A transcript of a brief talk of Senator Harkin, as forwarded by Elwood Richard, for information.
Subject: Protect DSHEA Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 09:21:32 -0500 More evidence that there is a serious threat to health freedom Senator Harkin Script Hi. I'm Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa. First let me say how proud I am to have been on your side in the many battles going back to 1994. We worked together to get some important things accomplished for the health of the American people and I thank you for that. But now, we may be fighting our biggest battle ever in the United States Congress over how dietary supplements are regulated. I'm talking about the threat to the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. As you know, together with my colleague across the aisle and my co-sponsor of DSHEA, Senator Orrin Hatch, fought some tough battles to get this important law passed. Senator Hatch has remarked that our opponents threw everything at us but the kitchen sink back in 1993 and 1994 to defeat DSHEA. Well, now their aim's better. About three years ago I said that DSHEA was facing its most serious threat since its passage. Today, our challenge is even bigger. Those who would undo DSHEA have stepped-up their efforts in the past few years. Right now, there are no less than half a dozen bills in both the House or Senate that would dismantle the law. Take DSHEA apart. If some of the bills out there were to become law, Americans could lose access to many of the dietary supplements they count on to maintain and improve their health, like I do every day. Introducing new products will become more difficult and expensive. And the Food and Drug Administration, the agency that has quite frankly failed to enforce the law, will get unprecedented authority over dietary supplements. Our message must be simple: we should enforce DSHEA, not gut it. Time after time I've asked the heads of the Food and Drug Administration, Do you have the authority you need to take dangerous products off the shelves and every time their answer has been "yes." Yet all too often, instead of using the authority granted by DSHEA, the FDA has sat on their hands. For years they delayed getting out the "gumps," good manufacturing practice standards. For years they sat back and let street drug knock-offs stay on the shelves. For years they've bungled on ephedra and andro. As I said, your message must be simple: enforce DSHEA, don't gut it. Well, we've got our work cut out for us. To preserve DSHEA, and the right of consumers to choose the healthful products they want and need, I believe three things need to happen, and they need to happen fast. First, Congress needs to be educated about the benefits DSHEA brought to the American people. I know you're already doing this, butmore needs to be done. Second, you need to get the word out to the 190 million people who use vitamins, minerals and other nutritional supplements that their freedom to choose healthful and affordable products is in jeopardy. Again, I know you've made a great start in this area, but an expanded effort is necessary to really be effective. And third, we need to make sure that the Food and Drug Administration does its job. On this last point, Senator Hatch and I have gotten legislation through that should help by giving the Food and Drug Administration more funding to implement the law. I believe DSHEA has brought greater choice and better nutrition to people all over this country. People today are taking better care of themselves, they're taking the vitamins and the minerals and the other nutritional supplements - what they want and what they need to stay healthy. If appropriately implemented, it can have an even more positive impact on the health of Americans. And as long as I'm in the United States Senate, you have my commitment that we're going to keep moving that forward. Thank -- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver List archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html Address Off-Topic messages to: [email protected] OT Archive: http://escribe.com/health/silverofftopiclist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
