With your help - Free speech in health science may become a reality

Friday, April 08, 2011 by: Craig Smith, editor, Alliance for Natural Health
Tags: free speech, nutritional science, health news

(NaturalNews) The Free Speech about Science (FSAS) Act, HR 1364, would change FDA regulations so that legitimate, peer-reviewed scientific studies can be referenced without changing the food's regulatory category to an unapproved drug. This will protect access to scientific information, and will protect your right to know about the healthy benefits of food and food supplements. The bill amends the appropriate sections of current law to allow the flow of legitimate scientific and educational information while still giving FDA and FTC the right to take action against misleading information and against false and unsubstantiated claims.

Gretchen DuBeau of the Executive and Legal Director of The Alliance for Natural Health USA (ANH-USA) says this legislation is critical because "current FDA regulations prohibit dietary supplement manufacturers and food producers from referring to any scientific studies on the health benefits of a food or natural substance."

In the FDA's view, even providing a link on a vitamin supplement manufacturer or organic food producer's website to a scientific study converts a healthy food into an unapproved drug. The FDA knows that natural products and supplements are food, not drugs, and they do not fit into the drug regulatory model. The result of this counter productive approach by the FDA is decreased access to safe, natural approaches to staying and getting healthy. "This is what we call the great Catch 22 of contemporary American medicine, the FDA, which is supposed to guard and promote our health, is hostile to the kind of natural medicine -- based on diet, supplements, and exercise -- that represents the real future of healthcare," said DuBeau.

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About the author:
Craig Smith is the editor at the Alliance for Natural Health (www.ANH-USA.org).