Guest guest Posted October 17, 2003 Report Share Posted October 17, 2003 - Citizens for Health Citizens for Health Thursday, October 16, 2003 10:59 AM [spam] Action Alert! Call Your Senators on October 21st! CALL YOUR SENATORS ON OCTOBER 21ST ! Congress is Writing the Wrong Prescription for Health! Legislation threatens DSHEA and your access to safe dietary supplements! As the debate over Senate Bill 722 heats up, one thing is certain- the right to use safe dietary supplements is clearly under attack. We need you to send a clear message to Washington: Congress is writing the WRONG prescription for health. On Tuesday, October 21, a coalition of consumers and health food retailers and suppliers will rally on Capitol Hill to tell Congress to protect-not restrict- your right to buy safe vitamins, herbs, minerals and other dietary supplements. Even if you can’t be there—MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! Simply call the Capitol switchboard on October 21st at 202-224-3121 and asked to be connected to your Member of Congress. Then, tell your Senators to write the RIGHT prescription for health by voting “NO” on Senate Bill 722 and “YES” on Senate Bill 1538, the DSHEA Full Implementation and Enforcement Act. SB 1538 requires that Congress uphold the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) by giving the FDA the resources it needs to fully implement the existing law. You CAN make a difference on this issue, and it will only take a few minutes! Forward this to everyone you know who takes vitamins and supplements or simply cares about their health. If we can get 10,000 people to call their legislators on October 21st, we can ensure that our leaders know how seriously we value our right to personal health choice, and we will make a serious impact on future policy! Today, strong mainstream research continues to validate the positive impact dietary supplements are having on Americans’ overall health, while lowering healthcare costs and maintaining the strongest safety record of any regulated category. But legislators out to “protect” consumers are threatening to remove safe products from market shelves and fundamentally alter the regulatory structure, the DSHEA, responsible for increasing information and access to dietary supplements. S722 is presented as a “safety” bill-promising to safeguard consumers from unsafe dietary supplements-but it does not. Instead, the detail spell out plans to: Increases health care costs and decreases consumer choices Restricts access to supplements used by millions for better health Subjects supplements to an unnecessary higher standard of scrutiny than most over-the-counter medicines and food additives Questions the safety and potentially restricts access to any dietary supplement that receives even one complaint, legitimate or not. Provides no more protection for consumers than the current law-DSHEA-already provides. The FDA has simply failed to fully implement the existing law. Many legislators are also trying to leverage the media’s misrepresentation of ephedra to attack and overturn DSHEA. Millions of consumers contacted Congress is 1993/94 demanding support for DSHEA, a law that has provided the necessary regulation to ensure safe products for consumers for almost 10 years. This two-fronted assault on health choice, masked as concern about the health effects of ephedra, is part of a larger plan to move all supplements under the umbrella of drug regulations. Congress needs to hear both sides of this issue, not just the skewed media coverage. If you rely on vitamin and mineral supplements for better health and want to protect your right to personal health choice, SPEAK UP! TAKE ACTION ON OCTOBER 21ST! If you care about access to dietary supplements, call your Senators on the 21st. We need at least 10,000 people to take action! Dial the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3132 to connect with your Member of Congress. Tell your Senators to write the RIGHT prescription for health-- vote “NO” on Senate Bill 722 and “YES” on Senate Bill 1538. Demand that Congress fully implement DSHEA and preserve access to natural, safe and affordable products! You can also visit us at www.citizens.org to learn more or click here to send a free letter by fax. ************************************************************************ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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