Thursday, September 8, 2011

Feds Threaten Health Freedom With New Vitamin Regulations

More absurd regulatory overreach from this administration: The Food and Drug Administration, the federal agency that is very happy to greenlight pharmaceutical drugs with horrible side effects, wants to pull most vitamins and other nutritional supplements off the shelves.

When the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) was passed in 1994, Congress intended there be a simple notification system for new supplements. But under draft regulations, the FDA is turning it into a pre-approval scheme—-one that Congress never intended. This will reduce the number of supplements sold and increase the cost of those that remain. In other words, the regulations as currently written translate into forced withdrawal from the market of many of many dietary supplements and skyrocketing prices if the supplements are allowed to be sold again.

Many holistic health freedom organizations have designated today, September 8, as a national "call-in day" to contact Congress to protest these draconian regulations.

Millions of Americans derive good results from natural dietary supplements. Isn't the Obama administration all about "healthcare"? While some supplements (especially those advertised on TV) lack quality ingredients or overstate their efficacy, existing law, voluntary industry standards, and the ability for consumers to research specific products on the Internet provides a self-correcting mechanism.

As we've said before, the fact that some businesses are unethical or corrupt provides no justification for turning over entire industries to bureaucratic central planners.