Any news on HR 5564? Will this pass?
Hasn’t come to a vote yet. Hope not. (You did get your cards and letters into your local representatives, right? :))
Please tell everyone you know to visit the United Supplement Freedom Association at
www.usfa.biz There is a link at that site to contact members of Congress. I heard that the the House bill was so poorly written that they are going to rewrite it to provide greater clarity. This will cause a delay and provide the industry more time to fight it, which is good. However, the new version of the bill will be more lethal, which is bad. I also heard that someone in the Senate proposed a similar bill, which is bad news because now there are two bills to defeat instead of just one. Everyone must keep sending e-mails and letters to their federal members of Congress every single week while there is still time to act. It is possible that a war with Iraq could also cause the Congress to become preoccupied with much more important issues. In my opinion, all of the supplement companies, retail stores, and distributors should really emphasize the devastating financial consequences of the bills like bankruptcies, loss of employment, and decreased revenue.
Let’s face it, the economy is not doing well at all and these bills are going to destroy a lot of businesses if either of them passes. Some people are trying to use the argument that making these supplements illegal will support terrorism, but that strategy is going to fail miserably if they pursue it. Instead, their best bet is to focus on the outstanding safety record of the products, the severe economic losses for the entire industry, the lack of scientific evidence which shows a public health threat, and then find a way to “protect our children.” I read that GNC now cards people to see if they are at least 18 years old and this is a step in the right direction if you want to pacify the politicians. I would also recommend harsh warning labels and a change in marketing techniques which is how the alcohol and tobacco lobby handled a similar political problem years ago. My point is the politicians must feel as though they scored some kind of a “political victory” and this will be best achieved by reaching a reasonable compromise that falls short of a ban. The politicians need to be able to “save face” by making it look like they did something to “protect the children” otherwise they will be publicly humiliated and look like failures. However, we must also protect our rights under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act and fight any effort to amend that law. The industry brought this problem upon itself, now it needs to find a way to fix it and show the Congressman exactly how they can do that without banning the products.
Please note that H.R. 5564 was reintroduced in Congress as H.R. 207. This is a very important change so make sure that all of your current and future e-mails and letters reference H.R. 207 and not the old four digit number 5564. I hate to sound like a broken record, but please take the time to contact your members of Congress and tell all of your friends to do the same. If you already contacted them, please do so again. If hundreds of thousands of people do this, I believe that the will of the people will prevail and that we will win. So, get the word out to the bodybuilding community and to the huge life extension/anti-aging market. It is not enough to just talk about the ban. We must take action now because many other supplements will be targeted for removal at a later time if we allow the andro bill to pass. Weakness is provocative. Fight for your liberties and freedoms or you will lose them and we will regress to the old days of dessicated liver tablets, Cybergenics, Hot Stuff, and other useless products.
Thanks for the update, Mark. T-Nationers, the following two links will show you exactly who your senators and representatives for your areas are so you can send a quick (but vitally important) email to them voicing your opposition to HR 207. It’s fast and easy – let’s do it, guys! (Remove spaces in URL’s) http://www.house.gov/writerep/
U.S. Senate: Request not Accepted - Security Risk Detected contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=WA