SUPPLEMENTS UNDER ATTACK - Please email your Senator

[snorkelman]

The proposed legislation provides the FDA with mandatory recall authority if a product is found to be unsafe or harmful.

Did you know that it took the FDA ten years to ban ephedra? Sorry, but this is more than just the FDA not using the tools it already has.

[Macrobolic]

The proposed legislation provides the FDA with mandatory recall authority if a product is found to be unsafe or harmful.

Did you know that it took the FDA ten years to ban ephedra? Sorry, but this is more than just the FDA not using the tools it already has.

That's because they had a grand total of, guess how many, 23 adverse reports! Hardly anything to blink at. I also researched it for a school paper and found that some of these reports actually had absolutely nothing to do with ephedra. In one instance, the "adverse event" related to ephedra was a person who died in a car crash. Yeah, that one was really caused by ephedra.

If you then look at the adverse event reports from aspirin, there are thousands every year. Guess what, aspirin is still available. Sort of a one way street with the FDA.

On top of that, they only banned ephedra as a dietary supplement. You can still legally purchase it from the pharmacy counter and get the same effects. Way to go FDA!

[Rev 13:18]

I feel that the FDA probably should start regulating supps. Clearly the supp industry has not regulated themselves. They make outlandish claims and that would stop if the FDA started regulating them.

Stop with the scare tactics. It probably will result in less money for the supp companies so I expect that all the reps are all going to be lined up on the same side of this issue.

These are not scare tactics. The problem with the FDA is that they don't get enough money and are therefore grossly understaffed.

The best analogy would be to picture a city of 100,000 people with 2 police officers trying to prevent crime. Not gonna work.

The FDA does not have to begin regulating supplements, they just have to do their jobs. The perception that Big Pharma and other enemies of the supplement industry want to portray is that we're the wild wild west with no laws to control us.

The laws are there for FDA to properly regulate this industry...the resources are not.

[digitalgoodtime]

and some of you guys wanted him to be president back when the election was going on...don't you understand both candidates controlled by corporate interests?

they are attacking supplements any way they can. it's a damn shame.

[CRAZED ANIMAL]

That's because they had a grand total of, guess how many, 23 adverse reports! Hardly anything to blink at. I also researched it for a school paper and found that some of these reports actually had absolutely nothing to do with ephedra. In one instance, the "adverse event" related to ephedra was a person who died in a car crash. Yeah, that one was really caused by ephedra.

If you then look at the adverse event reports from aspirin, there are thousands every year. Guess what, aspirin is still available. Sort of a one way street with the FDA.

On top of that, they only banned ephedra as a dietary supplement. You can still legally purchase it from the pharmacy counter and get the same effects. Way to go FDA!

But that makes sense to me, put the onus on the person who wants to take something like ephedra to go the extra mile. Lets not make it a guessing game or an insiders secret as to what is in our everyday supps. Or worse yet what that supp. may be doing to you. Keep grey market or worse products in the grey market.

I dont know about you guys but I would have taken anything availiable and did take anything I could easily get my hands on as a 16-17 yr old kid if I thought it meant I could get 1 or 2 more tackles playing h.s. football.

I think with the recent shenanigans its obvious something needs to be done. if it takes a new bill to get the job done then Im all for it. even if it means I need to go the extra mile to get the hardcore products I want. It just makes sense and seems the right thing to do for the times.

whatchya think?

[Rev 13:18]

The proposed legislation provides the FDA with mandatory recall authority if a product is found to be unsafe or harmful.

Did you know that it took the FDA ten years to ban ephedra? Sorry, but this is more than just the FDA not using the tools it already has.

Maybe you should apply for a job as an FDA inspector.

Oops , wait a minute, I forgot they have a hiring freeze because they have no money to hire more inspectors to enforce the laws.

[legalgear]

Well, there are good points on both sides, but the ephedra thing is a prime example of stupidity and public reaction. However, on the flip side the industry was immature too, so it is blame on both sides. I think we are past this and the current law gives plenty of discretion to the FDA.

[apilot]

Mr. President lets take all nutritional and supplement products off the shelf, give the people fast food stamps, continue giving bail out money to big corporations so they can create more automated in home systems....these actions will keep people in their homes, away from gyms, play grounds, ball parks, etc....heck the UV rays are harmful enough, this will also allow us to protect them from global warming...control health care cost, etc. You will have full control Mr. President, the people will all be inside at home out of harms way, becoming obese from their sedimentary lifestyles, and suffering from severe bone loss...they will become immobile, fully controllable Mr. President......

[afranczyk]

So does this mean I could potentially get a DUI if I drink my superpump while I'm driving to the gym

Sir, can you calmly step out of the vehicle.

[davidl351]

i'm sure if the general public gets whiff of the smoke that's going to be blown up their arse, this whole debacle will turn into the next anti-vaccine movement.

there's also another bill that congress is trying to pass that will put more sanctions onto food buying. one such sanction will almost be tying co-op farm programs' hands behind their backs. recent news is truly a shame.

