[AGL] Fwd: EMERGENCY: SENATE TO VOTE ON BAD AER BILL TODAY !!

[Frances Morey]

All the articles are compelling--I should turn on CNN as av wallpaper. The hottest news items get repeated as though on a mobius loop. The local version, Channel 8, becomes monotnous but the national version is probably all right.
  Best,
  Frances

Gerry <mesmo at gilanet.com> wrote:
          Hey Frances,
  http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/06/congress.roundup.ap/index.html
   
  G
   
   
    ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Frances Morey 
  To: Austin List 
  Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 11:10 AM
  Subject: [AGL] Fwd: EMERGENCY: SENATE TO VOTE ON BAD AER BILL TODAY !!
  

  To the alive and well:
  I'm not too big a supplement fanatic but I do take a handful of vitamins every day. The way that it usually goes in legislation is that  the corporate interests have the money to oil the congressional skids to do their bidding, to increase their ability to continue to oil the skids, etc, etc, etc. That's just the way capitalism operates. 
  The other caution I have for today is that government habit is to tax. My brother sent me an exaustive list of taxes that have become law in the last 100 years. He is outraged and I must admit that this is the first thing we have completely agreed on in decades.
  Best,
  Frances

David Rubinson <rubinson at kab.com> wrote:
  From: David Rubinson <rubinson at kab.com>
Subject: EMERGENCY: SENATE TO VOTE ON BAD AER BILL TODAY !!
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 06:54:46 -0800

THIS IS AN EMERGENCY.   PLEASE CALL, WRITE,AND TELL EVERYONE YOU CAN .
    
  Begin forwarded message:

    From: "IAHF.COM" <jham at iahf.com>
  Date: December 5, 2006 6:04:10 PM PST
  To: rubinson at kab.com
  Subject: NEWSFLASH: SENATE TO VOTE ON BAD AER BILL TOMORROW- (WED) IMMEDIATE, SPECIFIC CALLS NEEDED TO SAVE SUPPLEMENTS
  

  IAHF List: 
  I need you all to spring into IMMEDIATE MOTION- THIS IS NOT A DRILL. Norm Singleton in Congressman Paul's office informs us that D-Day is Tomorrow Wednesday November 6th- the Senate will vote on S.3546/ HR6168   Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription Drug Consumer Protection Act, and it could also be slammed through the House at high speed before the lame duck ends Friday- without any debate or hearings of any kind, even though its opposed by a substantial segment* of the supplement industry and by millions of consumers.  
  [* Nature's Plus, Solgar, Nutraceutical,Life Extension Foundation, Wellness Resources, Vitamin Research Products and many other small vitamin companies totally OPPOSE the NPA (formerly NNFA) Party Line on this bill.]  
  The moment of TRUTH is at hand. Will tomorrow be D-DAY for the Dietary Supplement Industry, or will it be a day in which the American people stand up and ROAR with righteous indignation and so NO TO S.3546/HR 6168? 
  
  WHAT YOU MUST DO & WHY: 
  
  1. Read the letter below to House Majority Leader Boehner (pronounced "Bayner") 
  
  2. Call the following key members via the Capital Switchboard and either use your own words or use the phone script below: 
  
  HASTERT, BOEHNER ("BAYNER"), PELOSI- (Call via Capital Switchboard 202-225-3121. Its ok to call after hours and leave mssgs in the voice mail of each office, the switchboard is manned 24/7 for that purpose to put your call through. 
  
  WHAT TO SAY: 
  
  "A large sector of the Dietary Supplement industry including Solgar, Nutraceutical Corp, Nature's Plus, Life Extension Foundation, Wellness Resources and many other companies oppose S.S.3546/ HR6168   Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription Drug Consumer Protection Act. This legislation has nothing in it to determine causality of an Adverse event. Safe dietary supplements would be wrongly blamed for problems actually caused by pharmaceutical drugs taken concurrently with one or more dietary supplements- and there would be no medical or scientific review required by FDA before they could release the flawed "data" released by this witch hunt. This would be a trial lawyers dream, but its not good government and it would do nothing to protect the public health. There must be hearings on this legislation, and there must be changes made to its language before it would actually serve its intended purpose. Do not ram it through on us during the lame duck- if you do, you will
 enrage the millions of dietary supplements who flooded congress with more mail during the campaign to pass DSHEA than Congress ever received in its history on ANY issue." 
  
  Send this by email or fax to Boehner, Pelosi, Hastert + your own congressman and Senators 
  Donations urgently needed by IAHF to send me back to DC for more work. If this doesn't go through during the lame duck, I'll really need to get back during the next congress (in January) not only about this, but also about the FDA's Trilateral Cooperation Charter. 
  Donations can be sent to IAHF 556 Boundary Bay Rd. Point Roberts WA 98281  
  
  Dear Majority Leader Boehner, (Pronounced "Bayner") 
 There is currently legislation pending in Congress (S. 3546/ H.R 6168) that would create a mandatory adverse event reporting (AER) system at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for dietary supplements (i.e. vitamin C, vitamin E, calcium, etc.).  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 hear 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 primarily 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-prescription 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 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 next 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.  We respectfully and humbly request that you oppose consideration of  S. 3546 and H.R. 6168 in the House in the closing days of the 109th Congress.  Thank you for your consideration of this most important matter.  Thank you for you proven leadership and impeccable service to our nation. Sincerely,  For Health Freedom, John C. Hammell, President International Advocates for Health Freedom 556 Boundary Bay Road Point Roberts, WA 98281-8702 USA http://www.iahf.com jham at iahf.com 800-333-2553 N.America 360-945-0352 World
  
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