. Wells once said that civilization was in a race between education and catastrophe. Let us learn the truth and spread it as far and wide as our circumstances allow. For the truth is the greatest weapon we have.
In liberty,
Ron Paul
www.CampaignforLiberty.com
Monday, September 22, 2008
NJ Dietitian Monopoly Bill - Opposition Testimony
Below is Dian Freeman's report on her testimony before the NJ Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee, in opposition to the pending bill.
If you are from NJ you can contact your legislators here:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp
But this problem is being repeated around the country in several other states and is threatened in many more, so here is an Action Item where you can send a message to your local state legislators demanding No Restrictions on Nutritional Free Speech:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25929
--------------------
I TESTIFIED BEFORE THE ASSEMBLY
By Dian Freeman
I went to speak before the NJ Assembly Health and Senior Services committee Monday, September 15 th in opposition to their bill, A2933, which would make dieticians the sole purveyors of all food and nutrition information. The committee was chaired by one of the sponsors of the bill, Dr. Herb Conaway. His co-sponsor, Connie Wagner, was also present. Under bill A2933, existing practitioners will be banned from working, teaching or lecturing in the field of food, supplements, weight-Loss, or nutrition. (the senate has the same bill called S1941)
The Assembly bill A2933 was passed in committee and it next goes to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for another vote. They do not expect any opposition to it. If it passes in the Appropriations Committee the bill will next go to the whole Assembly for a final vote to be made law. This is projected to occur on October 23rd, barring any delays in passing it.
A similar bill was vetoed over 13 years ago by then Gov. Christie Whitman as being of no benefit to the citizens of New Jersey and because it would cost the state to monitor and to enforce it. If this bill passes the New Jersey voters will be denied their rights then taxed to pay for the enforcement of their loss of freedom.
In our testimonies to the committee on September 15 th it was obvious that they did not see us as opposition. We were simply insignificant to their greater plan which appears to be to push this bill through for the benefit of their special interest, i.e., the medical and pharmaceutical industries...
One of the dieticians read to a spellbound committee from quackwatch.com and said that it is time to let the people of NJ know by licensure of RDs just who are legitimate nutritionists and who are quacks. Her definition of a quack appeared to be anyone not trained as a dietician. She held a copy of and referred to the quack list from quackwatch.com, which must be true, she said, as it was written by a MD. She neglected to mention that the author of quack watch has lost his licensed and is no longer an MD and has been totally debunked and discredited by Ken Bolen (go to www.bolenreport.net).
Quack watch describes anyone who sells or recommends supplements is a quack. The listing is written by one who is defensive and threatened. It is not a list of one with reason. But, to be fair, it is hard to be reasonable about the benefits of drugs and surgery over the benefits of proper food, holistic balance and effective supplementation.
If you are not familiar with quack watch go and read the listing of who they will consider a quack. I am almost every one of them. And proud of it.
According to one of the dieticians who spoke in favor of bill A2933 (at length and uninterrupted), if one is not trained in food science yet claims to know anything about food then they should be prevented from counseling.
I told them I am not trained in science and proud of it. Food is nature, not science. Besides, science is not doing so well in the health area today. Look at their statistics. The Agence de France reported that an independent study in the UK concluded that the U.S comes in dead last in preventive medical care of all industrialized nations. The rates of heart disease and cancer have not improved one iota in spite of chemotherapy and drugging the vast majority of American adults with cholesterol lowering statin drugs. Obesity and diabetes are epidemic and have been growing steadily since the advent of the medically recommended pyramid and their low-fat, high-carb diet that was started about twenty years ago. This is the diet still recommended by dieticians in spite of its obvious failure.
The fact that natural practitioners are such strong competition to medical drugs and surgery is exhibited by the fact that they must license us out of business. This attests to the fact that natural practitioners and effective diet and supplements are having a great positive affect on the health of America.
It is apparent to me that we are not seen as competition to dieticians, who are basically untrained and benign, it was clear in the assembly meeting that we are seen as competition to medicine, to doctors and their drugs. My friends, they are running scared because traditional healing works.
Its time to make a stand, right here, right now in New Jersey the home of big pharma and the arrogance of those in the medical sciences who show a contempt for and disregard of the laws of nature. These are the natural laws, foods and practices that has seen humanity through tens of thousands of years without modern drugs and surgery
None-the-less the Assembly Committee with whom we met is hell-bent on making dieticians the sole source of information on food, food material, supplements, heath, diet, nutrition and weight-loss. Dieticians will not be allowed to recommend supplements beyond those few they have training in. They have as much training in supplements as a medical doctor will allow. They will not recommend organic or fresh local foods. They are sponsored by Wendy's, McDonalds, PepsiCo, etc. Those great purveyors of healthy eating.
Towards us, those who spoke in opposition to bill A2933, the committee chairman was dismissive, contentious and patronizing. We were interrupted, not permitted the time to complete a point we were making and many of the committee members even left the room while we gave our testimony on record This was disconcerting and distracting enough to make some of us leave our best points unsaid.
But, I now have the experience that taught me not to expect to be treated fairly and they will be unable to distract me again. I watched and now understand their game. And, I realized by their attitude that they underestimate the numbers we represented and they underestimate the number of voters who seek us out for help. They are out of touch with their constituency and the fact that thousands depend upon the free flow of natural health information to buy their supplements. The voters of New Jersey will not be happy with the legislators who vote to take free flowing health information away.
If these bills pass, I will inform the appropriations committee to expect that they will need to put on a lot more cops to enforce them. We have grown leaps and bounds in the last few years. Yes, lots of cops will be needed. The natural practitioners in Ohio were harassed and arrested. Long running family businesses were invaded and closed, lives were ruined and it took years to handle all the court cases. There are thousands more of us in New Jersey than there were in Ohio. It will be expensive for the state of New Jersey to enforce these bills.
These bills, as they have been interpreted in other states in which they passed, Ohio being one, would outlaw not only current practicing nutritionists and other natural practitioners but also will outlaw herbalists, acupuncturists, supplement representatives, yoga instructors, personal trainers, massage therapists, etc if they dare speak, teach, consult, practice or lecture about food, food products and nutrition...
The bill states that any one who speaks about weight-loss must have all their diets, claims and materials approved in writing from a dietician before they can continue their business of weight loss. Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig both told us that they have already switched over to dieticians as the authority to dictate their weight loss guidelines. Sure takes away the competitive edge doesn't it? They will all be alike…and just as ineffectual. No one will be able to educate the public about alternative diets like vegan, raw, macrobiotic, high protein, etc.
This bill even would exclude existing nutritionists from practicing. Two such men also spoke in opposition to this bill September 15th. A PhD of Orthomolecular Nutrition was told that his credentials would not be good enough. A doctor who is a Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist who has been in practice for 18 years told the committee that this bill would put him out of business (as it would naturopathic doctors, Ayurvedic doctors and all such practitioners). These men were told by the head of the New Jersey RD association that if they wanted to practice they could still do so just by taking the RD exam and by meeting all the other criteria including working a 900 hour residency supervised by a RD. This doctor was incensed and said he couldn't be out of work for six months to a year to meet that criteria of residency while being supervised by a RD and that there is nothing he could learn from an RD anyway. He said that an RD should be learning from him. And, from all of us, I might add. Anyway, he realized that he is in trouble if this bill passes. As are all Americans.
This is an issue of American freedom of speech and choice. Dr. Conaway and his committee would wish to legislate these away from us on the grounds of protecting us from our own choices.
Sandra Day O'Connor wrote the Supreme Court decision on this very topic in Thompson vs. Western States. She wrote:
“If the First Amendment means anything, it means that regulating speech must be a last - not first - resort. … We have previously rejected the notion that the Government has an interest in preventing the dissemination of truthful commercial information in order to prevent members of the public from making [even] bad decisions with the information.”
