X-Message-Number: 15348
From: 
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 22:31:05 EST
Subject:    RE: Petition

Date:   1/15/01 2:14:01 PM US Mountain Standard Time
From:    (Clay, Beth)
To: 

The Government Reform Committee in the US House of Representatives has an on
going investigation into dietary supplement regulation, including CODEX. If
you are monitoring the legislative activities, you will know that
Congressman Dan Burton, the Chairman of this Committee is a strong supporter
of the right of citizens to make their own medical choices, and to use
natural, alternative, complementary, or unconventional approaches to care,
including dietary supplements. Testimony from the hearings we have conducted
to date can be viewed at http://www.house.gov/reform/hearings

The FDA will continue to receive your comments after January 16 and will
hold two public meetings. For information on CODEX, please visit their
official website.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov:80/OA/codex/index.htm

Thank you for contacting me.

Beth Clay

Professional Staff Member

Government Reform Committee

US House of Representatives

-----Original Message-----
From:  [mailto:]
Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2001 9:22 PM
To: Clay, Beth
Subject: Petition


PETITION
>
> To: Congressman Dan Burton, Chairman 12/31/2000 
House Government Reform and Oversight Committee 
c/o Beth Clay 

>
> 1) I the undersigned, user of natural health products 
and food supplements, ask legislators and administrators 
in the U.S.A., in all European countries and delegates 
to Codex Alimentarius discussions world wide to take into 
account the following:
>
> 2) Considering that international legislation on the 
subject of food supplements is currently under discussion 
at both Codex Alimentarius and in the European legislative 
system (Council of Europe and the European Parliament);
>
> 3) Considering further that in both venues of discussion 
there are heavy pressures brought to bear by pharmaceutical 
interests, to limit the effectiveness and the availability 
of natural health products and food supplements to the 
detriment of consumer choice and public health;
>
> 4) Considering that approved, regulated and properly 
prescribed pharmaceutical medicines are causing hundreds 
of thousands of preventable deaths each year, having become 
the fourth most common cause of death in several countries 
(see statistics and article by Ron Law from New Zealand);
>
> 5) Considering that vitamin supplements and other natural 
health products have a clean bill of health, having been used 
for decades by millions of consumers world wide without more 
than a handful of confirmed lethal outcomes;
>
> 6) Considering that the clearly visible pressures of 
pharmaceutical interests to limit the effectiveness and 
availability of natural health products are dictated by 
motives of monetary profit and considerations of market 
share, not by concern for the health of consumers;
>
> 7) Considering that true health preservation today is 
achieved through the widespread use of natural health 
products and supplements (see recent prevention references 
in Ron Law's article) and considering that consumers
> should not be deprived of the health preserving and 
health promoting means of their choice merely by reason 
of the distraction of legislators or the greed for profits 
of the mentioned pharmaceutical interests, 

let it be said then that the consumers of natural health 
products and food supplements, both in Europe and 
internationally, demand that legislators and administrators, 
in discussions concerning food supplements, take into
> account the following:
>
> A) Natural health products and food supplements, in 
the absence of specific regulations in place internationally, 
have been shown to possess an unsurpassed safety record and 
to be of great benefit to health as evidenced by scientific 
studies and by the personal experience of the undersigned
users.
>
> B) It does not therefore make any sense to limit the 
dosages of essential nutrients in supplements except where 
consumption of such substances has shown actual, health risks;
>
> C) It does not therefore make any sense to limit the 
availability of nutrients or other ingredient substances 
by so-called "positive lists" as contemplated in current 
international legislative proposals;
>
> D) It would seriously undermine programs for the promotion 
of public health and the prevention of illness as well as 
the practice of non conventional methods of therapy, to put 
limits on the availability of these products, even if 
ostensibly "in the name of consumer protection." 

For these reasons, I demand that:
>
> E) ANY EUROPEAN OR INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATION BE CAREFULLY 
STRUCTURED SO AS TO GUARANTEE THE FREE ACCESS TO NATURAL 
HEALTH PRODUCTS AND FOOD SUPPLEMENTS THAT HAVE PROVEN TO BE 
SAFE AND ARE IN DEMAND BY CONSUMERS, OR BE INDEFINITELY SHELVED.
>
> F) ANY SUCH LEGISLATION SHALL NOT CONTAIN PROVISIONS 
LIMITING THE DOSAGES OF NUTRIENTS OR ACTIVE SUBSTANCES IN 
SUCH PRODUCTS EXCEPT WHERE ABSOLUTELY AND CLEARLY NECESSARY 
TO AVERT PROVEN, NOT FICTITIOUS OR ASSUMED DANGERS TO THE
> HEALTH OF CONSUMERS.
>
> G) ANY SUCH LEGISLATION SHALL NOT LIMIT THE SCOPE AND 
VARIETY OF NUTRITIVE AND OTHERWISE HEALTH PROMOTING SUBSTANCES 
BY THE USE OF ANY KIND OF LISTS, POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE, EXCEPT 
WHERE SUCH SUBSTANCES CAN BE SHOWN TO HAVE CAUSED DAMAGES 
SIMILAR TO THOSE EVIDENT TODAY IN THE PROPERLY APPROVED AND
> REGULATED PHARMACEUTICALLY PRODUCED MEDICINES.
>
> H) In support of these principles and requesting that legislators and
> administrators take into account these demands, I hereby sign:

Robert C.W. Ettinger
3326 N. 81 St.
Scottsdale AZ 85251 

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