Tuesday, March 16, 2010

McCain/Dorgan - Hartkin/Hatch "Compromise" Threatens Health Freedom

An Open Letter to the Health Freedom Movement:

See: Natural Products Association Welcomes Senate Deal
http://www.npainfo.org/index.php?src=news&srctype=detail&category=pressreleases10&refno=243

NPA sounded the alarm about the McCain/Dorgan anti-DSHEA, pro-HARMonization-with-Codex bill, S.3002 the day it was introduced, February 4, 2010.

We immediately saw the connection between S.3002 and the pending fake "food safety" bill S.510 and focused our response on both bills, generating over 390,000 emails to Congress and decision makers during the one month and one day it took for McCain/Dorgan to back-off to Health Freedom Movement "Push Back." That brought the total number of emails our system generated against both bills, since the push to pass the House version of S.510 (HR.3749) in July to over 1.3 million!

See: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26714

We had previously stopped S.510 with a 150,000 email blitz on the weekend before the Senate HELP committee "marked-up" the bill on November 18th (expecting it to be brought to a vote immediately). On that day Hartkin, as chairman, spoke and the committee web site posted his comments. The bill was postponed.

Mentioning “public concerns” and the committee’s alleged desire to protect family farms and organic agriculture, Hartkin confirmed (about minute 58.5) that Codex Alimentarius (the so-called World Food Code) does not trump the Dietary Supplement Health and Safety Education Act of 1994 (the law that allows the USA to have the most potent nutrients and most vibrant nutrient market in the world) “DSHEA … governs the law here, not Codex standards…”

Chairmen Harkin further stated: the provision in bill that requires FDA to “make recommendations including whether to harmonize with Codex does not signal any intent to move in a different direction on DSHEA…”

When McCain/Dorgan introduced S.3002 we saw what was planned... and we were right. S.3002 was pushed just so it could be dropped for S.510 amended. Then the opposition would be confounded and the food fascism bill would be passed, dragging all foods, including dietary supplements, into the Codex "approved ingredient" restrictions.

See: http://vitaminlawyerhealthfreedom.blogspot.com/2010/03/mccaindorgan-bill-dies-its-evil-intent.html

NPA acted out its role in the S.3002 stalking-horse maneuver. Now it joins McCain/Drogan to support the worst of all possible situations: a beefed-up S.510 that will sacrifice the freedoms we won with DSHEA. The exact opposite of what Hartkin said in November. NPA says it supports "reasonable measures to strengthen the regulation of dietary supplements" -- but if you look at what McCain/Dorgan want to include in S.510 you'll see hidden there the "accepted ingredient list" from S.3002 that raised the Red Flag for the health freedom movement.

If you didn't get it before, you need to get it now: S.510 MUST be defeated.

Trading our common law freedoms (the DSHEA "grandfather" clause) for a Codex-compliant "accepted ingredient list" will get us what it got Europe, where 80% of the ingredient dossiers have been rejected by the EU food "safety" agency.

That's what the NPA's members face: the loss of 80% of their products! So who does NPA really represent?

Various "letterhead" health freedom NGOs jumped on the bandwagon and brought extra weight to the efforts we made in stopping S.3002. Now these same organizations need to reject the "compromise" and demand NO HARMonization with Codex!

It's time to hold Hartkin to his word. It's time to see if Hatch is really a friend of dietary supplements.

I know what Health Freedom USA is going to do: we'll do what we do best, mobilize mass public support for Health Freedom. What will you do?

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