The “Registered Dietitian Licensing” Bills, A2933 and S 1941 ignore the Supreme Court and the constitution…
The proponents of these bills also argue that all professionals are licensed. Well that is a stretch but it is true many are. However, they are not licensed to exclude all competition. That is both unfair and unconstitutional. Doctors are licensed but other doctors still practice both licensed and unlicensed. There are doctors of chiropractic, homeopathy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, etc. The justifications for stealing our rights to create a medical monopoly just can’t hold water.
How you can help:
1. Contact all your friends, family, clients, students and ex-students and contact all ancillary businesses you can think of that depend upon free flowing information about natural health (including massage therapists, herbalists, health shops, small farmers, organic stores and farmers, crystal practitioners, reiki practitioners, vaccine activists, moms for health, etc. ) to tell them that we are organizing and uniting those who believe in the freedom to be able to continue to choose natural health care and natural products. Ask them to contact me so we can coordinate who is doing what. We will unite individual coalitions with common interests around this cause, Health Freedom.
We stand now, in New Jersey, to unite for the first time. Once and for all…
I see this attempt by Trenton to favor medical science over natural health care as a positive move for the natural health industry. It is a great opportunity for the various natural health fields and businesses to unite and make our presence and our vast numbers known. We have strength in the truth of nature, our constitutional rights, our God given rights and in reason. Now, we will show them our strength in numbers.
Ask all the people that you know who can help us in this cause to contact me if they will march on Trenton with us when this bill comes to a vote in the Assembly. I need names and numbers of those who will commit. We will not plan a march unless we have the commitment of thousands. Please send me your commitment.
2. Contact all your friends, clients, students and ancillary businesses that depend upon free flowing information about natural health to contact me as to the town/district they live in. I need a person or as many persons I can get from each district who will be wiling to go with me to visit their assemblymen to lobby.
3. Contact all your friends, clients, students and ancillary businesses that depend upon free flowing information about natural health to contact me if they can write or take one of the many editorials I have written as their own to inundate the news media with them. Every soul living in NJ must be made aware of the fact that this bill will lead to a ban of all natural health info as it has in the states where is has already passed. The businesses that depend upon free flowing health info will have a decrease in business until they fade away from lack of business. We will be singing, "Where have all the health shops gone?"
Most of the sponsors of these bills are either MDs or work in the medical/pharma industries. Certainly that fact alone gives these bills the appearance of impropriety. Our legislators are forming a medical monopoly on information.
Next, we go district by district exposing these legislators to their voters in this election year and those of the future. Again, NJ voters will not like legislators restricting their food and supplements information.
4. Contact all representatives and manufacturers of supplements and ask them to alert their client and to contact me to coordinate. Ask them to also contact their friends to get on board with this movement and do what they can to help us with information, numbers of people who will march or volunteer and with donations.
5. Make a list for me and ask those who will help us to make a list of all the businesses that support the natural health field and are dependant upon free flowing exchange of natural information for the continuation of their businesses. Ask all representatives of organizations to contact me, for example, personal trainers, yoga instructors, cooking schools, people who have food or supplement businesses in their homes, etc. It is time for the big and small to unite right now. Small practitioners have rights too. All supplement distributors need to be validated as having a right to exist, a right to speak, a right to share information and experiences and a right to choose your own health modalities, including supplements.
Please contact your people by forwarding this email to as many as you can and by following the Emails up with a call. Call all those you know who do not have Email.
Send everyone to www.AmericansRightToBeInformed.com to sign the petition and go on the alert list.
We also need ideas, we need volunteers, we need people to take off from work to march to Trenton with us, we need support in numbers and funds from foundations, organizations and manufacturers.
We need all this quickly. The Assembly will probably vote on this bill, A2933, on the 23rd of October. The senate will be back in session October 2nd and we will not know until then the status of how they will handle their identical bill, S1941. I will keep you posted. Thank you for your support….D.
Thank you for your support….D.
From: Dian Freeman, M.A.
Certified in Clinical Nutrition, Holistic Health, Applied Kinesiology and Biofeedback
Doctoral Candidate in Medical Humanities, Drew University
Morristown, NJ
973) 267-4816
www.DianCenterforHealth.com
If you are from NJ you can contact your legislators here:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp
But this problem is being repeated around the country in several other states and is threatened in many more, so here is an Action Item where you can send a message to your local state legislators demanding No Restrictions on Nutritional Free Speech:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25929
--------------------
I TESTIFIED BEFORE THE ASSEMBLY
By Dian Freeman
I went to speak before the NJ Assembly Health and Senior Services committee Monday, September 15 th in opposition to their bill, A2933, which would make dieticians the sole purveyors of all food and nutrition information. The committee was chaired by one of the sponsors of the bill, Dr. Herb Conaway. His co-sponsor, Connie Wagner, was also present. Under bill A2933, existing practitioners will be banned from working, teaching or lecturing in the field of food, supplements, weight-Loss, or nutrition. (the senate has the same bill called S1941)
The Assembly bill A2933 was passed in committee and it next goes to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for another vote. They do not expect any opposition to it. If it passes in the Appropriations Committee the bill will next go to the whole Assembly for a final vote to be made law. This is projected to occur on October 23rd, barring any delays in passing it.
A similar bill was vetoed over 13 years ago by then Gov. Christie Whitman as being of no benefit to the citizens of New Jersey and because it would cost the state to monitor and to enforce it. If this bill passes the New Jersey voters will be denied their rights then taxed to pay for the enforcement of their loss of freedom.
In our testimonies to the committee on September 15 th it was obvious that they did not see us as opposition. We were simply insignificant to their greater plan which appears to be to push this bill through for the benefit of their special interest, i.e., the medical and pharmaceutical industries...
One of the dieticians read to a spellbound committee from quackwatch.com and said that it is time to let the people of NJ know by licensure of RDs just who are legitimate nutritionists and who are quacks. Her definition of a quack appeared to be anyone not trained as a dietician. She held a copy of and referred to the quack list from quackwatch.com, which must be true, she said, as it was written by a MD. She neglected to mention that the author of quack watch has lost his licensed and is no longer an MD and has been totally debunked and discredited by Ken Bolen (go to www.bolenreport.net).
Quack watch describes anyone who sells or recommends supplements is a quack. The listing is written by one who is defensive and threatened. It is not a list of one with reason. But, to be fair, it is hard to be reasonable about the benefits of drugs and surgery over the benefits of proper food, holistic balance and effective supplementation.
If you are not familiar with quack watch go and read the listing of who they will consider a quack. I am almost every one of them. And proud of it.
According to one of the dieticians who spoke in favor of bill A2933 (at length and uninterrupted), if one is not trained in food science yet claims to know anything about food then they should be prevented from counseling.
I told them I am not trained in science and proud of it. Food is nature, not science. Besides, science is not doing so well in the health area today. Look at their statistics. The Agence de France reported that an independent study in the UK concluded that the U.S comes in dead last in preventive medical care of all industrialized nations. The rates of heart disease and cancer have not improved one iota in spite of chemotherapy and drugging the vast majority of American adults with cholesterol lowering statin drugs. Obesity and diabetes are epidemic and have been growing steadily since the advent of the medically recommended pyramid and their low-fat, high-carb diet that was started about twenty years ago. This is the diet still recommended by dieticians in spite of its obvious failure.
The fact that natural practitioners are such strong competition to medical drugs and surgery is exhibited by the fact that they must license us out of business. This attests to the fact that natural practitioners and effective diet and supplements are having a great positive affect on the health of America.
It is apparent to me that we are not seen as competition to dieticians, who are basically untrained and benign, it was clear in the assembly meeting that we are seen as competition to medicine, to doctors and their drugs. My friends, they are running scared because traditional healing works.
