Everyone: please forward widely.
IAHF LIST:
NNFA has issued the press release (below) urging the FDA to go after GHB and to ban it from the market. GHB, has been sold in health food stores from the 1960's through the 1990s to millions of satisfied customers as a natural sleep aide- a la the amino acid l-tryptophan (remember l-tryptophan? Remember how NNFA let FDA ban it in order to help Eli Lilly sell prozac?) Brian Leibovitz sure does remember, he was on NNFA's l-tryptophan committee and remembers this in total disgust because NNFA did not do what it should have to fight back, but gutlessly capitulated to the whim of their drug cartel masters like so many groveling lapdogs.
Is GHB in fact a "drug"? It is found in every cell in our bodies- you have it inside your body right now- so under the terms of DSHEA, doesn't that make it a dietary supplement? It is indogenous for God sakes- (kava lactone in kava, by contrast is NOT indogenous and has more of a pharmacologic action in the body, and very similar effects as GHB, (and possibly even a similar biochemical effect as GBL- Gamma butyrolactone- which converts into GHB in vivo.
Wouldn't that be interesting if kava turned out to be an herbal source? Someone should check on this. If it were, would NNFA join the baying jackals at FDA and let them steal it too? The question must be asked.)
So what is NNFA's reasoning here? They choose to defend ephedra (because some of their members happen to sell it- but not GHB, when GHB has been sold in health food stores from the 1960's through the 1990's?) (I think ephedra should be a dietary supplement, but you have to admit, it has more of a pharmacologic effect than GHB does in the body, and it too can be hazardus if used incorrectly- but isn't that what warning labels are for?)
Does this now mean that if the drug cartel launches a PR campaign against kava or any other supplement that the cartel lap dogs of NNFA will assist them in banning it as a dietary supplement so that some drug company like Orphan Medical of Minnesota http://www.orphan.com/ (which has stolen GHB and intends to call it "Xyrem") can go ahead and steal still MORE products that people should have free access to? The question is quite valid and really must be asked. Orphan Medical has filed an NDA on GHB and expects it to be "approved" by the end of this year. I'll be damned if I'll ever buy it- I'll look for a bootleg source as a black market is sure to spring up.)
I called Orphan Medical and they told me that they back H.R. 2130 "Hillory J. Farias Date-Rape Prevention Drug Act of 1999" (see below). This means that they think I should be considered a "felon" for possessing "non FDA approved" GHB which would make it schedule 1 unless I buy my GHB from them as a prescription "drug", (under which it would be classified schedule 3) (??) Something not right with this picture. NNFA obviously backs this bill to because they sure haven't come out in opposition to it. The sick thing about this is that this will only drive GHB underground-and then there REALLY could be problems with impurities just like when they drove alcohol underground during prohibition. (Speaking of which-didn't work- overworked FDA lackies please take note.)
Like Kava, GHB is extraordinarily non toxic and useful if used in a sensible manner. Shouldn't GHB be considered a dietary supplement given that it is an indogenous substance found in every cell in our bodies? Well, it SHOULD but sadly, DSHEA's drug definition allows the FDA to target ANY substance that they choose - including WATER as a "drug", and this is why NNFA and the controlled opposition group CfH have never been in favor of plugging this gaping hole in DSHEA with legislation such as HR 1077, (http://thomas.loc.gov/ type in HR 1077) which would quite correctly back the first amendment right of supplement manufacturers to make health claims on natural products that go beyond the arbitrary and capricious pharma cartel protecting limitations imposed by DSHEA which only "allows" us to make so called "structure function" claims- when by rights, we should be able to make full blown health claims, as long as they're true.
Thats what the first amendment is all about, and THAT is what DSHEA was supposed to allow- to counter the claim blockade caused by NLEA, and DSHEA would have allowed health claims if the sell out dupes in the supplement industry who are too gutless to truly try to protect the industry were willing to actually drop the gloves and engage FDA in a good old fashioned hockey fight- but no, they're not interested in fighting the FDA, and how could they be give the gross conflict of interest that exists? (Check this out: Ken Murdock of Nature's Way wants herbs to be regulated as drugs here just like in Germany, and so do his German partners, Madaus AG and Schwabe. The EAPC, of which all three are members, has petitioned FDA towards this end, and the German and French embassies wrote letters to the FDA in their behalf urging FDA to regulate herbs as "drugs". Nature's Way loves DSHEA because it gets them half way to where they want to go.
