Government vs Supplements

I know some things have been posted on here before about new laws restricting supplements, but I came across this somewhat alarming site/ news. I apologize if this was recently posted somewhere else; thought it would get some attention in the popular GAL forum. Mods - please move the post accordingly.

http://www.saveoursupplements.org/?csm=126006548&csc=195457&csa=126009340&csu=195497

"On February 3, 2010, Senators John McCain and Byron Dorgan introduced S. 3002, a bill entitled, The Dietary Supplement Safety Act. The supposed purpose of the bill is to make dietary supplements “safer.” This is ironic because dietary supplements are already hundreds of times safer than either prescription or over-the-counter drugs.

The real purpose of this bill is to limit your access to dietary suppl ements. The government would tell you, the consumer, what dietary supplements you could and could not buy. There is little doubt that if this bill becomes law your choices will be drastically reduced, and many of the supplements you take today will become illegal. This misguided bill affects ALL dietary supplements, including vitamins, minerals, herbs, sports and diet products.

But, who is behind this bill? The answer is simple: big time sports leagues, especially Major League Baseball, which in recent years have been plagued by steroid scandals. Fearful that Congress will end their lucrative anti-trust exemption and require real drug testing, they have decided to make the supplement industry their scapegoat. When one of their players tests positive for steroids, they’d like people to think it must have been an adulterated dietary supplement.

Unless you want the government to tell you what supplements you can and cannot take, and unless you want to see your freedom of choice drastically reduced, you need to make your views known to your United States Senators. Tell them to oppose this terrible piece of legislation."

This is a big deal, hey mods can we get a sticky for this?

What does Biotest care if its not on the “list”?

I doubt this will get passed considering the supplement companies will just call up their lobbyists.

[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:
What does Biotest care if its not on the “list”?

I doubt this will get passed considering the supplement companies will just call up their lobbyists.[/quote]

LOL!!!

Seriously, what is “alternate Earth” like?

[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:
What does Biotest care if its not on the “list”?

I doubt this will get passed considering the supplement companies will just call up their lobbyists.[/quote]

Didn’t people say the same thing when they were banning the best prohormones a few years ago?

EDIT: everybody should be contacting their senators and congressmen and expressing their disapproval of this bill. And do it intelligently and politely, not: “DON’T TAKE MY CREATINE AWAY OR I WILL MURDER YOU AND YOUR FAMILY”

Since John McCain got shot down over Vietnam, this obviously makes him qualified to keep us safe from the menaces of fish oil, creatine and B12.

[quote]belligerent wrote:
Since John McCain got shot down over Vietnam, this obviously makes him qualified to keep us safe from the menaces of fish oil, creatine and B12.[/quote]

Wasn’t it his plane that started the Forrestal fire? I don’t remember clearly but I think the training videos from boot camp mentioned him but that was over 5 years ago.

The website has a generic letter that you can email to your local congressman. I just did in less than two minutes and I encourage everyone else to do the same. This definitely needs to be stopped!

[quote]American Muscle wrote:
The website has a generic letter that you can email to your local congressman. I just did in less than two minutes and I encourage everyone else to do the same. This definitely needs to be stopped![/quote]

Pssshh. Generic letter? I emailed my senator telling him if this passed I would make it my personal mission to create a path of destruction visible from outer space that led straight to his door. The last line read “Game on, Fuckers”. I cc’ed Obama, too.

I’m wondering if it will warrant a visit from the FBI.

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:
What does Biotest care if its not on the “list”?

I doubt this will get passed considering the supplement companies will just call up their lobbyists.[/quote]

LOL!!!

Seriously, what is “alternate Earth” like?[/quote]

Do you want me to knock you out? 'Cuse it sounds like you’re asking for a club sandwich.

Hmmmmm, i am sure glad that i didn’t vote for this braindead idiot.

This is from the website and includes some of the provisions of the bill:

  • All dietary supplements, whether vitamins, minerals, herbal products and others that were previously allowed under DSHEA, could be removed from the market under S. 3002. This legislation would mandate that every dietary supplement would have to go through a brand new process of government review (yet to be defined) in order to remain on store shelves.

    • For the first time in the history of food or drug law, retail establishments would need to register with the FDA. Failing to register could result in severe monetary penalties, up to two times your gross profit. Not complying with even minimal technical requirements, such as minor errors in registration, recordkeeping or reporting could be considered a criminal offense.

    • Retailers would also be required to obtain â??adequate written evidenceâ?? from suppliers that each dietary supplement product meets all regulatory requirements. Again, failure to do so could result in severe monetary penalties.

    • The bill introduces severe monetary penalties for all involved in the supply chain including ingredient suppliers and manufacturers, up to two times their gross profit for failing to comply even with minimal technical requirements. These include oversights in registration, recordkeeping or reporting that have no effect on the safety of a product.

