And herbs and minerals–really anything that keeps you from having to buy the synthetic Pharma drugs. McCain just can’t help himself–he is a Big Government Liberal ready to unleash more bureaucratic control over the minutia of our lives. In this instance, it will also help BigPharma keep some of those less expensive, more natural remedies from barging in on their profits.
McCain should be ashamed of himself and admit that it’s time to retire. If he doesn’t, please Arizonans, show this dinosaur the door in August.
Examiner: Alternative remedies at risk with McCain’s dietary supplement regulatory bill: 101
And
Beware of McCain’s Freedom-Destroying Dietary Supplement Regulatory Bill
Make no mistake–this is a money and power grab for Big Pharma. It’s time politicians like McCain are stopped. Read the articles and contact your representatives and tell them to not support this bill. Yes, we know there are problems in Washington, and not all of them are in the White House.
I am not a big government fan, nor am I a fan of McCain.(I’d best be described as a libertarian-leaning conservative.) But this bill is actually badly needed to help counter the effects of the giant loophole given to the sham-infested world of “supplements”in 1994 by a very bad law, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA).
When you see the list of side-effects on an ad for a drug, that tells you that the drug is real. It has been scientifically tested. It is real medicine.
When you see “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.” that is your Quack Miranda Warning, telling you that a) you do not need that product , b) it probably does nothing, but c) may actually hurt you.
I’m rather disappointed to see you use the “big pharma” slur. Modern medicines are incredibly expensive to design and test. Only “big” companies can play the game, and we’re all better off and living longer, healthier lives thanks to “big pharma”. It’s “big placebo” that is hurting people by turning them away from actual, science-based medicine, not to mention ripping them off to the tune of billions of dollars spent on worthless snake oil.
I wouldn’t expect you to use “big” as a pejorative for other industries. And I would encourage you to get up on the science (and lack thereof) behind the garbage being foisted on the public as “supplements”. A good place to start is this excellent blog, Science Based Medicine.
The FDA used its big government might to keep Stevia off the market as a natural sweetener for years and years, until just recently. You can’t patent something that occurs naturally…can you?
McCain needs to ask himself, “What am I doing today to make sure Americans keep more of their Liberty?”
Amnesty. McCain-Feingold. Regulating vitamins… If he doesn’t “get it” by now, he NEVER WILL.
Contributing to the NANNY STATE is certainly not a conservative ideal, and surely not a way to protect our Freedom and Liberty. It is quite the opposite.
McCain takes great delight in poking us in the eye — can’t wait for JD Hayworth to beat him here in Arizona…thanks for posting, Tammy – best always, KW, Scottsdale AZ
The government can’t even regulate safety standards of meat, lettuce, tomatoes, or any other food for that matter. I do believe that the supplement market has gone way overboard. However, if you studied up on most supplements, they are as natural as any food can be on this contaminated Earth. Here we go again trying to keep government out of our private lives. What about the sham infested world of unnecessary drugs prescribed to trusting souls? Let us have our vitamins. Couldn’t be any worse than drugs that kill or don’t work! For crying out loud, enough already.
the fda was actually begun to control often poisonous ‘ patent medicines’- concoctions that killed people like say ingredients from china do today. this was a time when cocaine and opiates regularly made appearances in syrups and liquids people gave to even their babies. but more importantly there were the patent ‘elixirs’ with toxic solvents in them that would cause outbreaks of, uh, death.
the fda has always been light on the science and scientists and heavy on the corporate big wig hacks.nearly everyone with any power in the fda- usually someone who was a political appointee-gets a big fat golden parachute out of government and into the loving arms of pharma if indeed that’s not where they came from in the first place. that americans seem to think of the fda protecting them objectively through the miracle of can’t be bought scientists is laughable. the control that companies have over the fda and even what goes on the labels of their own damn products is extraordinary and screams conflict of f’ing interest.
the fda does not test products- the companies test their own products and send the lab results to fda scientists who read them.i know- bet few people knew that. ted bundy is going to write up forensic results of the woman he killed- sounds good to me.
