IAHF Distribution list: The shocking press release below documents the FACT
that FDA is BURNING BOOKS! It is ESSENTIAL that you read this press release
carefully, then visit http://www.steviapetition.org/ to sign Jim Kirkland's
petition, and also be sure to send in the petition (attached) so as to
flood FDA with comments on their proposed rule which would put arbitrary
and capricious limits on allowable structure/function claims. FDA is now
censoring websites, threatening anyone who posts info re Stevia. I have
offered to put Jim's entire book,the other books mentioned, along with all
documentation that FDA is burning books into the IAHF website. The Life
Extension Foundation (www.lef.org) is also very interested in the gross
suppression of the safe herb Stevia, and you should be too! Please forward
this message to others. Maybe we can get the suppressed Stevia books onto
about 1000 websites! FDA/MONSANTO would be POWERLESS TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT
IT!!!
 

>Mary Stoddard, Founder
>Aspartame Consumer Safety Network [1987]
>Worldwide Pilots Hotline
>
>Attention: Assignments Editors & Producers
>For Immediate Release
>[keywords: Freedom of The Press / FDA / Internet Govt. Censorship /
>Sweeteners / First Amendment / Herbs]
>
>CONTACT: Mary Stoddard 214-352-4268
>
>Author Brings Forced Book-Banning Case
>to Town Hall Meeting
>
> Dallas - June 8, 1998 -- Banned book author, James Kirkland made a
>shocking presentation at Congressman Joe Barton's Town Hall meeting
>Saturday, June 6, holding up The Anarchist's Cookbook, a book that talks
>about how to construct "homemade bombs" and a copy of  his book - telling
>how to cook with an herb .  "Which of these publications is illegal?" he
>asked. "This isn't right." he added to thunderous applause.  Kirkland's
>book, Cooking With Stevia, published by Morris Press of Kearney Nebraska
>has been "marked" by FDA  for immediate destruction and recall. FDA is also
>attempting to "regulate" websites on the Internet by telling Stevita Co. to
>delete their website links to other pages.
>
> In a blatant move to intimidate customers of Texas-based Stevita
>Co., importers of the sweet-tasting herbal dietary supplement stevia and
>distributors of three "banned" books about the herb, FDA raiders began
>searching for their version of "the offensive literature" - according to an
>eyewitness shopper at an Arlington, Texas Health Food Store.
>
> When called by a national cable television network news reporter, a
>Dallas District FDA spokesperson said they would neither confirm nor deny
>the allegation of literature search or seizure at health food stores,
>because it was part of an "ongoing investigation." FDA Spokesperson in
>Washington D.C., Monica Ravel in her misleading statement late Wednesday,
>told another local network news reporter on tape, "We have not banned any
>books." Stevita Co. has an FDA letter dated May 19,1998 signed by FDA's
>James R. LaHar clearly stating they have.
>
> These published books and literature offer the consumer information
>on the history, usages and scientific studies showing the safety of the
>legal herb stevia [aka stevia rebaudiana or stevioside]. One of three books
>in question is The Stevia Story  - A tale of incredible sweetness &
>intrigue, by Linda Bonvie, Bill Bonvie and Donna Gates with Foreword by
>James S. Turner, author of The Chemical Feast.  Ironically, Chapter Four of
>the book the FDA wants to destroy is titled: "What's wrong with the FDA?"
>The other books are: Nature's Sweet Secret - Stevia by David Richards and
>Cooking with Stevia by James Kirkland.
>
>###
>
>[On May 19th, FDA Compliance Officer, James R. Lahar faxed a letter to
>Stevita Co. addressing the destruction of 2,500 books he deemed
>"offending," at a cost to the company well in excess of $10,000. The letter
>threatens that investigators will conduct a current inventory and "witness
>the destruction of the cookbooks, literature, and other publications for
>the purpose of verifying compliance" upon visiting Stevita Co. for a fourth
>time this year.]
>
>http://www.steviapetition.org
>
>
>Register Complaints with:
>Cong. Joe Barton [Chmn. FDA Oversight Comm. in Cong.] 817-543-1000
>James R. Lahar, FDA Compliance Officer: 214-655-5318, ext. 517
>Joseph R. Baca, FDA District Dir., Dallas: 214-655-5318
>
>Please email/send this release to everyone you know. Especially media!
>
>"Information You Can't Afford to Miss"
>http://web2.airmail.net/marystod

URGENT FIRST AMENDMENT ALERT!
COMMENTS DUE AT FDA : AUGUST 27, 1998

Dear Dietary Supplement Consumer:

 The FDA is once again trying to block your access to truthful health
information on the labels of dietary supplements. The FDA has proposed a
new rule that prohibits any reference to a “disease” on the labels, but
they have defined “disease” so broadly that many aspects of normal life are
included, ie: hot flashes during menopause, decreased sexual function
during aging, etc. They won’t even allow information on the label to inform
people who take drugs to try to combat a disease that the dietary
supplement will help relieve the adverse side effects of, ie:
chemotherapy, etc. This rule is far too restrictive. It blurs the
distinction between “disease” and a “health condition.” It will
dramatically narrow the marketing flexability permitted under DSHEA, and it
might also discourage research on dietary supplements by restricting the
use of journal citations that mention a disease.

 Please take a minute to sign the letter below and send it to the FDA. We
need to flood the FDA with letters from people like you who want
unrestricted access to truthful information on the labels of the products
you buy. Also, to learn how the FDA’s proposed rule to limit structure
function claims ties in with a broader international plan to regulate and
restrict access to dietary supplements, visit the IAHF website at
www.iahf.com, email us at jham@iahf.com or call 800-333-2553 for more
information.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------
(Submit written comments to: Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305) FDA 200 C.
St. SW Washington, DC 20204
Re: [Docket No. 98 N-044] RIN 0910-AA59 Regulations on Statements Made for
Dietary Supplements Concerning the Effect of the Product on the Structure
or Function of the Body

To whom it may concern at FDA:
Your proposed rule will have an adverse effect on public health by placing
arbitrary and capricious limits on the allowable health information to be
presented to consumers at the point of sale on dietary supplements, in
complete violation of the first amendment. Your definition of disease is
overly broad. You are clearly over reaching here. Under proposed §
101.93(g)(1) a disease is any deviation from, impairment of, or
interruption of the normal structure or function of any part,organ, or
system (or combination therof) of the body that is manifested by a
characteristic set of one or more signs or symptoms.)

Thus, in your zeal to “insure that dietary supplements don’t act as a
disincentive to new drug development” (the “immortal” words of Gary
Dykstra), you would even disallow structure/function claims relative to
aging: ie, “hot flashes”. (Since when are “aging” or the menopause “disease
states”?)

Judge Dale Kimball just issued an injunction against you forcing you to
lift your ban on cholestin, which he declared was a dietary supplement
under the terms of DSHEA. You tried to ban this safe Chinese red rice yeast
extract which helps lower cholesterol, because its sale angers Merck. We
remind you that dietary supplements were specifically exempted from the
harmonization language in the FDA Reform Bill, and that Congress was
flooded with faxes, email and outraged calls on this issue as recently as
October, 1997. Prior to that, in 1994 Congress received more mail on this
issue than on anything since the Vietnam war. For the sake of the public
health, we strongly urge you to stop blurring the distinction between a
disease, and a health condition. Stop trying to harmonize our laws to EEC
65/65 in the EU, where dietary supplements are regulated as “drugs.”

Signed:___________________________________________________

Address:___________________________________________________

City:_____________________________________State:_________ Zip:________________
(Info provided by International Advocates for Health Freedom 800-333-2553,
www.iahf.com)