The Assault on Dietary Supplements
by Bill Sardi
by Bill Sardi
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi40.html Elected representatives Susan A. Davis (CALIF), John D. Dingell (MICH) and Henry A. Waxman (CALIF) have introduced legislation before the House of Representatives, now in committee, that would virtually destroy the dietary supplement industry.
The legislation is identified as the "Dietary Supplement Access & Awareness Act," but it does not address free access and only creates a negative awareness of these products.
Previous FDA Warning Eliminated One Dietary Supplement
Imagine the government commissioned a study of hit-and-run auto-pedestrian accidents and found that 95% of children hit by cars were wearing tennis shoes. Would we then mistakenly conclude that the tennis shoes caused the accidents? Such non-scientific association would likely be aired in news reports to frighten the public away from relatively safe products.
Timing of Legislation Questioned
HR 3156 appears misdirected. It comes at a time when the side effects emanating from properly prescribed and ingested prescription drugs result in the needless death of more than 100,000 Americans annually. Where is legislation that would adequately protect the public from unsafe over-the-counter or prescription drugs? Relatively troublesome drugs like Vioxx and Bextra have been returned to pharmacy shelves with black box warnings that put the burden on consumers to check for potential side effects.
FDA inaction over unsafe drugs has prompted search for safer alternatives
Furthermore, the public has become aware the FDA has approved drugs that have not undergone adequate safety testing, and permitted pharmaceutical companies to advertise these very same drugs on television, making unsubstantiated claims of their effectiveness and safety, which resulted in the demise of thousands of Americans. This has prompted millions of Americans to search for safer alternatives to unsafe drugs, namely dietary supplements, to allay symptoms posed by arthritis, headaches, menopause and other conditions.
Dietary supplements are concentrated foods, just as table salt is concentrated sodium. Will physicians be required to report strokes induced by patients who ingest excessive amounts of salt?
Would patients be in a position to report serious side effects?
Pray tell, how would a patient experiencing a serious side effect (death, stroke, cardiac arrest, etc.) be in a position to even ascertain their harmful health event was related to a dietary supplement? The average older American takes 2.4 prescription drugs in addition to dietary supplements. Why are the dietary supplements being fingered for reporting and not the more hazardous drugs?
Drugs and other agents would be unreported
For example, a patient taking aspirin therapy to prevent a heart attack, and steroids to treat arthritis, estrogen replacement therapy for menopause, along with vitamin E, and experiences a heart attack, would have to disclose to their doctor they were taking vitamin E pills. Aspirin, estrogen and steroids deplete the body of vitamin C which weakens blood vessels, induces their collapse, and can result in blockage of a coronary artery that produces a heart attack. But the vitamin E might be unfairly blamed for inducing this event. The patient may also be a smoker and/or alcohol drinker, which further depletes vitamin C and increases the risk for a heart attack. But only the vitamin E pills would be reported to the FDA!
No demonstration project
Virtually all patients and their physicians would be obligated under HR3156 to report to the FDA such adverse events, at a cost of millions of dollars, with no demonstration project that proves threats to public health would be eliminated or the public welfare improved.
HR 3156
Sponsor: Rep Davis, Susan A.
(introduced 6/30/2005)
Co-Sponsors: Rep Dingell, John D. – 6/30/2005
Rep Waxman, Henry A. – 6/30/2005
Find out the status of this bill.
Read the bill.
Contact your elected representative.
June 21, 2005
Bill Sardi is a consumer advocate and health journalist, writing from San Dimas, California. He offers a free downloadable book, The Collapse of Conventional Medicine, at his website.
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