“bitter pills”- http://amzn.com/055337852X- is an excellent history and expose of the fda written by a man whose wife had a life threatening reaction to an approved drug- a reaction that was common and not on the warning label. big pharma needs to be used a slur sometimes as it is often enough warrented. the fda is corrupted by big pharma on your dime.
for many years i dated someone who was a scientist in one of the biggest pharma companies around. most of their expenses centered on wining and dining doctors and legislators and themselves. every week everyone on a project went to some fancy high end restaurant , the company footing the whole tab. how many companies can do that? they were rolling in expendable cash to burn on top of the big tax break they got to stay in the state. when they got that tax break they immediately out sourced to another country a portion of their jobs. they still get that tax break to stay here and allegdly provide jobs in this state. i have no sympathy for big pharma- they are often largely subsidized by your tax money especially when the government buys up one of their miracle cures and tries to foist it on you.
what juan el mavericko should be focused on is not putting more on the plate of an entity that’s little more than the lap pooch of drug companies. how about focusing on something the fda should be stopping- the flow of poisoned and shady products coming from china that clearly are dangerous. many of the components of vitamins are no longer manufactured in the usa- they all come from china. that’s what needs regulation, china. he’s just doing this for attention because it makes him look like he’s taking care of us. juanito, you’ve done enough damage- go away. you gave us obama so leave us alone to cry in our herbal homeopathic teas .
I agree totally with Chris — clgood – so keeping in line with your thinking, then the following items need to be banned as well: “smoking” products- cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, pipes/tobacco (“causes” cancer); all alcoholic products (“causes” cirrhosis of the liver); how about sugar (since it’s “bad” for us too – causes diabetes, etc), and salt – (since it “causes” high blood pressure, etc). And I know that there are many other items I could have listed — but using a broad brush stroke in calling supplements a “sham-infested world” is not only unfair, but inaccurate. Interestingly, my Doctor “prescribes” me to take red yeast rice, and omega 3 capsules – not prescriptions – but supplements – are they quackery too?
This is about OUR ability to make OUR OWN choices – whether these choices are right or wrong is for each of us to decide for ourselves – keep the FDA and McCain out of my house, kitchen and bathroom – less government, not more!
I vote a trillion times YES for a third hour of the Tammy.
No one should be surprised by this. John McCain in endemic of the problems within the Republican Party. Listening to him during the circus health care meeting, he is totally unprincipled. ALL TAM’S IN ARIZONA, FOR THE LOVE OF HUMANITY AND THE SURVIVAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, DO NOT RE-ELECT THIS MAN. PLEASE!!
Here’s an FDA list of dangerous dietary supplements.
My guess is most supplements are generally useless. Eat a well-rounded healthy diet. If you are older or have a restricted or poor diet, you may need vitamin supplements. If you do take supplements, do your own research and tell your doctor.
Most people don’t advise their doctors they are taking supplements. Maybe they’re embarrassed. Maybe they worry about being scolded. Maybe they think their doctor is colluding with drug companies. Come clean with your doctor. If you don’t trust your current physician, find one you do trust.
The issue of FDA control over dietary supplements isn’t new. There has been legislation enacted tightening requirements such as requiring reports of adverse effects.
It isn’t as though we can feel safe with the FDA as a watchdog. With only a few exceptions, the FDA can’t initiate recalls. Recalls are initiated by the manufacturers themselves. When there are recalls the FDA actually protects manufacturers. For example, they wouldn’t name heparin manufacturers during that recall a few years ago.
The FDA was ready to cooperate with drug companies on the issue of preemption but the Supreme Court knocked it down. Preemption would have protected the drug manufacturers from being sued for product liability because FDA approval preempted that liability.
With assistance from the FDA off-label use of drugs can now be marketed by drug manufacturers. That means the drug companies can test for the one use that yields the best test results and then sell the drug for untested uses. (There are guidelines.)
If an administration is friendly to drug companies, the FDA staff and budget can be reduced. That’s what happened under the Bush administration.