Its time to make a stand, right here, right now in New Jersey the home of big pharma and the arrogance of those in the medical sciences who show a contempt for and disregard of the laws of nature. These are the natural laws, foods and practices that has seen humanity through tens of thousands of years without modern drugs and surgery
None-the-less the Assembly Committee with whom we met is hell-bent on making dieticians the sole source of information on food, food material, supplements, heath, diet, nutrition and weight-loss. Dieticians will not be allowed to recommend supplements beyond those few they have training in. They have as much training in supplements as a medical doctor will allow. They will not recommend organic or fresh local foods. They are sponsored by Wendy's, McDonalds, PepsiCo, etc. Those great purveyors of healthy eating.
Towards us, those who spoke in opposition to bill A2933, the committee chairman was dismissive, contentious and patronizing. We were interrupted, not permitted the time to complete a point we were making and many of the committee members even left the room while we gave our testimony on record This was disconcerting and distracting enough to make some of us leave our best points unsaid.
But, I now have the experience that taught me not to expect to be treated fairly and they will be unable to distract me again. I watched and now understand their game. And, I realized by their attitude that they underestimate the numbers we represented and they underestimate the number of voters who seek us out for help. They are out of touch with their constituency and the fact that thousands depend upon the free flow of natural health information to buy their supplements. The voters of New Jersey will not be happy with the legislators who vote to take free flowing health information away.
If these bills pass, I will inform the appropriations committee to expect that they will need to put on a lot more cops to enforce them. We have grown leaps and bounds in the last few years. Yes, lots of cops will be needed. The natural practitioners in Ohio were harassed and arrested. Long running family businesses were invaded and closed, lives were ruined and it took years to handle all the court cases. There are thousands more of us in New Jersey than there were in Ohio. It will be expensive for the state of New Jersey to enforce these bills.
These bills, as they have been interpreted in other states in which they passed, Ohio being one, would outlaw not only current practicing nutritionists and other natural practitioners but also will outlaw herbalists, acupuncturists, supplement representatives, yoga instructors, personal trainers, massage therapists, etc if they dare speak, teach, consult, practice or lecture about food, food products and nutrition...
The bill states that any one who speaks about weight-loss must have all their diets, claims and materials approved in writing from a dietician before they can continue their business of weight loss. Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig both told us that they have already switched over to dieticians as the authority to dictate their weight loss guidelines. Sure takes away the competitive edge doesn't it? They will all be alike…and just as ineffectual. No one will be able to educate the public about alternative diets like vegan, raw, macrobiotic, high protein, etc.
This bill even would exclude existing nutritionists from practicing. Two such men also spoke in opposition to this bill September 15th. A PhD of Orthomolecular Nutrition was told that his credentials would not be good enough. A doctor who is a Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist who has been in practice for 18 years told the committee that this bill would put him out of business (as it would naturopathic doctors, Ayurvedic doctors and all such practitioners). These men were told by the head of the New Jersey RD association that if they wanted to practice they could still do so just by taking the RD exam and by meeting all the other criteria including working a 900 hour residency supervised by a RD. This doctor was incensed and said he couldn't be out of work for six months to a year to meet that criteria of residency while being supervised by a RD and that there is nothing he could learn from an RD anyway. He said that an RD should be learning from him. And, from all of us, I might add. Anyway, he realized that he is in trouble if this bill passes. As are all Americans.
This is an issue of American freedom of speech and choice. Dr. Conaway and his committee would wish to legislate these away from us on the grounds of protecting us from our own choices.
Sandra Day O'Connor wrote the Supreme Court decision on this very topic in Thompson vs. Western States. She wrote:
“If the First Amendment means anything, it means that regulating speech must be a last - not first - resort. … We have previously rejected the notion that the Government has an interest in preventing the dissemination of truthful commercial information in order to prevent members of the public from making [even] bad decisions with the information.”
The “Registered Dietitian Licensing” Bills, A2933 and S 1941 ignore the Supreme Court and the constitution…
The proponents of these bills also argue that all professionals are licensed. Well that is a stretch but it is true many are. However, they are not licensed to exclude all competition. That is both unfair and unconstitutional. Doctors are licensed but other doctors still practice both licensed and unlicensed. There are doctors of chiropractic, homeopathy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, etc. The justifications for stealing our rights to create a medical monopoly just can’t hold water.
How you can help:
1. Contact all your friends, family, clients, students and ex-students and contact all ancillary businesses you can think of that depend upon free flowing information about natural health (including massage therapists, herbalists, health shops, small farmers, organic stores and farmers, crystal practitioners, reiki practitioners, vaccine activists, moms for health, etc. ) to tell them that we are organizing and uniting those who believe in the freedom to be able to continue to choose natural health care and natural products. Ask them to contact me so we can coordinate who is doing what. We will unite individual coalitions with common interests around this cause, Health Freedom.
We stand now, in New Jersey, to unite for the first time. Once and for all…
I see this attempt by Trenton to favor medical science over natural health care as a positive move for the natural health industry. It is a great opportunity for the various natural health fields and businesses to unite and make our presence and our vast numbers known. We have strength in the truth of nature, our constitutional rights, our God given rights and in reason. Now, we will show them our strength in numbers.
Ask all the people that you know who can help us in this cause to contact me if they will march on Trenton with us when this bill comes to a vote in the Assembly. I need names and numbers of those who will commit. We will not plan a march unless we have the commitment of thousands. Please send me your commitment.
2. Contact all your friends, clients, students and ancillary businesses that depend upon free flowing information about natural health to contact me as to the town/district they live in. I need a person or as many persons I can get from each district who will be wiling to go with me to visit their assemblymen to lobby.
3. Contact all your friends, clients, students and ancillary businesses that depend upon free flowing information about natural health to contact me if they can write or take one of the many editorials I have written as their own to inundate the news media with them. Every soul living in NJ must be made aware of the fact that this bill will lead to a ban of all natural health info as it has in the states where is has already passed. The businesses that depend upon free flowing health info will have a decrease in business until they fade away from lack of business. We will be singing, "Where have all the health shops gone?"
Most of the sponsors of these bills are either MDs or work in the medical/pharma industries. Certainly that fact alone gives these bills the appearance of impropriety. Our legislators are forming a medical monopoly on information.
Next, we go district by district exposing these legislators to their voters in this election year and those of the future. Again, NJ voters will not like legislators restricting their food and supplements information.
4. Contact all representatives and manufacturers of supplements and ask them to alert their client and to contact me to coordinate. Ask them to also contact their friends to get on board with this movement and do what they can to help us with information, numbers of people who will march or volunteer and with donations.
5. Make a list for me and ask those who will help us to make a list of all the businesses that support the natural health field and are dependant upon free flowing exchange of natural information for the continuation of their businesses. Ask all representatives of organizations to contact me, for example, personal trainers, yoga instructors, cooking schools, people who have food or supplement businesses in their homes, etc. It is time for the big and small to unite right now. Small practitioners have rights too. All supplement distributors need to be validated as having a right to exist, a right to speak, a right to share information and experiences and a right to choose your own health modalities, including supplements.
Please contact your people by forwarding this email to as many as you can and by following the Emails up with a call. Call all those you know who do not have Email.
Send everyone to www.AmericansRightToBeInformed.com to sign the petition and go on the alert list.
We also need ideas, we need volunteers, we need people to take off from work to march to Trenton with us, we need support in numbers and funds from foundations, organizations and manufacturers.
We need all this quickly. The Assembly will probably vote on this bill, A2933, on the 23rd of October. The senate will be back in session October 2nd and we will not know until then the status of how they will handle their identical bill, S1941. I will keep you posted. Thank you for your support….D.
Thank you for your support….D.
From: Dian Freeman, M.A.
Certified in Clinical Nutrition, Holistic Health, Applied Kinesiology and Biofeedback
Doctoral Candidate in Medical Humanities, Drew University
Morristown, NJ
973) 267-4816
www.DianCenterforHealth.com
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
NJ Dietitians Attack Health Freedom
09/19/08 - UPDATE: NJ Assembly vote postponed until October (6th or 23rd). Maybe it was the 1,000 person parade permit requested from the Trenton PD! Return here for updates & new rally date.
