FDA threatens yogis' access to natural care and yoga props

April 15, 2007

from: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_4803.cfm

Alert: FDA Attempting to Regulate Supplements, Herbs and Juices as " Drugs "

* Health freedom action alert: FDA attempting to regulate

supplements, herbs and juices as " drugs "

By Mike Adams

NewsTarget/Truth Publishing, April 11, 2007

Straight to the Source

When it comes to health freedom, this is the FDA's end game. A new FDA

" guidance " document, published on the FDA's website, reveals plans to

reclassify virtually all vitamins, supplements, herbs and even

vegetable juices as FDA-regulated drugs. Massage oils and massage

rocks will be classified as " medical devices " and require FDA

approval. The document is called Docket No. 2006D-0480. Draft Guidance

for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and

Their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA is accepting public comments on the docket until April 30th.

They tried to sneak this under the radar, but word got out and now the

natural health community is up in arms over this rule. If you wish to

protect your access to nutritional supplements, herbs, essential oils,

homeopathic medicine or any other " complementary " or " alternative "

modality, it is crucial that you take action to post your comments

with the FDA right now and write your representatives in Washington to

put a stop to this outrageous effort to destroy natural medicine. (And

be sure to really write them. Just sending an email has virtually no

impact compared to writing a physical letter in your own words.)

Click here for the direct link to the FDA's comment posting page for

this docket.

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/oc/dockets/comments/COMMENTSMain.CFM?EC_DO\

CUMENT_ID=1451 & SUBTYP=CONTINUE & CID= & AGENCY=FDA

This move by the FDA is designed to once and for all destroy the 1994

DSHEA law that has made supplements " legal " while eliminating

nutritional supplements and natural medicine from the United States,

ensuring monopoly profits and control by drug companies and the FDA.

It is the latest action item by the FDA / Big Pharma conspiracy that

will not stop until health freedom has been abolished, drug companies

rule the nation, and every citizen is diagnosed with a fictitious

disease and drugged up on monopoly-priced pharmaceuticals.

FDA " experts " will decide what's a drug or medical device

Under these proposed guidelines, FDA " experts " (the same corrupt

officials who reapproved Vioxx after it killed over 50,000 Americans)

will decide whether herbs, supplements, vitamins or simple devices

like massage stones are to be regulated as drugs and medical devices.

If the FDA experts, in their infinite wisdom, decide that these things

are to be reclassified, they will essentially be outlawed, stripped

from the shelves, and regulated out of existence. Anyone who dares to

manufacture, promote or sell such products may be branded a criminal

and rounded up by armed FDA agents who have a well established history

of suppressing natural medicine.

I've documented much of the criminal history of the FDA in my recent

book, Natural Health Solutions and the Conspiracy to Keep You From

Knowing About Them, which suddenly seems even more relevant today than

when I wrote it. In that book, I documented the FDA ordered book

burnings, the raids on vitamin shops, the kidnapping of natural health

practitioners, the threats, intimidation and oppression tactics that

have been used to suppress natural medicine for nearly a hundred years

now. And now, with this CAM Products Regulation effort, the FDA is

about to deal a final, fatal blow to the alternative medicine

industry, outlawing nutritional supplements, functional foods,

homeopathy and natural therapies all at once.

This is not a drill. It really is time to be alarmed. Nothing else

I've written about this year is as important as this sinister plot to

destroy natural medicine and force the American population to resort

to dangerous prescription medications sold at monopoly prices under a

system of medical tyranny.

Your access to vitamins, supplements, herbs, and even energy medicine

modalities is now directly threatened, and you have until April 30 to

make your voice heard.

Action items

First, read the document yourself. Click here for the PDF version.

Take special care to notice the following text, taken directly from

the FDA's own document: (italicized text is from the FDA, with my own

translation following)

" ...a product used in a CAM therapy or practice may be subject to

regulation as a biological product, cosmetic, drug, device, or food

(including food additives and dietary supplements) under the act or

the PHS Act. Second, neither the act nor the PHS Act exempts CAM

products from regulation. "

Translation: Anything used in any system of medicine may now be

regulated as a drug or medical device by the FDA. This includes a

biofeedback machine, acupuncture needles, a cup of herbal tea, massage

oil, a glass of vegetable juice or even a bottle of water.

" ...if a person decides to produce and sell raw vegetable juice for

use in juice therapy to promote optimal health... [and] if the juice

therapy is intended for use as part of a disease treatment regimen

instead of for the general wellness, the vegetable juice would also be

subject to regulation as a drug under the Act. "

Translation: Raw vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug and must

be FDA approved as a drug if it has any health effect whatsoever.