I don’t think drug companies are evil and I don’t think dietary supplement manufacturers are angels. Drug companies really don’t want to kill their customers and many supplement manufacturers prey on the gullible. We’re on our own more than we think so stay on your toes and take responsibility for your health regardless of what laws we have or don’t have.
Pat_S – you are the Wizardess of the Kingdom of Wisdomdom. Amen.
I believe the FDA should be completely abolished. I take vitamins, that’s my choice. I’ve taken them for years. At one point I stopped taking them. Upon suggestion from my physican, I started taking them again. But why should the FDA contol access to them? This is the same FDA that will refuse certain cancer treatments because they haven’t approved them. Is this government agency really helping the public.? I’ve read more tragic stories about people who loved ones died because they couldn’t get expeimental treatment. They were willing to take the risk to try to save their lives. But the doctors could not risk losing their license to practice.
As far as drug side effects, that can happen with anything. Everybody’s body metabolises things differently. I read somewhere that if the FDA was in existence at the time of the invention of the aspirin, it would probably not be approved.
I don’t want bureaucrats dictating what I put in my body. As you say, people have to take responsiblity for their own health. I’m just tired of the Republican Party presenting themselves as being for free markets and individual rights. They are philosophically unable to challenge the Obama Administration because they support statism, on principle.
The Pharmacutical companies made a deal with the devil. It takes decades for these drugs to go to market. The time and effort is tremendous. I also know when to spot snake oil. But when you have government in the economy, we gets the likes John McCain preparing a law that would effectively wipeout an industry and our own choice. This is precisely what’s going on in Europe. I don’t want to be treated like a child, incapable of making rational decisions. That what it boils down to.
the biggest lie told by pharma companies is that they have to charge so much money for their potions because of their super expensive ‘research and development’ that is a matter of ‘ life and death’. it is simply not true. the deal with the devil is between the public believing this myth with the government helping prop up the delusion- “if we don’t beat money out of american consumers everyone will die!”.
most of the major , most innovative drug discoveries since the fda has been around have come from tax money supported research in the non profits, universities and at the NIH. your money goes to fund sometimes decades of research at a school through government grants. when the scientists find something they can patent for themselves, they then shop it around to the drug companies or form their own for profit companies. so the american consumer through taxes pays for all the research and the drug companies swoop in and file the patent and make the monies, none of which goes back to the entity that made it all possible. the further insult is that some of these especially expensive drugs( like epogen) are mostly bought using medicare meaning the american tax payers, who funded the research of a drug for years, then have to pay a huge price allegedly pumped up from ‘ research’ we already funded . it’s corporate welfare poised as an uncommon humanitarian sacrifice- pharma are the biggest welfare queens around.
the research most conducted by private drug companies is usually not that innovative nor expensive- it’s focused on different versions of drugs they have already patented- in order to keep earning money after the original patent runs out. most ‘research money’ is actually spent on marketing by these companies- we are all familiar with over the past few years seeing more and more prescription drug ads on tv. we the american tax payer actually spend as much money on drug research as do all the drug companies lumped together.
Most people don’t advise their doctors they are taking supplements. Maybe they’re embarrassed. Maybe they worry about being scolded. Maybe they think their doctor is colluding with drug companies. Come clean with your doctor. If you don’t trust your current physician, find one you do trust.
true that. some supplements interact with prescribed meds so be better than urkel and be transparent with your doc. in addition, its ok to do your own homework and share with your physician. as we say in the biz, the patient is part of the team.
rick
Food is not grown and animals are not raised the way they used to be, so I don’t believe anyone is really getting all the natural vitamins and minerals they need. Not to mention naturally occuring herbs that are useful for prevention and treatment. I’ve been taking supplements on and off since I was a teenager, steadily for the last 15 years, and can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been sick.
Dr. Oz, when asked to recommend just one supplement, said everyone should take vitamin D. He said no one gets enough, no one. It’s good for immunity, bone health, and helps prevent cancer.
Heaven forbid there should be an area of the market not under their thumb! Government involvement never makes things better. I wouldn’t mind if the FDA went bye-bye along with the Dept. of Education and the EPA down the memory hole.