Take Action in all States: tell your Legislators to oppose all restrictions on Nutritional Free Speech:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25929
--------------
Just Say NO to Restrictions on Nutritional Free Speech
Once again, dietitians are seeking a monopoly on speech about nutrition. Although then NJ Governor Christy Todd Whitman vetoed the nutritionist's certification bill in the late '90s, they are at it again, seeking to forbid anyone but themselves speaking about nutrition.
Remember, the US Supreme Court held as recently as 2002 (in Thompson v Western States) that "If the First Amendment means anything, it means that regulating speech must be a last - not first - resort. ... We have previously rejected the notion that the Government has an interest in preventing the dissemination of truthful commercial information in order to prevent members of the public from making bad decisions with the information."
Such a monopoly would be illegal if adopted, and no doubt result in litigation. So why is the State seriously considering this step? Read our guest blogger below,
From: Dian Freeman
Date: Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 6:38 PM
Subject: NJ Bill Alert- I went to the Assembly meeting-They called us quacks
To: ralph.fucetola@usa.net
Hi Ralph, I wanted to remind you about the bill proposed in the NJ Legislature. It is called A2933 in the Assembly and S1941 in the Senate. It will do for the pharmaceutical companies what codex is not doing. They will not need codex any more if they pass this bill. It will disallow all dialogue on natural products and health methods from any source but from dietitians who are not trained in any of them and who are nothing but the mouthpiece of the medical establishment. They receive millions each year from their sponsors from the fast food industry. Some of their sponsors are McDonalds, Taco Bell, Pepsico, Crisco, etc.
Lets stop it right here and right now. Please try to rally people join us and consider joining us for a freedom march on Trenton next week, Thursday at 8am…bring music. Lets party in front of the state house. This is my latest alert:
Hi all, I went to speak before the NJ Assembly committee yesterday, Monday, in opposition to their bill A2933 which would make dietitians the sole purveyors on all food and nutrition information. The committee was chaired by one of the sponsors of the bill, Dr. Herb Conaway. Under bill A2933, existing practitioners, even naturally trained doctors, will be banned from working in the field of food or nutrition.
It was passed in committee and next goes to the Assembly Floor for vote. They do not expect any opposition to it. In our testimonies to the committee yesterday it was plain that they did not see us as opposition. We were simply insignificant to their greater plan which appears to be to push this bill through for the benefit of their special interest, i.e., the medical and pharmaceutical industries..
THEY CALLED US ALL QUACKS
The head of the dietitians in NJ read from quackwatch.com and said that it is time to let the people of NJ know by licensure of RDs just who are legitimate nutritionists and who are quacks. Her definition of a quack is anyone not trained as a dietitian. She held a copy of and referred to the quack list from quackwatch.com, which must be "true," she said, as it was written by a MD. [Note from R Fucetola: for the real story about the quackwatch gang, take a look at Tim Bolen's www.bolenreport.net -- these people have an agenda that always supports Big Pharma and always denigrates Health Freedom.]
It says that anyone who sells or recommends supplements is a quack. The listing is written by one who is defensive and threatened. It is not a list of one with reason. But, to be fair, it is hard to be reasonable about the benefits of drugs and surgery over the benefits of proper food, holistic balance and effective supplementation.
If you are not familiar with quack watch then go and read the listing of who they will consider a quack. I am almost every one of them. And proud of it.
According to the head of NJ dietitians who spoke yesterday, in length (uninterrupted) if one is not trained in food science yet claims <> <> <> <> <> <> <> to know anything about food, then, they are a quack. I told them I am not trained in science and proud of it. Food is nature, not science. Besides, science is not doing so well in the health area today. Look at their stats. Attached are a few attachments I included with my testimony yesterday. Copy them and pass them out. You may <> <> delete my heading and put yours. I don't care, just remember them and use them.
The fact that we are such strong competition to their drugs and surgery is exhibited by the fact that they must license us into oblivion and off this earth. This attests to the fact that we are having a great positive affect on the health of America. Good for us. We are not seen as competition to dietitians, they are basically untrained and benign, it was clear yesterday that we are seen as competition to medicine. To doctors and their drugs.
My friends, they are running scared. I say, let's chase them!
Its time to make a stand, right here right now in New Jersey the home of big pharma and paramount in arrogance of those in the medical sciences who show a contempt for and disregard of the laws of nature..
The Assembly Committee with whom we met is hell-bent on making dietitians the sole source of information on food, food material, supplements, heath, diet, nutrition and weight-loss. They passed bill A2933 to be forwarded to the entire Assembly for final vote on Thursday, September 25th.
Towards us, they were dismissive, contentious and patronizing. We were interrupted, not permitted the time to complete a point we were making and many of the committee members even left the room while those of us who are opposed to this bill gave our testimony on record . They underestimate the numbers we represented. They underestimate the number of people who seek us out for help.
This bill would outlaw not only current practicing nutritionists and other natural practitioners but also will outlaw herbalists, acupuncturists, supplement representatives, yoga instructors, personal trainers, massage therapists, etc if they dare speak, teach, consult, practice or lecture about food, food products and nutrition...
It states in the bill, explicitly, that no one but a registered dietician can speak about food or food materials, nutrition, supplements, diet or weight-loss. It will be hard for a massage therapist or a personal trainer to do their job without speaking on food and energy supplements. It will be pretty hard for anyone, even weight-watchers, to do their job without speaking about food and weight-loss. The bill states that they will have to have all their claims and materials approved in writing from a dietitian before that can continue their business of weight loss.
This bill even would exclude existing nutritionists from practicing. Two such men also spoke in opposition to this bill yesterday. A PhD of Orthomolecular Nutrition was told that his credentials would not be good enough. A doctor who is a Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist who has been in practice for 18 years told the committee that this bill would put him out of business (as it would naturopathic doctors, Ayurvedic doctors and all such practitioners).
These men were told by the head of the New Jersey RD association that if they wanted to practice they could still do so just by taking the RD exam and by meeting all the other criteria including working a 900 hour residency supervised by a RD. This doctor was incensed and said he couldn't be out of work for six months to a year to meet that criteria of residency while being supervised by a RD and that there is nothing he could learn from an RD anyway. He said that an RD should be learning from him. And, from all of us, I might add. Anyway, he realized that he is in trouble if this bill passes. As is all America.
This is an issue of American freedom of speech and choice. Dr. Conaway and his committee would wish to legislate these from us.
WHAT I NEED FROM YOU IS:
1. For you to contact all your friends, clients, students and ex-students and contact all ancillary businesses you can think of that depends upon free flowing information about natural health (including massage therapists, herbalists, health shops, small farmers, organic stores and farmers, crystal practitioners, reiki practitioners, vaccine activists, moms for health, etc. ) to tell them that we are organizing and uniting those who believe in the freedom to be able to continue to choose natural health care and natural products. Ask them to contact me so we can coordinate who is doing what.
We stand now, in New Jersey, to unite for the first time. Once and for all…
I believe this is the time to assert our legitimacy and make ourselves known as a united group who believes in the American right to free speech, to be informed and to do business. I see this attempt by Trenton to favor medical science over natural health care as a positive. It is a great opportunity for the various natural health fields and industries to unite and make our presence and our vast numbers known. We have strength in the truth of nature, our constitutional rights, our God given rights and in reason. Now, we must show them our strength in numbers.
Ask all you think can help us in this cause to contact me if they will march on Trenton with us when this bill comes to a vote in the Assembly on the 25th. I will try today to get a permit for that day. I need names and numbers of those who will commit. We must have thousands of people. We will not plan a march unless we have the commitment of thousands. Send me your commitment.
2. Contact all your friends, clients, students and ancillary businesses that depend upon free flowing information about natural health to contact me as to the town/district they live in. I need access to their representatives and I need a person or as many persons I can get from each district who will be wiling to go with me to visit their assemblymen to lobby.