They love the so called third category in Canada (and helped screw the Canadian people with it) because it too pushes natural products from the food category into a "neither foods nor drugs" category which is an incremental step closer to drugs- needing only a little extra help from FDA and HPB vis a vis a push to full HACCP pahrmaceutical GMPs-which FDA could easily force given that NNFA, CRN and CfH greedily gave them the power to impose this on us.
So, was DSHEA in FACT a great and glorius "victory" or was it merely a stop gap measure to give certain companies a little extra time to line up their sell out deals to the drug cartel a la Solgar to AHP, and GNC to Numico-the question must be asked, especially in light of CRN and NNFA's effort to block an oversight hearing on Codex- and their sickening endorsement of the scientifically fraudulent NAS paper titled " A Risk Assessment Model for Establishing Upper Levels for Nutrients" (which considers the toxin fluoride to be an essential nutrrient) and which sets the stage for high potency vitamins to be banned on the whim of the pharmaceutically dominated National Academy of Sciences.) (NNFA, CRN and CfH certainly have no credability with Dr. David Kennedy of Citizens for Safe Drinking Water for doing nothing to oppose the fraudulent fluoride data in the NAS Risk Assessment paper, and he will be attending the Codex meeting in Berlin on June 19th to question the scientific validity of the paper.)
Look at all the drug companies that belong to NNFA and CRN-these groups prefer to have a nice little collegial rapport with the enemy, because they are all one nice big happy family and they scratch each others backs. John Hathcock used to work directly with Dr.Yetley at FDA and now he works for CRN. Ah yes, one big happy family (isn't it high time your company QUIT NNFA,CRN and CfH??) All the pharmaceutical members of CRN can be found at http://www.crnusa.org/cgi-shl/dbml.exe?action=query&template=/crn/members.dbm and NNFA lists many of the same pharmaceutical companies as members in their 1998 membership directory. The Chair of NNFA's International Committee (which determined their pro pharma cartel possition on the Codex vitamin issue) is an employee of Warner Lambert.) Something not right with this picture.
Moreover, WE, and NOT the state- are sovereign over our own bodies. We are a FREE people here in America- we are NOT slaves to the drug cartel- pharma PAC donations to congress, and multinational pharmaceutical companies controlling CRN, NNFA, and CfH not withstanding. WE have the second amendment for a REASON.
When the government gets out of hand, it is our DUTY as free Americans to OVERTHROW that government- by force of arms, if necessary in defense of our civil liberties. Our CURRENT government, (along with the UN and WTO) clearly has to go as evidenced by their criminal actions against peaceful demonstrators in Seattle who oppose the criminal World Trade Organization which is working overtime to destroy our sovereignty. (NNFA, CRN and CfH clearly don't care about American sovereignty or they would have encouraged members to protest the WTO meeting in Seattle given that the Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO will clearly be used to force us to harmonize our laws to Codex standards- which NNFA/CfH are doing nothing to oppose- as they oppose holding an oversight hearing and have told Burton that one "isn't necessary". This is because they welcome multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Warner Lambert with open arms, and they really don't care about the interests of the American people. NNFA, CRN and CfH are clearly controlled opposition- pretending to be on the side of the consumers who they USED when they screwed us with DSHEA.
Whats NEXT, NNFA? What other natural products do you have on your hit list to help the FDA to ban the moment some drug company like Orphan Medical wants to do controlled clinical trials? How about L-Carnatine, NNFA? After all, Stephen De Felice would like exclusivity rights to that amino acid which he sells as "Carnitour" via Sigma Tao Pharamceuticals. Or how about KAVA, NNFA- do you NEXT intend to hand KAVA over to the FDA on a silver platter- or gee- how about niacin, after all, some people take it to enhance orgasms- so if the drug cartel comes out with a PR campaign against it will you bend over backwards AGAIN to help them again to attack us?
