Originally published March 5 2010
NFL and NBL Move to Limit Your Access to Supplements (Opinion)
by Jane Jones
(NaturalNews) Last month, a You Tube video titled "The Superbowl Is Canceled" went viral on the 'net. Actually, it was a hoax with a catchy headline; the video urged viewers to boycott the Superbowl and get connected with what's going on in the world around them. Recent events, however, offer new reason to boycott the sporting events of the National Football and Baseball Leagues. These two U.S. sporting clubs are endorsing John McCain's bill to repeal parts of DSHEA and effectively limit the public's access to nutritional supplements. If you're not familiar with DSHEA, it's a law on the books that was hard fought for by the American public in the 1990's. DSHEA grants unrestricted access to supplements - and drug companies have fought against the bill since the day it was passed.
Now, somehow, the NFL and NBL have gotten nutritional supplements confused with the illegal steroid-based performance drugs their athletes often engage in. And to shift the responsibly from the athletes, these clubs believe that some supplements their athletes were taking must have been tainted with steroids.
To curb their problem, the NFL and NBL think the FDA should regulate supplement companies - and they are supporting McCain's bill which has the power to dramatically limit access to nutritional supplements for the American public. With ballparks being bought and sold by corporations like trading cards and Big Pharma's infamous reputation for buying influence, it'd be interesting to know if any monies were transferred by drug companies to gain this high profile endorsement and push.
If you'd like to tell those leagues what you think about their actions, you can do so here. Another powerful vote is to simply stop supporting the NFL and NBL until they get the message - and possibly long after. It'd be nice if those leagues felt a financial pinch even greater than what they may have been paid by drug companies. If you'd like to tell your representatives what you think, you can do that here.
In ways consistent with a considerable amount of government marketing and propaganda, McCain's bill is touted to protect consumers from supplements by having the FDA regulate supplements. But, it's common knowledge that the FDA is funded by drug companies and that the agency is hostile to supplement manufacturers and any natural option in competition with drugs or drug companies.
Brown, Columbia, and Cornell graduate and cancer researcher, Nicholas J. Gonzalez, M.D., posted a response to McCain in the Health Sentinel. He stated that the bill, "appears to give the FDA near-dictatorial control over the manufacture and availability of supplements, [allowing] it at its own discretion to remove legitimate nutritional supplements from the marketplace, file arbitrary complaints against legitimate supplements and impose drug-testing standards on each supplement."
Gonzalez outlined another part of the problem: the testing of a single product to meet FDA drug-standards can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. And since supplement companies don't have the financial resources to meet that kind of financial and regulatory impediment, many supplement companies could easily be forced to close their doors. There would be too high of an entrance fee - and the American public would be left without what DSHEA promised: access to supplements.
It's always interesting to hear the government claim to be protecting the public while they're actively stripping liberties and freedoms. Because if the government was really concerned about the harmful substances that people keep putting in their mouths, they'd be seeking to put an end to drug companies and processed food manufacturers - not herbal and nutritional supplement providers.
More:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hTbRqZcnjQ
http://www.anh-usa.org/new_site/?p=2372
https://secure3.convio.net/aahf/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=510
https://secure3.convio.net/aahf/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=513
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