cbsunshine
Member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2007
- Messages
- 5
ACTION ALERT: WASHINGTON, January 9, 2008 - We are in the thick of an election year and many of the candidates for President are clamoring to offer health policies that simply maintain the status quo and enable the pharmaceutical industry to maintain its stranglehold on consumers. These same candidates would also allow the FDA to continue to shirk its duty to protect consumers from the often dangerous or lethal drugs big pharma is all too eager to push on the public. It is especially important at this time for our elected representatives to support policy and legislation that puts consumers in control of their own health decisions.
That is why it is critical that you urge your Representative to co-sponsor Ron Paul's Health Freedom Protection Act, H.R. 2117. With your help we can surpass the level of support the bill enjoyed in the 109th session, and bring it to the floor for a vote.
Tell your Congressperson to co-sponsor H.R. 2117!
The FDA's approval process for informational labeling of food-based health claims has been so slow and uncertain that very little meaningful health information is making its way to food and dietary supplement consumers. Why does the FDA ban speech that can heal and save lives? Many dietary ingredients have therapeutic effects, yet telling the truth about those effects in the market can land you in jail. The Food and Drug Administration makes it next to impossible to assert any claim that a supplement or nutrient has the potential to positively affect a person's health.
The Federal Trade Commission prosecutes parties who make advertising claims about the effects of foods and nutrients on the body. It does not limit those prosecutions to parties that actually deceive consumers. It also does not limit those prosecutions to products that fail to perform as advertised. In short, in this standardless environment, the FTC can exercise a great deal of discretion to determine what claims are deceptive and which ones are valid. No one in this country should be held by the government to be a deceptive advertiser unless the government proves that consumers have in fact been deceived.
Ron Paul's Health Freedom Protection Act, a bill first introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2005, would end FDA and FTC censorship and give consumers access to truthful, non-misleading health information by making it easier for manufacturers of vitamins, supplements, and other foods to display health claims on product labels. H.R. 2117 was re-introduced in the House on Wednesday, May 2, 2007, but has not yet attained the level of support it enjoyed in the last Congressional session.
That is why it is important to acknowledge those in Congress who, by co-sponsoring the Health Freedom Protection Act in this session, have cast their votes in support of consumers and our access to the information we need to make our own choices about our health.
Citizens for Health applauds the following Representatives and their courage in standing up in support of our freedom to control our health decisions (the dates following their names indicate when they became a co-sponsor):
Sponsor: Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14]
Rep Bartlett, Roscoe G. [MD-6] - 5/2/2007
Rep Burton, Dan [IN-5] - 5/2/2007
Rep DeFazio, Peter A. [OR-4] - 6/8/2007
Rep Duncan, John J., Jr. [TN-2] - 5/2/2007
Rep Fortuno, Luis G. [PR] - 6/8/2007
Rep Kuhl, John R. "Randy", Jr. [NY-29] - 6/15/2007
Rep Musgrave, Marilyn N. [CO-4] - 8/3/2007
Rep Rohrabacher, Dana [CA-46] - 12/18/2007
Rep Shays, Christopher [CT-4] - 5/2/2007
Will your Representative be the next one to add his/her name to this list? This is your chance to let Congress know you will not sit back while our government works to keep important health information from consumers.
Go to www.citizens.org
That is why it is critical that you urge your Representative to co-sponsor Ron Paul's Health Freedom Protection Act, H.R. 2117. With your help we can surpass the level of support the bill enjoyed in the 109th session, and bring it to the floor for a vote.
Tell your Congressperson to co-sponsor H.R. 2117!
The FDA's approval process for informational labeling of food-based health claims has been so slow and uncertain that very little meaningful health information is making its way to food and dietary supplement consumers. Why does the FDA ban speech that can heal and save lives? Many dietary ingredients have therapeutic effects, yet telling the truth about those effects in the market can land you in jail. The Food and Drug Administration makes it next to impossible to assert any claim that a supplement or nutrient has the potential to positively affect a person's health.
The Federal Trade Commission prosecutes parties who make advertising claims about the effects of foods and nutrients on the body. It does not limit those prosecutions to parties that actually deceive consumers. It also does not limit those prosecutions to products that fail to perform as advertised. In short, in this standardless environment, the FTC can exercise a great deal of discretion to determine what claims are deceptive and which ones are valid. No one in this country should be held by the government to be a deceptive advertiser unless the government proves that consumers have in fact been deceived.
Ron Paul's Health Freedom Protection Act, a bill first introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2005, would end FDA and FTC censorship and give consumers access to truthful, non-misleading health information by making it easier for manufacturers of vitamins, supplements, and other foods to display health claims on product labels. H.R. 2117 was re-introduced in the House on Wednesday, May 2, 2007, but has not yet attained the level of support it enjoyed in the last Congressional session.
That is why it is important to acknowledge those in Congress who, by co-sponsoring the Health Freedom Protection Act in this session, have cast their votes in support of consumers and our access to the information we need to make our own choices about our health.
Citizens for Health applauds the following Representatives and their courage in standing up in support of our freedom to control our health decisions (the dates following their names indicate when they became a co-sponsor):
Sponsor: Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14]
Rep Bartlett, Roscoe G. [MD-6] - 5/2/2007
Rep Burton, Dan [IN-5] - 5/2/2007
Rep DeFazio, Peter A. [OR-4] - 6/8/2007
Rep Duncan, John J., Jr. [TN-2] - 5/2/2007
Rep Fortuno, Luis G. [PR] - 6/8/2007
Rep Kuhl, John R. "Randy", Jr. [NY-29] - 6/15/2007
Rep Musgrave, Marilyn N. [CO-4] - 8/3/2007
Rep Rohrabacher, Dana [CA-46] - 12/18/2007
Rep Shays, Christopher [CT-4] - 5/2/2007
Will your Representative be the next one to add his/her name to this list? This is your chance to let Congress know you will not sit back while our government works to keep important health information from consumers.
Go to www.citizens.org