Handing a cup of raw vegetable juice to someone and telling them it's

good for the detoxification of their liver will get you arrested for

practicing medicine without a license and promoting an " unapproved drug. "

.... " biologically based practices " includes, but is not limited to,

botanicals, animal-derived extracts, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids,

amino acids, proteins, prebiotics and probiotics: whole diets, and

" functional foods " . ...a botanical product intended for use in

treating a disease would generally be regulated as a drug. "

.... " functional foods " may be subject to FDA regulation as foods,

dietary supplements, or drugs under the Act.

Translation: All foods, supplements, superfoods and functional foods

may be reclassified as drugs by the FDA, then regulated off the market.

If... the manipulative and body-based practices involve the use of

equipment (such as massage devices) or the application of a product

(such as a lotion, cream, or oil) to the skin or other parts of the

body, those products may be subject to regulation under the Act. "

Translation: Massage oils and creams will be regulated as " drugs " and

acupuncture needles as " medical devices. " Taking this absurdity one

step further, massage therapists who use their fingers to touch

patients may have their fingers regulated as " medical devices " and be

accused of practicing medicine for merely touching patients.

Things that will be regulated out of existence It is very clear that

the FDA is intending to regulate and ultimately destroy the entire CAM

industry (Complementary and Alternative Medicine). Based on the

explanations in the FDA's own document, the following things are

likely to occur:

* All vitamins, nutritional supplements and functional foods will be

stripped of their structure & function claims, reducing them to empty

labels where virtually nothing at all is allowed to be stated.

* Vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug. Raw juice retreats

will be raided or shut down.

* Growing and selling common garden herbs will get you arrested as a

drug dealer.

* Massage oils and handheld massagers will be regulated as " medical

devices. "

* Yoga props, pilates machines and weight machines will be regulated

as " medical devices " and require FDA approval before being sold or used.

* Raw sprouts and other anti-cancer foods will be regulated as drugs.

* Bottled water that " treats " dehydration will be regulated as a drug.

* Massage therapists who use hot rocks as part of their therapy will

have the ROCKS regulated as medical devices! (It's true. The FDA will

actually look at a pile of rocks and declare, " Those are medical

devices! " )

* Functional foods, supplements, vitamins and homeopathic remedies

will disappear from store shelves, pending FDA " review. " (The only

things remaining will be processed junk foods and pharmaceuticals,

which is exactly what Big Business wants.)

* Therapeutic tea products, such as green tea, will be outlawed and

confiscated.

* Vitamin store owners will be arrested and prosecuted for

" practicing medicine without a license. "

* Citizens owning personal inventories of " unapproved drugs "

(vitamins and herbs) may have their homes raided at gunpoint and their

inventories confiscated by armed law enforcement agents.

* The importation of herbs and functional foods from all countries

may be banned.

Keep in mind that the FDA is the same agency that:

* Wants to label irradiated foods as " pasteurized. "

* Voted to put the deadly drug Vioxx back on the market after tens of

thousands of deaths, even after its own manufacurer pulled it from

pharmacies.

* Raided a church at gunpoint, confiscating biofeedback machines and

charging that they were " practicing medicine " by counseling church

members on issues like depression.

* Openly allows corrupt, " on the take " experts to vote on new drug

approvals, even when those experts are taking money from the same

companies impacted by their votes.

* Refuses to legalize stevia, the safe, natural herbal sweetener

that's used virtually everywhere else in the world. The agenda?

Protect the profits of aspartame and other chemical sweeteners.

* Openly allows the mass poisoning of the public with cancer-causing

food additives such as sodium nitrite.

* Refuses to enforce its own laws regarding unsafe chemical toxins in

personal care products, allowing perfume and lotion companies to

continue poisoning the public with cancer-causing chemicals that don't

even have to be listed on the label, nor proven safe.

* Ordered the destruction of recipe books that mentioned stevia. (A

campaign to keep the public ignorant of the herb.)

* Does everything in its power to protect drug company profits,

including discrediting herbs, supplements and alternative medicine.

Does anyone honestly believe that this criminal organization has any

capacity whatsoever to act in the public interest? Even many Senators

are fed up with the FDA's unprecedented level of corruption and

criminal behavior.

Action items, continued...

Read Jon Barron's comments on this rule at the JonBarron.org website

Next, lodge your complaint against the FDA by commenting on this

docket through the FDA's docket comment form.

And finally, write your Senator or Congressperson about this issue and

let them know, in blatant language, that you will not stand by and

allow the criminals running medicine today to take away your access to

vitamins, supplements, herbs and homeopathic medicine. Write the

letter in your own words, even if it's just two sentences. Individual

letters have a hundred times the impact of form letters.

