NATURAL PRODUCTS ASSN VICTORY ON CAPITOL HILL S. 3546 and H.R. 61

[Guest guest]

THIS ORGANIZATION IS ADVOCATING PASSAGE OF S. 3546 and H.R. 61.

PLEASE OPPOSE S. 3546 and H.R. 61. NATURAL PRODUCTS ASSN DOES NOT

HAVE YOUR BEST INTERESTS IN HEART AND ARE SUPPORTED BY PARTIES YOU

DONT WANT. SEE BELOW FROM HEALTHKEEPERS ALLIANCE WHO HAVE THE REAL

SCOOP ON THESE BILLS. PLSE STRENOUSLY OPPOSE S. 3546 and H.R. 61.

 

Although this legislation has been characterized by some as

a " compromise bill " that has been agreed to by the industry, that

characterization is absolutely not true. A significant

representation of our multi-billion dollar industry has voiced

significant concerns opposing this big government , trial lawyer

friendly legislation. I wanted you to know that our company, and

its thousands of distributors and retailers in your district and

throughout this nation, strenuously oppose S. 3546 and H.R. 6168.

 

Even at this late date, the AER bill has not passed the Senate. We

heart that it is to be passed out of the Senate without debate, then

slipped through the House at the last date, WITHOUT A COMMITTEE

HEARING, and forced on our industry and millions of consumers. We

urge you to join us and oppose this last minute legislation. The

AER bill's true goal is to expand government, spend millions of

taxpayer dollars, cost American industry millions of dollars to

comply with no clear goal of what may or may not be accomplished,

and finally, needlessly diminish consumer choice.

 

The AER bill imposes a significant and unjustified layer of

bureaucracy that neither the FDA, the public, nor supplement

industry has requested or been demonstrated to be scientifically or

factually needed or justified. This effort is simply and plainly an

attempt by the primary Democratic Party segment of the House and

Senate that want big government regulation and control over the

benign industry of dietary supplements. Vitamins and herbal

remedies do not present a medical, scientific or regulatory threat

to the health of the millions of Americans that take them on a daily

basis. We plead for your support to OPPOSE this horrible

legislation.

 

The existing reporting system (FDA's MedWatch Program) allows

medical professionals an opportunity to direct complaints involving

prescription drugs, non-prescriptions drugs, dietary supplements and

other food products to FDA through the MedWatch program. The

pending AER bill replaces this with a burdensome and punitive

bureaucratic process on thousands of manufacturers, tens of

thousands of distributors and hundreds of thousands of retailers

(such as Whole Food Markets or your neighborhood health food store)

to make medical decisions of whether an " adverse event " has occurred

or not. This bill mandates no medical or scientific review by the

FDA. Clearly, this effort is solely by those that favor big

government regulation first, trial lawyers second, and science and

facts only a distant third.

 

At the very least, the bill should be amended to include a medical

review process to determine causation before FDA releases these

reports. We have been working closely with Chairman Barton and his

staff, as well as other members of the Health Subcommittee over the

last several months on improving the legislation to best meet its

stated goal of consumer protection. Unfortunately, time has nearly

run out on the 109th Congress and Chairman Barton has not held a

hearing and a mark-up of this bill in the Energy and Commerce

Committee as was expected. Had a hearing been held, that committee

would have heard loudly from the manufacturers, distributors,

retailers and consumers of dietary supplements that strongly oppose

the bill in its current form.

 

As has been rumored, we are very concerned about this legislation

being brought to the floor this week without the benefit of a

hearing and mark-up in either chamber of Congress. We are especially

worried that the bill would be heard on the suspension calendar

without the possibility of floor amendments being offered. The far-

reaching effects of this bill and its lack of consensus warrant full

consideration of its issues in the 110th Congress.