Action Alert: Save Your Supplements

I am just a wealth of information tonight.  While looking through the Wellbella Guide I ran across this article and thought you may be interested in what is going on as we all take supplements now and forever more:

Take Action Alert
Tell Your Senators to OPPOSE  S. 3002, the Dietary Supplement Safety Act
Do you like taking your multi, your fish oils, your resveratrol? Do you want to continue? Better let your senators know.

Led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and co-sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), bill S. 3002, the Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010, mandates that every supplement go through a brand new process of government review in order to stay on the market. If  S. 3002 becomes law, it has the potential to greatly limit the availability of your favorite supplements, stifle innovation of healthy new supplements and drive up the cost of supplements to the consumer by establishing greater burdens on not only manufacturers but your favorite retail store as well. The provisions add this burden without any additional consumer protection. Take a look.

• Limits Your Choices
The bill establishes an “Approved Dietary Ingredient" list, and the FDA will screen every ingredient on the market under a new standard not yet announced. Many ingredients that are currently lawful could be removed from the marketplace. If the bill became law tomorrow, all supplements would be “unapproved."

• Stifles Innovation In Health Products, Costs You More
Under this proposed legislation, introducing innovative new ingredients to be used in supplement products will become a greater burden. The FDA would no longer permit new dietary ingredients that are “found in the food supply." At present, the FDA already rejects more than 70% of the new ingredient submissions, indicative of a very rigorous process—one that already exists and that adequately protects consumer health. The costs associated with a new substantiation regime will be increasingly large, limiting development of new products and causing supplement prices to skyrocket.

• Burdens Retailers, Costs You More
Retailers will have to register with the FDA and will be required to obtain and keep records that surpass what is required for over-the-counter drugs.

Our Take: The proposed legislation addresses a problem that doesn’t exist; namely, that nutritional supplements are not safe. The products available at respected retailers, such as GNC, have an extremely strong safety record—much better than many common over-the-counter products, such as pain relievers. This bill punishes responsible manufacturers, retailers and consumers with additional burdens, limiting availability and increasing costs that offer no additional consumer protection. At a time when health costs are skyrocketing, using supplements to promote wellness and prevent disease should not be discouraged and made cost-prohibitive.
 Take Action Now:
Contact your senators and tell them to oppose bill S. 3002. Go to SaveOurSupplements.org and click on “Take Action" to automatically send a letter to your senators.

Take Action Now: Contact your senators and tell them to oppose bill S. 3002. Go to SaveOurSupplements.org and click on “Take Action" to automatically send a letter to your senators.