[AnEn1gma]

Lets get these lower class supplement companies off the market and make them ensure what we're using is safe.

Im an AZ resident and will be calling my Senator to thank him. No more poor labeling, possibly dangerous ingredients ect ect.

I understand why you started this thread $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I dont care, this is long overdue.

[-BigT-]

Lets get these lower class supplement companies off the market and make them ensure what we're using is safe.

Im an AZ resident and will be calling my Senator to thank him. No more poor labeling, possibly dangerous ingredients ect ect.

I understand why you started this thread $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I dont care, this is long overdue.

Until creatine gets banned

[AnEn1gma]

Until creatine gets banned

Then I cry too

[EvilSher]

http://www.anh-usa.org/new_site/?p=2307

John McCain Files New Bill Attacking Your Access to Supplements

This Bill Would Repeal Key Sections of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act
Please Contact Your Senators Now to Tell Them Not to Co-sponsor This Exceptionally Bad Bill and Instead Help Us to Defeat It!

The Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA) would repeal key sections of the Dietary Supplementnull Health and Education Act (DSHEA). It would give the FDA full discretion and power to compile a discreet list of supplements allowed to remain on the market while banning all others.

Everyone knows that the FDA is friendly to drug companies (which pay its bills and provide good revolving door jobs) and hostile to supplement companies. Under this bill, this same Agency could quite arbitrarily ban any supplement it wished or turn it over to drug companies to be developed as a drug and sold for multiples of its price as a supplement.

If McCain?s bill passes, we can look to Europe for a snapshot of what we may be in for: EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, has sharply reduced the list of available supplements and is in process of reducing potencies to ridiculous levels, such as less beta carotene than can be found in half of a large carrot. Europeans already look to the US to obtain their dietary supplements. If this bill passes, where will we obtain ours?

Please take action immediately. Tell your senators NOT to co- sponsor the detrimental legislation and to do everything in their power to defeat it. Then forward this to your friends and family and ask then to do the same!

god dam i hate mcCain. He lives here in az where im at. Hes also the reason why Dana White doesnt come here, McCain tried to ban mma back in the days. Crazy guy needs to go back to nam.

imagine what he wouldve done if he became president.

[JohnSmeton]

Does any one have the websites(or links) of all the senators to send this to?

[XX400EX]

Why do folks keep saying ephedra is banned? I buy mine at walmart lol. Just have to ask for it. One thing i would like to see is ''proprietary blend'' gone. They should be required to list ea ingredient and the amount of each.

[JSR1974]

I had them repukes

[Rev 13:18]

Does any one have the websites(or links) of all the senators to send this to?

Follow this link and once you fill in you info, it will automaticaly send the letter to the appropriate lawmakers from you state:

http://www.anh-usa.org/new_site/?p=2307

[Macrobolic]

Does any one have the websites(or links) of all the senators to send this to?

This is where you can look up who your senators are:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contac...nators_cfm.cfm

[Macrobolic]

One thing i would like to see is ''proprietary blend'' gone. They should be required to list ea ingredient and the amount of each.

It is used to protect combinations that companies have come up with. Some companies use it to pixie dust their supplements and boost the look of their labels, but some companies legitimately use it to keep competitor's from using their formula.

[chrisgrover]

Theeey took eeerr jowbbs!! errr...Suppz!

[arn710]

Posting so I can find this thread later for the movie link

[legalgear]

In every industry there is good and bad, that being said if you think that having aditional government oversight is a good thing, I disagree.

The main reason I disagree with the bill proposal is that most everything in the bill is in place in some form, so it is pointless. The other thing is that the FDA can then arbitrarily make claims against individual companies and ingredients which keeps the real issue off the table. The real issue is that targeting individual companies looks great on the headlines but does nothing for the industry.

Let's take the recent Muscletech issue, they recalled HydroxyCut Hardcore supposedly because of the Hydroxy Citric Acid in the product. Yet HCA is still on the market in many, many supplements! Is HCA dangerous or not? If it is, then prove the case and take it off the market, if not then why pick on HydroxyCut at all.

Finally, the issue with "non-serious" adverse effects. As a company owner, I need to tell you the absolutely ridiculous reports we get sometimes.

"I ordered T-911 and got the flu. My friend ordered the same supplement from the same company and got the flu too! I think your T-911 might be causing the flu in some people"

To which I replied "Ever consider that 1) you picked up the flu somewhere else? 2) Maybe the person at ****************** who packed the boxes might have had the flu? 3) You picked up the flu and gave it to your friend?" Science tells us that it is pretty improbable that 2 cases of the flu tied to 2 guys taking T-911 could be tied to the product (since thousands of other bottles had no similar issue and it is pretty impossible to contract the flu from a pill). Do I report that to the FDA?

