Sen. Orrin Hatch blasted a new bill that health experts are calling a government takeover of the vitamin industry.
New legislation proposed by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., earlier this month would crack down on the testing, labeling, and sale of dietary supplements nationwide.
“I don’t know why we should add more regulation when what we have on the books is working,” Hatch, a Utah Republican, told Newsmax.
The increased regulation almost certainly will deny many Americans easy, affordable access to the natural health products they rely on daily, experts warn.
“This unnecessary power grab would benefit FDA regulators and pharmaceutical companies by taking their competitors off the market, and it would harm the American public,” says Michelle Minton, director of the Insurance Studies Project at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington D.C. watchdog group.
Sens. Durbin and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., quietly submitted the Dietary Supplement Labeling Act of 2011 over the July 4th weekend.
Despite its innocuous title, the bill would force a massive reclassification of food additives and dietary supplements to be managed by the Food and Drug Administration.
Durbin’s bill was made public on the same day the FDA issued proposed new guidelines that would alter the way the agency approves and polices vitamins and dietary supplements.
“Regulatory hurdles such as these are a means by which government bureaucrats get in the way of individuals’ ability to make their own decisions about their healthcare,” warns Minton.
The combination of the two anti-supplement initiatives would force natural health manufacturers to submit to expensive government testing, adopt new labeling, and compete for market share with well-funded pharmaceutical makers who already have long-standing and mutually lucrative relationships with the FDA, health industry insiders say.
Popular supplements now being sold without government interference would be removed from shelves, in some cases for years, pending FDA tests and approval. The cost of all dietary supplements would likely spike as a result of the additional regulatory burden.
Under existing law, the FDA already has enough authority to ensure supplement safety, said Sen. Hatch. “In fact, several former FDA commissioners have said that the agency already has the appropriate and sufficient level of oversight of this industry," he said. "I don't know why we should add more regulation when what we have on the books is working."
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New legislation proposed by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., earlier this month would crack down on the testing, labeling, and sale of dietary supplements nationwide.
“I don’t know why we should add more regulation when what we have on the books is working,” Hatch, a Utah Republican, told Newsmax.
The increased regulation almost certainly will deny many Americans easy, affordable access to the natural health products they rely on daily, experts warn.
“This unnecessary power grab would benefit FDA regulators and pharmaceutical companies by taking their competitors off the market, and it would harm the American public,” says Michelle Minton, director of the Insurance Studies Project at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington D.C. watchdog group.
Sens. Durbin and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., quietly submitted the Dietary Supplement Labeling Act of 2011 over the July 4th weekend.
Despite its innocuous title, the bill would force a massive reclassification of food additives and dietary supplements to be managed by the Food and Drug Administration.
Durbin’s bill was made public on the same day the FDA issued proposed new guidelines that would alter the way the agency approves and polices vitamins and dietary supplements.
“Regulatory hurdles such as these are a means by which government bureaucrats get in the way of individuals’ ability to make their own decisions about their healthcare,” warns Minton.
The combination of the two anti-supplement initiatives would force natural health manufacturers to submit to expensive government testing, adopt new labeling, and compete for market share with well-funded pharmaceutical makers who already have long-standing and mutually lucrative relationships with the FDA, health industry insiders say.
Popular supplements now being sold without government interference would be removed from shelves, in some cases for years, pending FDA tests and approval. The cost of all dietary supplements would likely spike as a result of the additional regulatory burden.
Under existing law, the FDA already has enough authority to ensure supplement safety, said Sen. Hatch. “In fact, several former FDA commissioners have said that the agency already has the appropriate and sufficient level of oversight of this industry," he said. "I don't know why we should add more regulation when what we have on the books is working."
Read more on Newsmax
3 comments:
can you tell me how many people have died from taking food supplements?
now; how many people have died from taking drugs? every 5 years at least 20% of ALL drugs will be removed from the market place because they have been deemed dangerous and deadly.
the fda and drug companies want to put the supplement market under "heavy" regulation because people are learning more each day how these supplements can replace drugs. not all, but enough that they are "eating" into their profits.
always follow the money. especially with the government. i can ALMOST guarantee that the 2 senators durbin and blumenthal are being paid by the drug industry to introduce this bill.
we need to fight this bill and kill it. this is just one more "freedom" we will lose.
Guess where the majority of these supplements are manufactured? Utah. Hence, Senator Hatch's disapproval of regulating the supplement industry.
so what !!!!!!! at least he's fighting it for us. now let me see; they have to be manufactured somewhere don't they.....
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