    • Suppliers would be required to report all adverse events, not just those that are â??serious.â?? Reporting of all adverse events, including even minor complaints, would provide no additional consumer safety. However, it will add a significant burden to manufacturers in recordkeeping and reporting, as well as exposure to potential product liability lawsuits.

    • Introducing new or innovative dietary supplements or dietary ingredients will be subjected to a much more rigorous approval process.

…This has been brought up before under the name of Codex Alimentarius and another possibly failed bill. I didn’t follow it. I’m wondering if the two are related. It was considered a conspiracy theory and a way for the big pharmaceutical corporations to take over the supplement market as smaller companies would not be able to afford process of making sure all the details were covered. Again, I’m not sure if they are related, but it sounds eerily familiar.

Your e-mail message was sent to:
Senator Roland W. Burris (D-IL)
Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)

[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:
What does Biotest care if its not on the “list”?

I doubt this will get passed considering the supplement companies will just call up their lobbyists.[/quote]

LOL!!!

Seriously, what is “alternate Earth” like?[/quote]

Do you want me to knock you out? 'Cuse it sounds like you’re asking for a club sandwich.[/quote]

Was this supposed to be witty? If you think “supplement lobbyists” somehow now outweigh the lobbyists of big pharm companies, again I ask what your own personal world is like.

You basically blew off an attempt at legislation that if passed could affect every one of us…unless you don’t mind increased prices of basic supplements that many of use daily and the removal of any that actually work.

Thats why you guys need to elect Mr. Schwarzenegger (lol spell check fixed the name for me 0_o) to the Senate. It just seems like a stupid bill to me and whilst I have limited knowledge of bills that have passed into law in the US this one would surprise me if passed.

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t follow politics much at all, but this strikes me as kind of George Orwell-Big Brother-ish to me. It’s as if politicians don’t trust the ‘little citizens of America’ to make our own decisions safely and intelligently, so they have to take control of every detail. To me, that’s what freedom is about: you’re free to make stupid decisions, you’re free to make a product and try to sell it for profit, you’re free to pursue your own interests and happiness.

We have a responsibility to ourselves and our community to do those things in a safe manner that doesn’t harm others, and in general we (collectively, the nutritional supplement community) have been doing that. Things like phen-phen come along and do some damage and the government steps in to ban them, and it may be good to see some things regulated by the FDA to prevent problems like that, but this just feels like a big step in a bad direction.

[quote]theuofh wrote:
This is from the website and includes some of the provisions of the bill:

  • All dietary supplements, whether vitamins, minerals, herbal products and others that were previously allowed under DSHEA, could be removed from the market under S. 3002. This legislation would mandate that every dietary supplement would have to go through a brand new process of government review (yet to be defined) in order to remain on store shelves.

    • For the first time in the history of food or drug law, retail establishments would need to register with the FDA. Failing to register could result in severe monetary penalties, up to two times your gross profit. Not complying with even minimal technical requirements, such as minor errors in registration, recordkeeping or reporting could be considered a criminal offense.

    • Retailers would also be required to obtain Ã?¢??adequate written evidenceÃ?¢?? from suppliers that each dietary supplement product meets all regulatory requirements. Again, failure to do so could result in severe monetary penalties.

    • The bill introduces severe monetary penalties for all involved in the supply chain including ingredient suppliers and manufacturers, up to two times their gross profit for failing to comply even with minimal technical requirements. These include oversights in registration, recordkeeping or reporting that have no effect on the safety of a product.

    • Suppliers would be required to report all adverse events, not just those that are Ã?¢??serious.Ã?¢?? Reporting of all adverse events, including even minor complaints, would provide no additional consumer safety. However, it will add a significant burden to manufacturers in recordkeeping and reporting, as well as exposure to potential product liability lawsuits.

    • Introducing new or innovative dietary supplements or dietary ingredients will be subjected to a much more rigorous approval process.

…This has been brought up before under the name of Codex Alimentarius and another possibly failed bill. I didn’t follow it. I’m wondering if the two are related. It was considered a conspiracy theory and a way for the big pharmaceutical corporations to take over the supplement market as smaller companies would not be able to afford process of making sure all the details were covered. Again, I’m not sure if they are related, but it sounds eerily familiar.
[/quote]

I really hate how these things, in writing, sound fairly noble and scientifically based; yet in practice just don’t work effectively.

And government intervention with supplements, aside from some cases, just pisses me off. In Canada Phen-fen was banned (for obvious reasons), yet a compound called Sibutramine is backed by the government for obesity, these compounds are pretty much identical in effects except the latter is government-owned, and the former was not.

I read through this thread and part of the other thread, so I haven’t read every post yet. But:

Have the Biotest “guys” weighed in on this at all? given their opinions at any point, or mentioned this at all? I’m sure they’re keeping close track of this bill since it would affect them more than any of us.