3. Contact all your friends, clients, students and ancillary businesses that depend upon free flowing information about natural health to contact me as to the town/district they live in. I need those who will write or take one of the many editorials I have written as their own to inundate the news media with them. Every soul living in NJ needs to be made aware of the fact that this bill will lead to a total ban of all natural health info. The businesses that depend upon free flowing health info will have a decrease in business until they fade away from lack of business. This appears to be the true intent of this effort by the medical/pharma industries. The sponsors of these bill are either MDs or work in the medical/pharma industries. Certainly that fact alone gives the bills the appearance of impropriety. Next, we will go district by district exposing these legislators to their voters. .
4. Contact all reps and manufacturers of supplements and ask them to contact me. I wish to ask them to contact their friend and client list to get on board with this movement and do what they can to help us with information, numbers of people who will march or volunteer and with donations. I wish to hire a professional lobbyist and sue the pants off that president of the dietitians association for slander. Her words are a matter of record in an assembly committee in the form of testimony. She lied in her testimony many times. She told "stories" about the people she knows who went to hospitals from taking supplements. And one who went into kidney failure from supplements. I would like to have her prove that case in court or issue a statement apologizing for her slander.
Dietitians will not be allowed to recommend supplements beyond those few they have training in. They have as much training in supplements as a medical doctor will allow. They will not recommend organic or fresh local foods. They are sponsored by Wendy's, McDonalds, PepsiCo, etc.
5. Make a list for me and ask those who will help us to make a list of all the businesses that support the natural health field and are dependent upon free flowing exchange of natural information for the continuation of their businesses. Ask all representatives of organizations to contact me, for example, personal trainers, yoga instructors, cooking schools, people who have food or supplement businesses in their homes, etc.
We need the big and small to unite right now. You small practitioners have rights too. You and supplement distributors need to be validated as having a right to exist, a right to speak, a right to share information and experiences and a right to choose your own health modalities, including supplements.
A dietitian, even if renamed by this bill as a nutritionist, will not be allowed to and will not have the training to recommend other natural health modalities. They, like doctors will teach the public that we are quacks. The president of the NJ Dietitians Association brought a copy of quack watch and read passages. Anyone who is not a dietitian will be designated, legally, as quacks - if they dare to speak about food, nutrition, etc.
Please contact your people by forwarding this email to as many as you can and by following the Emails up with a call. Call all those you know who do not have Email.
We also need ideas, we need volunteers, we need people to take off from work to march to Trenton with us (otherwise they may not have a job in the future), we need support in numbers and funds from foundations, organizations and manufacturers. We need all this quickly. The Assembly will vote on this bill, A2933, on the 25th of this month. The senate will be back in session October 2nd and we will not know until then the status of how they will handle their identical bill, S1941. I will keep you posted.
Thank you for your support….D.
Take Action in all States: tell your Legislators to oppose all restrictions on Nutritional Free Speech:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25929
--------------
Just Say NO to Restrictions on Nutritional Free Speech
Once again, dietitians are seeking a monopoly on speech about nutrition. Although then NJ Governor Christy Todd Whitman vetoed the nutritionist's certification bill in the late '90s, they are at it again, seeking to forbid anyone but themselves speaking about nutrition.
Remember, the US Supreme Court held as recently as 2002 (in Thompson v Western States) that "If the First Amendment means anything, it means that regulating speech must be a last - not first - resort. ... We have previously rejected the notion that the Government has an interest in preventing the dissemination of truthful commercial information in order to prevent members of the public from making bad decisions with the information."
Such a monopoly would be illegal if adopted, and no doubt result in litigation. So why is the State seriously considering this step? Read our guest blogger below,
From: Dian Freeman
Date: Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 6:38 PM
Subject: NJ Bill Alert- I went to the Assembly meeting-They called us quacks
To: ralph.fucetola@usa.net
Hi Ralph, I wanted to remind you about the bill proposed in the NJ Legislature. It is called A2933 in the Assembly and S1941 in the Senate. It will do for the pharmaceutical companies what codex is not doing. They will not need codex any more if they pass this bill. It will disallow all dialogue on natural products and health methods from any source but from dietitians who are not trained in any of them and who are nothing but the mouthpiece of the medical establishment. They receive millions each year from their sponsors from the fast food industry. Some of their sponsors are McDonalds, Taco Bell, Pepsico, Crisco, etc.
Lets stop it right here and right now. Please try to rally people join us and consider joining us for a freedom march on Trenton next week, Thursday at 8am…bring music. Lets party in front of the state house. This is my latest alert:
Hi all, I went to speak before the NJ Assembly committee yesterday, Monday, in opposition to their bill A2933 which would make dietitians the sole purveyors on all food and nutrition information. The committee was chaired by one of the sponsors of the bill, Dr. Herb Conaway. Under bill A2933, existing practitioners, even naturally trained doctors, will be banned from working in the field of food or nutrition.
It was passed in committee and next goes to the Assembly Floor for vote. They do not expect any opposition to it. In our testimonies to the committee yesterday it was plain that they did not see us as opposition. We were simply insignificant to their greater plan which appears to be to push this bill through for the benefit of their special interest, i.e., the medical and pharmaceutical industries..
THEY CALLED US ALL QUACKS
The head of the dietitians in NJ read from quackwatch.com and said that it is time to let the people of NJ know by licensure of RDs just who are legitimate nutritionists and who are quacks. Her definition of a quack is anyone not trained as a dietitian. She held a copy of and referred to the quack list from quackwatch.com, which must be "true," she said, as it was written by a MD. [Note from R Fucetola: for the real story about the quackwatch gang, take a look at Tim Bolen's www.bolenreport.net -- these people have an agenda that always supports Big Pharma and always denigrates Health Freedom.]
It says that anyone who sells or recommends supplements is a quack. The listing is written by one who is defensive and threatened. It is not a list of one with reason. But, to be fair, it is hard to be reasonable about the benefits of drugs and surgery over the benefits of proper food, holistic balance and effective supplementation.
If you are not familiar with quack watch then go and read the listing of who they will consider a quack. I am almost every one of them. And proud of it.
According to the head of NJ dietitians who spoke yesterday, in length (uninterrupted) if one is not trained in food science yet claims <
The fact that we are such strong competition to their drugs and surgery is exhibited by the fact that they must license us into oblivion and off this earth. This attests to the fact that we are having a great positive affect on the health of America. Good for us. We are not seen as competition to dietitians, they are basically untrained and benign, it was clear yesterday that we are seen as competition to medicine. To doctors and their drugs.
My friends, they are running scared. I say, let's chase them!
Its time to make a stand, right here right now in New Jersey the home of big pharma and paramount in arrogance of those in the medical sciences who show a contempt for and disregard of the laws of nature..
The Assembly Committee with whom we met is hell-bent on making dietitians the sole source of information on food, food material, supplements, heath, diet, nutrition and weight-loss. They passed bill A2933 to be forwarded to the entire Assembly for final vote on Thursday, September 25th.
Towards us, they were dismissive, contentious and patronizing. We were interrupted, not permitted the time to complete a point we were making and many of the committee members even left the room while those of us who are opposed to this bill gave our testimony on record . They underestimate the numbers we represented. They underestimate the number of people who seek us out for help.
This bill would outlaw not only current practicing nutritionists and other natural practitioners but also will outlaw herbalists, acupuncturists, supplement representatives, yoga instructors, personal trainers, massage therapists, etc if they dare speak, teach, consult, practice or lecture about food, food products and nutrition...
It states in the bill, explicitly, that no one but a registered dietician can speak about food or food materials, nutrition, supplements, diet or weight-loss. It will be hard for a massage therapist or a personal trainer to do their job without speaking on food and energy supplements. It will be pretty hard for anyone, even weight-watchers, to do their job without speaking about food and weight-loss. The bill states that they will have to have all their claims and materials approved in writing from a dietitian before that can continue their business of weight loss.
