Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Health Freedom

By

October 22, 2007

Discover what Ron Paul has done as a congressman. Imagine what he will do as president.

When health freedom advocates need a congressman to fight against attempts to restrict access to dietary supplements, they turn to Dr. Ron Paul. Dr. Paul is the leader in Washington who is not afraid to fight the powerful special interests that want to limit access to dietary supplements.

When Dr. Paul learned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was trying to censor truthful health claims by supplement manufacturers, he introduced the Health Freedom Protection Act (H.R. 2117).

“The Health Freedom Protection Act will force the FDA to at last comply with the commands of Congress, the First Amendment, and the American people by codifying the First Amendment standards adopted by the federal courts. Specifically, the Health Freedom Protection Act stops the FDA from censoring truthful claims about the curative, mitigate, or preventative effects of dietary supplements, and adopts the federal court’s suggested use of disclaimers as an alternative to censorship. The Health Freedom Protection Act also stops the FDA from prohibiting the distribution of scientific articles and publications regarding the role of nutrients in protecting against disease,” Dr. Paul explained.

Our health freedom is also threatened by attempts to “harmonize” American laws with those of other countries, thus forcing Americans to live under European-style restrictions of dietary supplements. Dr. Paul worked to add language to the 1997 FDA Modernization Act forbidding the FDA from harmonizing our rules with those of any other nation.

The primary instrument of “harmonization” is the Codex Alimentarius Commission, a group of international bureaucrats who are developing “health care standards” for the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. The FDA is an enthusiastic participant in the Codex process.

When Dr. Paul learned the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) contained language that might facilitate the imposition of Codex’s restrictive standards on American consumers, he informed his congressional colleagues of this danger with a series of letters. In addition, Dr. Paul sponsored several briefings on the issue.

More recently, Dr. Paul has shown how the FDA is working with its counterparts in Canada and Mexico on a Trilateral Cooperation charter that could “harmonize” regulation of dietary supplements among the three countries. Dr. Paul led a congressional inquiry into the Trilateral Cooperation, forcing the FDA to go on record about its involvement in the Trilateral charter.

As a congressman for 10 terms, Dr. Ron Paul has fought to protect your health freedom. Imagine what he will do as president.

www.ronpaul2008.com

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Comments

  1. …the fact is that Ron Paul is a flake.

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    I don’t know when he was first elected to congress from his TX district but in 1988 he ran for president on the Libertarian Party ticket.  That wasn’t so bad, but, about a decade ago, we received a fund-raising letter under his signature.  The fund-raising was to benefit–get this–Jesse Helms (!) in one of Helms’s senatorial campaigns.

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    Paul is a nut.

  2. For another view of the dietary supplement and vitamin industry, check out the book Natural Causes.  It has some fascinating information about phony cures and the Congressmen who pander to the supplement industry.

    • I was more focused on the labor end at the time of its passage but I remember my email lighting up with a lot of stuff relating to some controls that would make it difficult to purchase things like vitamins and legitimate supplements. As I recall this wasnt related to any particular politicians at the time (2003), just a general concern.
      If you remember the CAFTA passage, the vote which was schedualed to last 15 minutes, drahhed on for hours when it was still 2 votes short. My rep Marty Meehan was one of 5 who didnt vote until after the “delay” which had me concerned his vote was also for sale.

  3. It’s too bad you don’t have the passion or creativity to do more than cut n paste from Ron Paul’s website.  I would hate to see that become a trend here, for any candidate.  Try giving us an original take on his ideas next time.

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    Putting that aside, Ron Paul thinks the solution to health issues is to:

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    1)Destroy the FDA and let corporations guard the safety of products

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    2)Let the fabulous “free market” solve the insurance crisis

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    3)Attack the UN

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    4)Make sure we all get “natural supplements”

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    Gee, you know, I think I’ll pass, but thanks.

  4. would welcome FDA regulation.  why?  because if they put out a good and consistent product, they still get tarred with the bad reputation less reputable makers bring to the industry.  i don’t think most people realize it, but dietary supplements are not regulated at all.  unless there is a USP label on the bottle indicating voluntary standards compliance by the manufacturer, the concentration of the active ingredient can and does fluctuate wildly from batch to batch.  at this point in time, dietary supplements are largely in the “buyer beware” category. 

    • I threw this one out there because I realy dont get the dust up. What I can say is that on EVERY issue that I have researched Ron Paul’s public view of, I have found that his argument is at least rational if not persuasive.
      This one has me wondering but for some reason he is passionate.
      So far I dug up this much … Is this the beef? Is this a BIG Pharma power play to sieze another new market? Judging by how well big PHARMA has held the American consumers over the camp fire for every of their offerings I am wondering if by “saftening” the supply of product we have been satisfied with for years they merly plan to telescope the price. Remember its the FDA that is now protecting us from suspect Canadian drugs that sell at 10-20% of the price of their American counterparts despite being identical in all aspects.

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      http://www.thepriceo…

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      Pharmaceutical companies have spent billions of dollars trying to get Washington to regulate your dietary supplements like European governments do. So far, that effort has failed in America, in part because of a 1994 law called the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. Big Pharma and the medical establishment hate this Act, because it allows consumers some measure of freedom to buy the supplements they want. Americans like this freedom, however– especially the health conscious Baby Boomers.

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      This is why the drug companies support WTO and CAFTA. They see international trade agreements as a way to do an end run around American law and restrict supplements through international regulations.

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      The largely government-run health care establishment, including the nominally private pharmaceutical companies, want government to control the dietary supplement industry– so that only they can manufacture and distribute supplements. If that happens, as it already is happening in Europe, the supplements you now take will be available only by prescription and at a much higher cost– if they are available at all. This alone is sufficient reason for Congress to oppose the unconstitutional, sovereignty-destroying CAFTA bill.

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      • as a huge pharma cabal if you want to.  but the truth of the matter is that people don’t realize that supplements aren’t manufactured under any federal guidelines, and so they trust advertising claims blindly.  i think this creates a public health hazard.  i guess we’ll just disagree, shall we?

        • My understanding of your position is that since we must protect people from their own actions it is only logical that should one seek to take vitamin C to avert a cold than one must first consult with a pphysician and obtain a prescription for such … Does that sum it up correctly?

          • there is no correlation between needing a prescription to buy something and having an item manufactured to reliable specifications.  i am talking about the latter only.  no one is suggesting that vitamins be made prescription-only.

            • With the passage of CAFTA it is codified into law. We stepped into the same mess sweeping the EU by way of international treaty. Get used to it. Its for your own good.

                • …I suspect that your link is incorrect in many ways.  The EU directive that is mentioned probably would not outlaw the sale of supplements, but would limit their sale to Apotheken–apothecaries.  (I’d have to check the Bio store in our little town near Munich to determine whether they currently sell supplements.)  Example: unlike the US, grocery stores there do not sell Aspirin (which over there is still a trademarked product of Bayer AG)–one has to go to an apothecary to purchase it.  But apothecaries over there also sell homeopathic remedies, unlike, apparently, drug stores in the US.

  5. and my previous posts about Guido’s Health Care and the requirement that all mAssachusetts citizens buy health insurance.  Enjoy your minimum half hour phone calls to your “health insurance provider” for benefit denials.
    Government subsidized and fully endorsed RICO scamming, that’s what your government wants. I won’t even get into GM foods.

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