Medical Wasteland USA

Everything is at stake here. If the FDA gets its way, the United

States will become a medical wasteland, dominated by corporate drug

company interests, where the naturopaths are imprisoned and their

products destroyed. Supplements and herbs will become contraband, and

gardeners who grow their own medicinal herbs may be raided and

arrested by DEA agents wielding assault rifles. Simply selling dried

broccoli sprouts as being " good anti-cancer foods " may land you in

prison, and running a vitamin shop could result in you being arrested

for " practicing medicine. "

Imagine a nation where Whole Foods stores are stripped of all herbs

and supplements, where vitamin shops are emptied and abandoned, where

books that promote herbs are bulldozed into large piles and burned,

where natural healers are rounded up and " disappeared " into

incarceration centers. This is the future that will become reality if

the FDA has its way. The plan has been explained to us in plain

language. Any agency that openly states " vegetable juice will be

regulated as a drug " has quite simply lost its marbles. We're are now

clearly being regulated by clinically insane bureaucrats.

With this desperate proposal by the FDA -- clearly designed as a

last-ditch effort to save the failing conventional medical industry

from a massive public shift towards natural medicine -- the war

against health freedom has reached our shores, and the FDA is plotting

a 9/11-style attack to bring down the towers of health freedom in one

swift motion.

This is the same agency that currently represents the greatest threat

to the health and safety of the American people, far outweighing the

threat of real terrorism. This agency, we have seen, will do ANYTHING

to protect the profits and power of drug companies. It will lie,

steal, accept bribes, hide scientific evidence, distort statistics,

commit scientific fraud, break federal laws, threaten its own drug

safety scientists, conspire with drug company executives, intimidate

American citizens and use terror-style tactics to achieve its goals of

complete domination over foods, drugs and health.

Why do Americans tolerate terrorism in their own government?

It is time we put a stop to this home-grown tyranny. We have fought

too hard for freedom in the United States to allow us all to be

steamrolled by a criminal front group covertly working for Big Pharma.

The FDA has declared war on natural medicine and the American people,

and we will lose our family members, children, brothers and sisters as

casualties of this war if we don't stand up now and demand radical

changes. It's time to stop this terrorist organization from destroying

the lives of yet more U.S. citizens.

Make your voice heard now, or forever surrender your access to

supplements, herbs, superfoods and functional foods. By the time the

FDA is done with this country, we'll all be eating medication for

breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Action reminders:

1. Lodge a complaint with the FDA by clicking here.

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/oc/dockets/comments/COMMENTSMain.CFM?EC_DO\

CUMENT_ID=1451 & SUBTYP=CONTINUE & CID= & AGENCY=FDA

MAKE SURE you include the docket number 2006D-0480. But don't trust

this to be enough. The FDA will probably simply delete half the

complaints it receives, so don't trust your complaint to actually

count. It's important to continue...

2. Send a strongly-worded letter to your representatives in

Washington. Be sure to cite Docket No. 2006D-0480. Draft Guidance for

Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their

Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration. Tell them you support

open access to vitamins, herbs, and supplements, and you do not want

CAM to be regulated by the FDA.

3. Send this story to everyone you know. Spread the word. Raise the

alarm. With enough public support, the FDA will be forced to back off

this insane proposal.

And stay tuned to NewsTarget for more news, analysis and action alerts

on health freedom. Even though we're under constant attack by criminal

organizations trying to disrupt our servers and take us off line,

we're still here, beating the drum for health freedom, and hoping that

we have enough sane-minded Americans remaining to save this country

from its government.

Actual FDA quote is gobbledygook

Here's an actual FDA statement from the CAM Guidance report:

For example, naturopathic cranberry tablets might be labeled for use

to maintain the health of the urinary tract. In this example, the

cranberry tablets generally would be regulated as " dietary

supplements " ...if they were labeled for use to " maintain the health

of the urinary tract " rather than " prevent urinary tract infections. "

The cranberry tablets would be regulated as " drugs " ...if they were

labeled for use to " treat urinary tract infections " even if they were

labeled as dietary supplements.

Additional phone numbers as listed in the FDA document

Sheryl Lard-Whiteford at 301-827-0379

Daniel Nguyen at 301-827-8971

Ted Stevens at 301-594-1184

Wayne Amchin at 301-827-6739

For more info:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_4803.cfm

April 16, 2007

Thank you Amar Atma Singh for posting this,

This is exactly correct. This is really Scary! There is a crisis in

health freedom. On April 30, 2007 the FDA will close the public comment

period on a "Guidance" which will classify every alternative practice

as medicine so that only licensed physicians can carry out the

procedure AND vitamins, minerals, herbs, juices, etc., will suddenly

become "untested drugs" which will be forbidden.

Bad? Real Bad! But public outcry can stop this assault on your health

and your freedom.

Spread the word! Tell everyone in your Circle of Influence,

professionals, alternative practitioners, nutrient and herb companies,

everyone! Let them know how important their participation is to make

sure the FDA backs off from this repressive course.