Clearly, supplement manufacturers and health food stores should quit NNFA en masse and start a new trade association- one which defends consumers access to natural products, and doesn't aid and abet the FDA and companies such as Orphan Medical to steal our products. We clearly need a trade association which grasps the need to enforce its conflict of interest bylaw by banning pharmaceutical companies from membership (especially multinationals) and defends the US Constitution- while opposing Codex and the WTO- something NNFA obviously is not concerned with at all.
NPICenter Daily Industry Newswire
National Nutritional Foods Association Says Product Used by Phoenix Sun Player Not A Supplement; FDA Urged to Take Action
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Dec 29, 1999 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/
The substance implicated in a seizure suffered by Phoenix Suns forward Tom Gugliotta is not an herbal product nor a dietary supplement, says a trade group representing retailers and manufacturers of legitimate nutritional supplements. According to the National Nutritional Foods Association, products containing the ingredient taken by Gugliotta, furanone di-hydro and its various chemical aliases, have been declared "illegally marketed unapproved new drugs" and "potentially life-threatening" by the Food and Drug Administration.
"It's time to stop pretending that products like the one taken by Gugliotta are anything but party drugs masquerading as dietary supplements," said Brent Weickert, acting executive director of the NNFA. "It's also time for the FDA to exercise its considerable enforcement powers and rid the marketplace of these products."
According to the FDA, furanone di-hydro has several chemical names and is commonly referred to as GBL (gamma butyrolactone). Products containing these substances are often marketed with claims that they build muscles, reduce stress and aid in sleep. They have also reportedly been used in the commission of "date rape."
Even before the FDA issued a voluntary recall of products containing furanone di-hydro in January of this year, citing three deaths and several "severe adverse reactions," the NNFA had warned its members that selling these products was risky. NNFA has previously urged the FDA to "bring the hammer down" on those companies still marketing these "outlaw products."
Whether a product is a dietary supplement or a drug, the FDA has the power to obtain an injunction against the sale of an entire class of product if it poses an imminent hazard to public health or safety and to institute seizure actions against those products that are dangerous to health or pose a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury.
"Clearly, the FDA believes products containing these substances are dangerous," said Weickert. "The agency needs to take regulatory action in the face of an obvious threat to the public it is mandated to protect."
The NNFA, headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif., represents approximately 4,000 retailers and suppliers of natural health products, including organic and natural foods, natural ingredient cosmetics and dietary supplements.
SOURCE National Nutritional Foods Association (C) 1999 PR Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.prnewswire.com CONTACT: Karie Anderson of National Nutritional Foods Association,
949-622-6272 ext. 228
WEB PAGE: http://www.nnfa.org/
GEOGRAPHY: California
HELP KILL ANTI VITAMIN BILL!! BEAT BACK THE CORPORATE ATTACK!!
This Stuff is in Every Cell in Your Body!! Orphan Pharmaceutical Inc. Just Wants a Monopoly on it
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IAHF:(International Advocates for Health Freedom) PO Box 625 Floyd, Virginia,24091, USA 800-333-2553, overseas: 540-745-6534, 540-745-6535 fax, http://www.iahf.com email: jham@iahf.com
Help Get a Codex Oversight Hearing:
Call Beth Clay at 202-225-5074
House Government Reform and Oversight Committee- See Codex Oversight Section of IAHF website for more info.
If You Belong to NNFA- Ask Them Why They Oppose Having a Codex Oversight Hearing, and Ask Why They Don't Enforce Article 14.3 in their Bylaws: (Conflict of Interest)
Ask why they don't kick Warner Lambert and the rest of the drug cartel OUT of NNFA!
Ask Why they endorse the NAS paper "A Risk Assessment Model For Establishing Upper Levels for Nutrients" when it is being used illegally by the FDA to break past the consumer generated impasse at Codex. [See Codex Oversight Section http://www.iahf.com]
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