This bill even would exclude existing nutritionists from practicing. Two such men also spoke in opposition to this bill yesterday. A PhD of Orthomolecular Nutrition was told that his credentials would not be good enough. A doctor who is a Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist who has been in practice for 18 years told the committee that this bill would put him out of business (as it would naturopathic doctors, Ayurvedic doctors and all such practitioners).
These men were told by the head of the New Jersey RD association that if they wanted to practice they could still do so just by taking the RD exam and by meeting all the other criteria including working a 900 hour residency supervised by a RD. This doctor was incensed and said he couldn't be out of work for six months to a year to meet that criteria of residency while being supervised by a RD and that there is nothing he could learn from an RD anyway. He said that an RD should be learning from him. And, from all of us, I might add. Anyway, he realized that he is in trouble if this bill passes. As is all America.
This is an issue of American freedom of speech and choice. Dr. Conaway and his committee would wish to legislate these from us.
WHAT I NEED FROM YOU IS:
1. For you to contact all your friends, clients, students and ex-students and contact all ancillary businesses you can think of that depends upon free flowing information about natural health (including massage therapists, herbalists, health shops, small farmers, organic stores and farmers, crystal practitioners, reiki practitioners, vaccine activists, moms for health, etc. ) to tell them that we are organizing and uniting those who believe in the freedom to be able to continue to choose natural health care and natural products. Ask them to contact me so we can coordinate who is doing what.
We stand now, in New Jersey, to unite for the first time. Once and for all…
I believe this is the time to assert our legitimacy and make ourselves known as a united group who believes in the American right to free speech, to be informed and to do business. I see this attempt by Trenton to favor medical science over natural health care as a positive. It is a great opportunity for the various natural health fields and industries to unite and make our presence and our vast numbers known. We have strength in the truth of nature, our constitutional rights, our God given rights and in reason. Now, we must show them our strength in numbers.
Ask all you think can help us in this cause to contact me if they will march on Trenton with us when this bill comes to a vote in the Assembly on the 25th. I will try today to get a permit for that day. I need names and numbers of those who will commit. We must have thousands of people. We will not plan a march unless we have the commitment of thousands. Send me your commitment.
2. Contact all your friends, clients, students and ancillary businesses that depend upon free flowing information about natural health to contact me as to the town/district they live in. I need access to their representatives and I need a person or as many persons I can get from each district who will be wiling to go with me to visit their assemblymen to lobby.
3. Contact all your friends, clients, students and ancillary businesses that depend upon free flowing information about natural health to contact me as to the town/district they live in. I need those who will write or take one of the many editorials I have written as their own to inundate the news media with them. Every soul living in NJ needs to be made aware of the fact that this bill will lead to a total ban of all natural health info. The businesses that depend upon free flowing health info will have a decrease in business until they fade away from lack of business. This appears to be the true intent of this effort by the medical/pharma industries. The sponsors of these bill are either MDs or work in the medical/pharma industries. Certainly that fact alone gives the bills the appearance of impropriety. Next, we will go district by district exposing these legislators to their voters. .
4. Contact all reps and manufacturers of supplements and ask them to contact me. I wish to ask them to contact their friend and client list to get on board with this movement and do what they can to help us with information, numbers of people who will march or volunteer and with donations. I wish to hire a professional lobbyist and sue the pants off that president of the dietitians association for slander. Her words are a matter of record in an assembly committee in the form of testimony. She lied in her testimony many times. She told "stories" about the people she knows who went to hospitals from taking supplements. And one who went into kidney failure from supplements. I would like to have her prove that case in court or issue a statement apologizing for her slander.
Dietitians will not be allowed to recommend supplements beyond those few they have training in. They have as much training in supplements as a medical doctor will allow. They will not recommend organic or fresh local foods. They are sponsored by Wendy's, McDonalds, PepsiCo, etc.
5. Make a list for me and ask those who will help us to make a list of all the businesses that support the natural health field and are dependent upon free flowing exchange of natural information for the continuation of their businesses. Ask all representatives of organizations to contact me, for example, personal trainers, yoga instructors, cooking schools, people who have food or supplement businesses in their homes, etc.
We need the big and small to unite right now. You small practitioners have rights too. You and supplement distributors need to be validated as having a right to exist, a right to speak, a right to share information and experiences and a right to choose your own health modalities, including supplements.
A dietitian, even if renamed by this bill as a nutritionist, will not be allowed to and will not have the training to recommend other natural health modalities. They, like doctors will teach the public that we are quacks. The president of the NJ Dietitians Association brought a copy of quack watch and read passages. Anyone who is not a dietitian will be designated, legally, as quacks - if they dare to speak about food, nutrition, etc.
Please contact your people by forwarding this email to as many as you can and by following the Emails up with a call. Call all those you know who do not have Email.
We also need ideas, we need volunteers, we need people to take off from work to march to Trenton with us (otherwise they may not have a job in the future), we need support in numbers and funds from foundations, organizations and manufacturers. We need all this quickly. The Assembly will vote on this bill, A2933, on the 25th of this month. The senate will be back in session October 2nd and we will not know until then the status of how they will handle their identical bill, S1941. I will keep you posted.
Thank you for your support….D.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Dennis Kuchinich - Defending the People's Right to Know - GMOs
UPDATE:
Please Click Here: Action Step on Kuchinch Bills.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25920
At a minimum true Health Freedom requires the free flow of truthful and not misleading information about these matters of personal concern. That's why Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote in Thompson v. Western States Medical Center, decided on April 29, 2002 - 535 U.S. 357:
"If the First Amendment means anything, it means that regulating speech must be a last - not first - resort."
"We have previously rejected the notion that the Government has an interest in preventing the dissemination of truthful commercial information in order to prevent members of the public from making bad decisions with the information."
"Even if the Government did argue that it had an interest in preventing misleading advertisements, this interest could be satisfied by the far less restrictive alternative of requiring ... a warning that the [product] had not undergone FDA testing and that its risks were unknown."
Without such free and open access to commercial information, part of the Free Speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution for the united States of America, we are not adults making decisions about our own bodies and health, but rather supplicants begging political and medical high priests for permission to live.
So it is with Food as it is with all such matters. Without truthful and not misleading information about the Food offered to us on the marketplace, we cannot be free consumers.
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are novel bacteria, fungi, yeasts, plants and animals, created by genetic engineering and cross-species manipulation, not produced by the slower and millennia-proven procedures of breeding and hybridization. These new products with their novel proteins and unknown threats offer a clear example of the need to apply what is called the Precautionary Principle: do not do what may cause unintended and unpredictable consequences.
Rather than apply that rational principle, the US FDA, supported by executive orders, "deems" GMO products safe and does not require GMO labeling. It goes one step further, forbidding, against the Thompson Doctrine, "GMO Free" labeling!
Earlier this year, despite US demands at Codex Alimentarius (World Food Code) meetings that GMO labeling be removed from the agenda, thereby permitting international trade in unlabeled GMO products, the Europeans and informal Coalition of Health Conscious Nations rebelled, refusing to remove GMO labeling from the agenda. At the same time, Codex's parent organizations, WHO and FAO announced that it was necessary to be able to trace GMO ingredients, in case they cause harm, and such traceability, of course, requires labeling...
See Natural Solutions Foundation's reports on GMO issues at: www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=729
http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=723
Earlier this week Congressman Dennis Kuchinch Congressman introduced three bills designed to protect consumers, defend farmers' rights, and increase food safety.
• H.R. 6636, The Genetically Engineered Food Right To Know Act, would require mandatory labeling of all foods that contain or are produced with GM material.
• H.R. 6635, The Genetically Engineered Safety Act, would require that GE foods follow a food safety review process to prevent contamination of food supplies by pharmaceutical and industrial crops. This Act would also require that the FDA screen all GE foods to ensure they are safe for human consumption.