Things that will be regulated out of existence

It is very clear that the FDA is intending to regulate and

ultimately destroy the entire CAM industry (Complementary and

Alternative Medicine). Based on the explanations in the FDA's own

document, the following things are likely to occur:

All vitamins, nutritional supplements and functional foods will

be

stripped of their structure & function claims, reducing them to

empty labels where virtually nothing at all is allowed to be stated.

Vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug. Raw juice retreats

will be raided or shut down.

Growing and selling common garden herbs will get you arrested as

a drug dealer.

Massage oils and handheld massagers will be regulated as "medical

devices."

Yoga props, pilates machines and weight machines will be

regulated as "medical devices" and require FDA approval before being

sold or used.

Raw sprouts and other anti-cancer foods will be regulated as

drugs.

Bottled water that "treats" dehydration will be regulated as a

drug.

Massage therapists who use hot rocks as part of their therapy

will have the ROCKS regulated as medical devices! (It's true. The FDA

will actually look at a pile of rocks and declare, "Those are medical

devices!")

Functional foods, supplements, vitamins and homeopathic

remedies will disappear from store shelves, pending FDA "review." (The

only things remaining will be processed junk foods and pharmaceuticals,

which is exactly what Big Business wants.)

Therapeutic tea products, such as green tea, will be outlawed and

confiscated.

Vitamin store owners will be arrested and prosecuted for

"practicing medicine without a license."

Citizens owning personal inventories of "unapproved drugs"

(vitamins and herbs) may have their homes raided at gunpoint and their

inventories confiscated by armed law enforcement agents.

The importation of herbs and functional foods from all countries

may be banned.

Keep in mind that the FDA is the same agency that:

Wants to label irradiated foods as "pasteurized."

Voted to put the deadly drug Vioxx back on the market after

tens of thousands of deaths, even after its own manufacurer pulled it

from pharmacies.

Raided a church at gunpoint, confiscating biofeedback

machines and charging that they were "practicing medicine" by

counseling church members on issues like depression.

Openly allows corrupt, "on the take" experts to vote on new

drug approvals, even when those experts are taking money from the same

companies impacted by their votes.

Refuses to legalize stevia, the safe, natural herbal

sweetener that's used virtually everywhere else in the world. The

agenda? Protect the profits of aspartame and other chemical sweeteners.

Openly allows the mass poisoning of the public with

cancer-causing food additives such as sodium nitrite.

Refuses to enforce its own laws regarding unsafe chemical

toxins in personal care products, allowing perfume and lotion companies

to continue poisoning the public with cancer-causing chemicals that

don't even have to be listed on the label, nor proven safe.

Ordered the destruction of recipe books that mentioned stevia. (A

campaign to keep the public ignorant of the herb.)

Does everything in its power to protect drug company profits,

including discrediting herbs, supplements and alternative medicine.

Does anyone honestly believe that this criminal organization has any

capacity whatsoever to act in the public interest? Even many Senators

are fed up with the FDA's unprecedented level of corruption and

criminal behavior.

More info

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_4803.cfm

http://www.dailyscare.com/1236/health-freedom-action-alert-fda-attempting-to-regulate-supplements-herbs-and-juices-as-drugs

Video story of the

background/history at

http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=154

Please share this link with them and

urge them to take action: http://tinyurl.com/2u7ghc

Yours in health and freedom,

Dharam Singh

Millis, MA

April 17, 2007

If you are interested in this issue, I urge you read through the

proposed guidance published by the FDA. It can be found here:

http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/06d-0480-gld0001.pdf

April 29, 2007

Sat Nam

I thought New Zealand had it bad with changes to classification of health supplements. New Zealand is facing a law change now that could remove considerable amounts of health supplements off the shelf of Health stores and Pharmacies, as well as send some people out of business.

But, you all in the US are facing a considerable crisis with regard to anything that enables one to self-heal in particular. We had better be careful aye?...they may have their eyes on Kundalini Yoga next!!! It is unfortunate that people in government positions are not monitored more closely and disciplined when exceeding their authority and common sense too! It seems some are given authority beyond their ability to be sensible and equitable. This is a problem not just in the US...They should try some Sat Naam's for a while then maybe they could learn to make sense of themselves.

It is always a problem when some few want to control others, especially for profit of some kind. While Kundalini yoga helps us to be masters of our own lives, to heal and be happy, much of the rest of the world creaks and groans with the narrow view of life that they bind themselves to. Hearing what is happening there makes me realise more, how much I appreciate the availability of Kundalini Yoga and the way practicing it has freed my life to flow. If I can't do it for some reason one morning, I feel like I haven't washed! Perhaps that body of government officials can be seen as part of the 'great unwashed' , not touched by the purity and sanctity of their own inner awakening. May they learn to be human in the fullest, truest and greatest sense.

Ap Sahaee Hoa Sache Da Sache Dhoa, Har Har Har.