How about HydroxyCut which had 9 supposed deaths over something like 9,000,000 bottles sold. Please someone do the percentages for me. In statistics there has to be a significant correlation, and in this case there clearly isn't. So, the company obviously had then thousands of people filing lawsuits on the sole basis of a flawed FDA claim and recall. There was a "thought" that HCA was the "likely culprit"! Should Muscletech have to do a nationwide recall on such flimsy evidence?

You know sometimes people take drugs, drink excessively and then take a supplement. I am all for GMP, so I am not anti-oversight at all. What goes on in the protein side of the business is disgusting. However if you think the world is as simple as black and white, you are insane. I am not for government intervention in general unless there is SLOW and deliberate processes for the government to follow. The "shoot first" with a big headline and ask questions later is unfair and inappropriate.

[thundaclap]

You can't even buy carnitine in Canada. We seem to be heading down the same path

[Vaporeizied]

In every industry there is good and bad, that being said if you think that having aditional government oversight is a good thing, I disagree.

The main reason I disagree with the bill proposal is that most everything in the bill is in place in some form, so it is pointless. The other thing is that the FDA can then arbitrarily make claims against individual companies and ingredients which keeps the real issue off the table. The real issue is that targeting individual companies looks great on the headlines but does nothing for the industry.

Let's take the recent Muscletech issue, they recalled HydroxyCut Hardcore supposedly because of the Hydroxy Citric Acid in the product. Yet HCA is still on the market in many, many supplements! Is HCA dangerous or not? If it is, then prove the case and take it off the market, if not then why pick on HydroxyCut at all.

Finally, the issue with "non-serious" adverse effects. As a company owner, I need to tell you the absolutely ridiculous reports we get sometimes.

"I ordered T-911 and got the flu. My friend ordered the same supplement from the same company and got the flu too! I think your T-911 might be causing the flu in some people"

To which I replied "Ever consider that 1) you picked up the flu somewhere else? 2) Maybe the person at ****************** who packed the boxes might have had the flu? 3) You picked up the flu and gave it to your friend?" Science tells us that it is pretty improbable that 2 cases of the flu tied to 2 guys taking T-911 could be tied to the product (since thousands of other bottles had no similar issue and it is pretty impossible to contract the flu from a pill). Do I report that to the FDA?

How about HydroxyCut which had 9 supposed deaths over something like 9,000,000 bottles sold. Please someone do the percentages for me. In statistics there has to be a significant correlation, and in this case there clearly isn't. So, the company obviously had then thousands of people filing lawsuits on the sole basis of a flawed FDA claim and recall. There was a "thought" that HCA was the "likely culprit"! Should Muscletech have to do a nationwide recall on such flimsy evidence?

You know sometimes people take drugs, drink excessively and then take a supplement. I am all for GMP, so I am not anti-oversight at all. What goes on in the protein side of the business is disgusting. However if you think the world is as simple as black and white, you are insane. I am not for government intervention in general unless there is SLOW and deliberate processes for the government to follow. The "shoot first" with a big headline and ask questions later is unfair and inappropriate.

Your a little wrong with the recall bro- you need to edit your post to read-

Product was recalled AFTER the FDA stepped in and at that point Health Science then agreed to recall Hydroxy- Why, because Hydroxy caused the following and this has been documented as fact-

"The FDA has received 23 reports of serious health problems ranging from jaundice and elevated liver enzymes, an indicator of potential liver injury, to liver damage requiring liver transplant. One death due to liver failure has been reported to the FDA. Other health problems reported include seizures; cardiovascular disorders; and rhabdomyolysis, a type of muscle damage that can lead to other serious health problems such as kidney failure."

Also- for all of these post that mention pharmaceutical companies get away with this and that, please note that the FDA does not regulate supps with the same authority as pharmaceutical companies. So comparing the two is absolutely pointless.

"Producers do not have to have an FDA approval nor inspection of the products for safety or efficacy before being sold to consumers."

Honestly, more then half the products on the web and in stores do not work. We have all been down that road that leads to wasting money every time we have high hopes for a new product.

Finally- we the consumers are really the ones to blame. We allowed companies to come in and make a quick profit and nothing else. Stop blaming Congress, the FDA and our Government.

We as consumers are the ones who make it a multi BILLION dollar industry. And in the end, the only ones we should be blaming are ourselves.

[YoungEx20]

but some companies legitimately use it to keep competitor's from using their formula.

Couldn't the company that decided to be the thief just buy the product and have it analyzed in a lab to figure out the formulations? I don't quite buy that argument anymore.

[Macrobolic]

Couldn't the company that decided to be the thief just buy the product and have it analyzed in a lab to figure out the formulations? I don't quite buy that argument anymore.

Because to run analytical tests on every singe ingredient would cost thousands of dollars.

[M Savin]

Its really the supplement companies that caused this mess. They were extremely irresponsible during the prohormone era(s), and now there are consequences.

[dopamine72]

Dear FDA,

[CaptMcClain]

brb stocking up on Red Yeast Rice and CoQ10