• H.R. 6637, The Genetically Engineered Farmer Protection Act, places liability from the impacts of GM crops on the biotechnology companies that created the GMOs, and protects farmers from lawsuits by biotechnology companies.
www.Kucinich.us
I sent the following email to Congressman Kuchinich's Legislative Aide:
"Dear Ms. Veith,
Thank you for your time this morning and the useful discussion of the three important bills Congressman Kuchinich has introduced regarding GMOs.
The Natural Solutions Foundation, founded in 2004, is an international NGO (Non Governmental Organization) active and registered in several countries and is a not for profit 501(C )(3) tax exempt organization in the United States. The Mission of the Foundation is to discover, develop, demonstrate and disseminate natural solutions to the problems facing us and threatening our health and freedom, achieving and maintaining a healthy self, community and world. Since its founding the Natural Solutions Foundation has pursued a vigorous program on many fronts, including natural solutions to significant social problems involving health and wellness. We have over one hundred seventy thousand people on our supporter list. We consider health freedom to be part of those solutions. The threats to health and freedom are both domestic and international, as are the solutions. Among our primary concerns are: Codex Alimentarius (World Food Code), Mandated Vaccinations and Genetically Modified Organisms.
The bills that have been introduced appear to be very close to what we've been urging in regard to GMOs and we want to educate the public and Congress about them. What we will do is to include and "Action Item" in eblasts to our list, which, with forwarding, are read by potentially millions of people (on occasion the Alexis rating for our web site - http://www.HealthFreedomUSA.org - has reached about 15,000th among all Us web sites).
Per your suggestion that Action Item will allow our supporters to tell their Congresspeople to become co-sponsors of the bills. This important first step will be followed in the next Congress by support for hearings and support for the adoption of the bills. We expect to be able to generate about 100,000 messages to Congress about these bills, to bring them to Mr. Kuchinich's colleagues' attention."
So get ready... Freedom requires eternal vigilance.
Please Click Here: Action Step on Kuchinch Bills.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25920
At a minimum true Health Freedom requires the free flow of truthful and not misleading information about these matters of personal concern. That's why Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote in Thompson v. Western States Medical Center, decided on April 29, 2002 - 535 U.S. 357:
"If the First Amendment means anything, it means that regulating speech must be a last - not first - resort."
"We have previously rejected the notion that the Government has an interest in preventing the dissemination of truthful commercial information in order to prevent members of the public from making bad decisions with the information."
"Even if the Government did argue that it had an interest in preventing misleading advertisements, this interest could be satisfied by the far less restrictive alternative of requiring ... a warning that the [product] had not undergone FDA testing and that its risks were unknown."
Without such free and open access to commercial information, part of the Free Speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution for the united States of America, we are not adults making decisions about our own bodies and health, but rather supplicants begging political and medical high priests for permission to live.
So it is with Food as it is with all such matters. Without truthful and not misleading information about the Food offered to us on the marketplace, we cannot be free consumers.
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are novel bacteria, fungi, yeasts, plants and animals, created by genetic engineering and cross-species manipulation, not produced by the slower and millennia-proven procedures of breeding and hybridization. These new products with their novel proteins and unknown threats offer a clear example of the need to apply what is called the Precautionary Principle: do not do what may cause unintended and unpredictable consequences.
Rather than apply that rational principle, the US FDA, supported by executive orders, "deems" GMO products safe and does not require GMO labeling. It goes one step further, forbidding, against the Thompson Doctrine, "GMO Free" labeling!
Earlier this year, despite US demands at Codex Alimentarius (World Food Code) meetings that GMO labeling be removed from the agenda, thereby permitting international trade in unlabeled GMO products, the Europeans and informal Coalition of Health Conscious Nations rebelled, refusing to remove GMO labeling from the agenda. At the same time, Codex's parent organizations, WHO and FAO announced that it was necessary to be able to trace GMO ingredients, in case they cause harm, and such traceability, of course, requires labeling...
See Natural Solutions Foundation's reports on GMO issues at: www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=729
http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=723
Earlier this week Congressman Dennis Kuchinch Congressman introduced three bills designed to protect consumers, defend farmers' rights, and increase food safety.
• H.R. 6636, The Genetically Engineered Food Right To Know Act, would require mandatory labeling of all foods that contain or are produced with GM material.
• H.R. 6635, The Genetically Engineered Safety Act, would require that GE foods follow a food safety review process to prevent contamination of food supplies by pharmaceutical and industrial crops. This Act would also require that the FDA screen all GE foods to ensure they are safe for human consumption.
• H.R. 6637, The Genetically Engineered Farmer Protection Act, places liability from the impacts of GM crops on the biotechnology companies that created the GMOs, and protects farmers from lawsuits by biotechnology companies.
www.Kucinich.us
I sent the following email to Congressman Kuchinich's Legislative Aide:
"Dear Ms. Veith,
Thank you for your time this morning and the useful discussion of the three important bills Congressman Kuchinich has introduced regarding GMOs.
The Natural Solutions Foundation, founded in 2004, is an international NGO (Non Governmental Organization) active and registered in several countries and is a not for profit 501(C )(3) tax exempt organization in the United States. The Mission of the Foundation is to discover, develop, demonstrate and disseminate natural solutions to the problems facing us and threatening our health and freedom, achieving and maintaining a healthy self, community and world. Since its founding the Natural Solutions Foundation has pursued a vigorous program on many fronts, including natural solutions to significant social problems involving health and wellness. We have over one hundred seventy thousand people on our supporter list. We consider health freedom to be part of those solutions. The threats to health and freedom are both domestic and international, as are the solutions. Among our primary concerns are: Codex Alimentarius (World Food Code), Mandated Vaccinations and Genetically Modified Organisms.
The bills that have been introduced appear to be very close to what we've been urging in regard to GMOs and we want to educate the public and Congress about them. What we will do is to include and "Action Item" in eblasts to our list, which, with forwarding, are read by potentially millions of people (on occasion the Alexis rating for our web site - http://www.HealthFreedomUSA.org - has reached about 15,000th among all Us web sites).
Per your suggestion that Action Item will allow our supporters to tell their Congresspeople to become co-sponsors of the bills. This important first step will be followed in the next Congress by support for hearings and support for the adoption of the bills. We expect to be able to generate about 100,000 messages to Congress about these bills, to bring them to Mr. Kuchinich's colleagues' attention."
So get ready... Freedom requires eternal vigilance.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Political Breakthrough: Third Party Joint Statement Supports Republic against Empire
The New Paradigm Platform
In a significant breakthrough for the American political system, what Dr. Ron Paul has called the "principled third parties" have challenged the US "two party" oligopoly, calling for a restoration of the Constitutional Republic and rejecting the US empire.
The statement was jointly written by Dr. Paul and the four third party campaigns for President (the Libertarian Party participated in drafting the document but failed to sign-on*). The Statement challenges the "two" tax-supported party system which has dominated US politics in recent decades and rejects the joint policies of the Democrats and Republicans that, in this blogger's opinion, have contributed so centrally to the crisis facing the nation.
The people who participated in writing the statement were from Ralph Nader's Independent Campaign; former Congressperson Cynthia McKinney, Green Party; Rev. Chuck Baldwin, Constitutional Party; and former Congressperson Bob Barr, Libertarian Party.
Since neither of the "two" oligarchy party candidates offers any meaningful change to those policies**, the only rational vote is a protest vote for a third party candidate. If enough voters did this simple act, American politics would experience a profound change for the better.
Any other vote is a wasted vote.
Here is the Four Party Four Point Statement:
The New Paradigm Platform
The Republican/Democrat duopoly has, for far too long, ignored the most important issues facing our nation. However, alternate candidates Chuck Baldwin, Cynthia McKinney, and Ralph Nader agree with Ron Paul on four key principles central to the health of our nation. These principles should be key in the considerations of every voter this November and in every election.
