SPREAD THE WORD - STOP THE FDA!

SPREAD THE WORD - STOP THE FDA!
Body: Comments on FDA Guidance for CAM Products and Regulation

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, 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.

Please share this link with them and urge them to take action: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/healthfreedomusa/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=7185 (you may have to cut and paste

Yours in health and freedom,

Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
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A careful reading of the new CAM Guidelines published by the Food and Drug Administration reveals that items used in religious ceremony are now subject to being regulated as drugs or medical devices. Holy water, annointing oils, prayer beads, rosaries and even religious paintings or sculptures can now be classified as drugs or medical devices and essentially outlawed by the FDA.



Essentially, ANY object to which a therapeutic value is claimed can be classified as a medical device. So if a church says that prayer beads have a therapeutic effect on a person, the FDA suddenly deems those prayer beads to be medical devices.



ANY oil or water to which a therapeutic value is claimed is considered a "drug." Holy water, for example, which is often described as imparting a therapeutic effect upon those who consume it or come into contact with it, is quite clearly considered a "drug" by the FDA and could easily be regulated as such.



It's not what's in the water that counts, it's the claims attributed to it. Any object can be instantly transformed into a "medical device" by simply stating that it has some sort of therapeutic effect on a person. As a result, YOUR religious practices could be regulated by the FDA, and any person in your church who uses objects in healing, enhancing or providing therapeutic benefits to other individuals could be arrested for "practicing medicine without a license."



This is actually 100% in agreement with the FDA's openly-stated position on "alternative" medicine. (read the relevant FDA regulations and guidelines.)



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, etc., will suddenly become "untested drugs" which will be forbidden.

ONLY 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.



The links below provide additional viewpoints on why action is necessary and what this will do to your freedoms if urgent action is not taken:



http://www.itsyourtimes.com/?q=node/828



http://www.newswithviews.com/Dean/carolyn22.htm

http://www.newstarget.com/021789.html

GET INFORMED! TAKE ACTION! PROTECT YOUR FREEDOMS!

The FDA comes out with these types of pronouncements every 10 years or so to extract money from the extraordinarily huge vitamin industry.

There is a ton of money being made by these companies and the FDA wants in on it.

So what will happen in the long run is this, the vitamin companies will pay a huge amount of money via some avenue to basically tell the FDA to cut the shit. The FDA will take the money with a huge grin on their faces and as always the consumer will suffer for it, because, after the pay out the vitamin companies will have to raise the price of their products.

It would be really silly for the FDA to marginalize or removed vitamins. the vitamin industry is now a multi-billion dollar industry.

IMHO any practitioner who, for instance, claims to be able to cure cancer with herbs, should be licensed. I'd like to see the herbal industry licensed too - but not in the way traditional drugs are. Mainly because herbs are, by nature, nearly impossible to assure a consistent strength of active ingredient. My main goal for seeing some sort of regulation is to stop the mass marketing of the latest magic elixir and to stop vitamin manufacturers from selling product that does not meet the potency standards listed on the labels.

Herbs are not inert. They change the human body and it's important those taking them understand the effect and how it interacts with traditional medicines and other diseases. It's also important to maintain some level of consistency in these marketed products to assure at least some sort of dependability on how the herb/vitamin can be expected to behave inside the body.

I say this as a person who has chosen a doctor who practices integrated medicine - blending the best of traditional and alternative therapies.