We Agree
Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle East. We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia. We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations.
Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders.
The National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation.
The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended. There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds.
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog/?p=484
----------
* As a libertarian since 1968, I am disappointed in the failure of the Libertarian Party to fully commit to this historic political Statement. [Later, the party announced its support for the four points.] The same problem has occurred with the Health Freedom issue. Despite our efforts over several months, including emails, faxes and several phone conversations directly with the campaign, the LP candidate has also failed to respond to Natural Solutions Foundation's Candidate's Health Freedom Score Card, unlike Denis Kuchinich's generally positive response and Dr. Paul (who carefully answered all our questions and had a nearly "perfect" Health Freedom score).
** In his statement at the National Press Club on September 10, 2008 where the Statement was issued, Dr. Paul quoted ruling caste theorist Prof. Carroll Quigley justifying the "two" party sham:
"The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can ‘throw the rascals out’ at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy."
This time, without such profound and extensive shifts in policy, the US is destined to experience the full results of the fascistic policies of the ruling parties: economic and political chaos; monetary collapse; hyperinflation, tyranny...
Led by Dr. Paul's brilliant move to unite the principled parties, there is yet hope for the Constitutional Republic.
In a significant breakthrough for the American political system, what Dr. Ron Paul has called the "principled third parties" have challenged the US "two party" oligopoly, calling for a restoration of the Constitutional Republic and rejecting the US empire.
The statement was jointly written by Dr. Paul and the four third party campaigns for President (the Libertarian Party participated in drafting the document but failed to sign-on*). The Statement challenges the "two" tax-supported party system which has dominated US politics in recent decades and rejects the joint policies of the Democrats and Republicans that, in this blogger's opinion, have contributed so centrally to the crisis facing the nation.
The people who participated in writing the statement were from Ralph Nader's Independent Campaign; former Congressperson Cynthia McKinney, Green Party; Rev. Chuck Baldwin, Constitutional Party; and former Congressperson Bob Barr, Libertarian Party.
Since neither of the "two" oligarchy party candidates offers any meaningful change to those policies**, the only rational vote is a protest vote for a third party candidate. If enough voters did this simple act, American politics would experience a profound change for the better.
Any other vote is a wasted vote.
Here is the Four Party Four Point Statement:
The New Paradigm Platform
The Republican/Democrat duopoly has, for far too long, ignored the most important issues facing our nation. However, alternate candidates Chuck Baldwin, Cynthia McKinney, and Ralph Nader agree with Ron Paul on four key principles central to the health of our nation. These principles should be key in the considerations of every voter this November and in every election.
We Agree
Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle East. We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia. We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations.
Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders.
The National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation.
The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended. There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds.
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog/?p=484
----------
* As a libertarian since 1968, I am disappointed in the failure of the Libertarian Party to fully commit to this historic political Statement. [Later, the party announced its support for the four points.] The same problem has occurred with the Health Freedom issue. Despite our efforts over several months, including emails, faxes and several phone conversations directly with the campaign, the LP candidate has also failed to respond to Natural Solutions Foundation's Candidate's Health Freedom Score Card, unlike Denis Kuchinich's generally positive response and Dr. Paul (who carefully answered all our questions and had a nearly "perfect" Health Freedom score).
** In his statement at the National Press Club on September 10, 2008 where the Statement was issued, Dr. Paul quoted ruling caste theorist Prof. Carroll Quigley justifying the "two" party sham:
"The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can ‘throw the rascals out’ at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy."
This time, without such profound and extensive shifts in policy, the US is destined to experience the full results of the fascistic policies of the ruling parties: economic and political chaos; monetary collapse; hyperinflation, tyranny...
Led by Dr. Paul's brilliant move to unite the principled parties, there is yet hope for the Constitutional Republic.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
No Health Freedom without Freedom to Make Health Claims
Europe's Food Safety Authority (EFSA) continues to implement food supplement safety regulations so that meaningful information about health claims are very unlikely to be available in the EU market.
Originally rejecting over 90% of the claims dossiers offered, the agency has now rejected 7 of the first 8 dossiers that survived the first culling.
My June 2008 blog on the original rejections:
http://vitaminlawyerhealthfreedom.blogspot.com/2008/06/eu-denies-97-of-health-claims.html
Nutraingredients reports on the current denials: http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Publications/Food-Beverage-Nutrition/NutraIngredients/Research/Rising-to-the-health-claims-challenge/?c=gbrnO2ewSG1RZZaCgAJTsA%3D%3D
"Ten days ago, the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) rejected seven out of eight assessed claims for failing to demonstrate causality between consumption of specific nutrients or foods and intended health benefits.
According to Patrick Coppens, the secretary-general of the Brussels-based industry group, the European Responsible Nutrition Alliance (ERNA), the news came as a “shock to industry”."
At the heart of the issue is the standard for substantiation:
"But there are two sides to every argument, and pointing the finger at industry is not totally fair. Indeed, the European Commission was heavily criticized in April of this year when it issued guidance that it will reject scientific health claim dossiers that do not contain human clinical data.
This is tantamount to moving the goalposts, and at a relatively late stage.
The specifications for health claims are still relatively fuzzy, and so industry could claim that there has been a certain amount of groping around in the dark.
Moreover, some companies have been quick to note that the rejection is not a rejection of the ingredient or product, but just that the science submitted was incomplete."
This "clinical study only" approach rejects the clinical experience of practitioners, often a more effective 'real world' test of the benefits of a nutrient and also rejects Traditional Use wisdom that has been gained through millennia of human experience.
The reason that normal food substances are deemed to be safe is that they have been used for millennia by people across the world. Expensive double-blind, placebo controlled experiments are not needed to tell us what we already know...
...except as barriers against truthful commercial speech, for the ultimate benefit, not of the public, but of those who participate in the financial gains derived from the limited number of drugs that have been granted political approval.
There is no health freedom without freedom to make health claims about food substances!
Originally rejecting over 90% of the claims dossiers offered, the agency has now rejected 7 of the first 8 dossiers that survived the first culling.
My June 2008 blog on the original rejections:
http://vitaminlawyerhealthfreedom.blogspot.com/2008/06/eu-denies-97-of-health-claims.html
Nutraingredients reports on the current denials: http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Publications/Food-Beverage-Nutrition/NutraIngredients/Research/Rising-to-the-health-claims-challenge/?c=gbrnO2ewSG1RZZaCgAJTsA%3D%3D
"Ten days ago, the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) rejected seven out of eight assessed claims for failing to demonstrate causality between consumption of specific nutrients or foods and intended health benefits.
According to Patrick Coppens, the secretary-general of the Brussels-based industry group, the European Responsible Nutrition Alliance (ERNA), the news came as a “shock to industry”."
At the heart of the issue is the standard for substantiation:
"But there are two sides to every argument, and pointing the finger at industry is not totally fair. Indeed, the European Commission was heavily criticized in April of this year when it issued guidance that it will reject scientific health claim dossiers that do not contain human clinical data.
This is tantamount to moving the goalposts, and at a relatively late stage.
The specifications for health claims are still relatively fuzzy, and so industry could claim that there has been a certain amount of groping around in the dark.
Moreover, some companies have been quick to note that the rejection is not a rejection of the ingredient or product, but just that the science submitted was incomplete."
This "clinical study only" approach rejects the clinical experience of practitioners, often a more effective 'real world' test of the benefits of a nutrient and also rejects Traditional Use wisdom that has been gained through millennia of human experience.
The reason that normal food substances are deemed to be safe is that they have been used for millennia by people across the world. Expensive double-blind, placebo controlled experiments are not needed to tell us what we already know...
...except as barriers against truthful commercial speech, for the ultimate benefit, not of the public, but of those who participate in the financial gains derived from the limited number of drugs that have been granted political approval.
There is no health freedom without freedom to make health claims about food substances!
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