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WINNING THE NUTRITION WARS

 

By Investigating Journalist Jon Rappoport
July 22, 2011
NewsWithViews.com

I'm updating the last article I wrote on this subject, and giving you the prior articles below, because this is developing into a running commentary, and a mosaic about the silent war against nutrition and your freedom to manage your own health.

First of all, this war is ongoing. Right now. I'm not writing about theory.

So who are the major players? Let me identify them briefly.

The US federal government, represented by the FDA; Senator Dick Durbin with his new bill (S.1310) aimed at regulating the nutritional supplement industry more tightly and expensively and oppressively.

Large nutritional companies, who seem to be asleep at the wheel, allowing the FDA and Congress to ride roughshod over them.

Small nutrition companies, who would like to do something to ward off the federal government, but don't have the resources or personnel.

The people—you and I, who want to have full access to the whole range of nutritional supplements, who want the federal government to stay away from that area.

Now, the problem comes about because our allies, the large nutritional companies, are acting as if they're on vacation. They should be visible in this battle, but they aren't.

The FDA and certain members of Congress want to create so much red tape and cost for nutrition companies, the whole industry will shrink.

I have been down this road before, in 1994. That was the last time a crisis swelled to a new level—and the nutrition industry and the public pushed back and won a partial victory.

I was told I was being too aggressive about the problem, and “insiders on our side” were doing the heavy lifting for us, so I should back off. Well, that heavy lifting was only partially successful in 1994, and that's why we're facing an even deeper problem now.

Similarly, now, I'm hearing that nutrition companies, the big ones, are feeling just fine about their lobbying efforts, they're working on the issue, and it will all come out well in the end.

Generalities.

It's an odd situation, because, as any sane person knows, when your allies are more or less telling you to stay on the sidelines, and yet you don't know what they're doing to win the war, you're in the dark, and you have a right to suspect that these allies and friends are falling short.

You need facts.

For example, one reader of mine has already contacted a nutrition company asking to know what they're doing to combat the FDA and Dick Durbin—and the answer was, “We're taking care of it. There is a coalition of companies. We're okay. You're succumbing to scare tactics.”

That last remark is troubling because we and the nutritional companies are supposed to be on the same side. Are we?

That “succumbing to scare tactics” comment is something I'd expect from a government official.

Which is why I'm suggesting that, as consumers, you write/call a big nutritional company you buy from (don't hit up the small companies) and demand to know EXACTLY what they're doing to defend your interests. You're spending your money with them; they should open their doors and give you the low-down.

And if you can't get satisfactory answers, write AN OPEN LETTER to that same company and take it public. Email it out all over the place and get it posted somewhere.

IT SHOULD BE YOUR LETTER, NOT A FORM LETTER.

This is important, because everybody responds to form letters the same way. Into the can.

And although citizen health groups can help (not sure what THEY'RE REALLY DOING, either), when you approach a nutritional company as an individual customer, it makes a different kind of impact.

“You say he's buys our products? And he's upset?”

“Yeah.”

I'm perfectly willing to eat some crow here, if it turns out that these companies and their trade groups are really on the verge of forcing the FDA and Congress to get back in their caves and leave us alone. That would be fine with me. But you see, I don't know that. And neither do you.

I do know this. Another reader had contact with a nutrition company who assured her that “trade groups” were on the case with Congress. And, well, if that's actually happening and effective, it's invisible to me. I just don't see evidence of it.

So let's hear from those trade groups and lobbyists, too. Let's find out what's what. SPECIFICALLY.

Are you getting the message here?

Here is what I'd call a reasonable open letter to a nutritional company. For heaven's sake, don't copy it. It's just a guideline, for those who don't understand the game.


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Dear X Company:

I love your products and I buy them. As a consumer and customer, I'm concerned about what the federal government is doing to attack your industry.

I'm talking about:
new FDA NIDA regulations;
the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011;
the Durbin bill now in committee (S. 1310).

I wanted to know what, specifically, you are doing to win this battle for yourselves and for me—but when I contacted you yesterday, all I got was a bunch of generalities and assurances that you were “actively pursuing a solution.”

I'm afraid that's not good enough. You and I are supposed to be allies.

So now I'm writing this OPEN LETTER and I'm sending it out to everyone I know—with the name of your company at the top. The internet makes that quite easy. I want people to know I can't obtain satisfaction from you and your company. I can't get details. All I get are generalities. Why?

I don't see the level of action in this battle that makes me feel confident. And I don't intend to remain passive.

Etc., etc.

See?

It's rather easy, if you say what you mean.

NEW STRATEGY IN THE NUTRITION WARS!

JULY 19, 2011. Well, well. We might just have something here!

A few days ago, I wrote a piece (reprinted below) detailing the current threat to nutritional supplements posed by:

FDA;

the Food Safety Modernization Act;

and the new Dick Durbin bill now in committee (S.1310).

I suggested strategies. One was: contact nutritional companies you do business with as a customer, and demand action on their part.

These companies are apparently convinced everything is all right and their trade organizations and lobbyists are doing a swell job representing them in Washington.

So one reader took me up on my suggestion. She called a supplement company and had an unpleasant conversation with a rep, who told her, guess what?

These matters are handled by nutritional trade organizations, and the Durbin bill is no threat, and she, the customer, is succumbing to scare tactics.

Really?

So my suggestion to her (and to you) is this: call your favorite nutritional company, and if you get such bland assurances, write an OPEN LETTER TO THAT NUTRITIONAL COMPANY and email it out far and wide and post it somewhere. In the letter, demand that the company explain exactly HOW AND WHY new FDA regulations, the Food Safety Law, and the Durbin bill are NO THREAT to them or us. Get it?

I have a feeling this would stir some action and finally open up the can of worms that has been festering under the surface.

As in: let's drag the debate out in the open. Let's put cards on the table. You bring your experts, I'll bring mine.

Because you see, as far as I can tell, the main problem here is that the immediate targets of the FDA, Durbin, and the new Food Safety law—WHICH ARE THE NUTRITIONAL COMPANIES—don't see this as a problem. Or don't want to.

And as long as those companies are resting secure in their illusory nook, our side in the war is going to be at a major disadvantage.


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Now, if you follow my advice, email me with specifics and details. I want to know how it's working.

Here's my prior article on the subject:

GOVERNMENT KILLING NATURAL HEALTH

HEALTH FREEDOM ALERT

re: FDA NIDA Guidelines 2011
re: Food Safety Modernization Act 2011
re: S.1310 Dietary Supplement Labeling Bill 2011

JULY 13, 2011. I just finished interviewing brilliant constitutional lawyer, Jonathan Emord, on my radio show. Emord has taken the FDA to court and beaten them eight times. No other attorney in America comes close.

So when Jonathan talks, I listen.

And I can tell you that the government is coming after your nutritional supplements. Again.

The radio interview is archived here.

Scroll down to The Jon Rappoport Show and you'll find it.

You need to listen to the hour of radio and get the link out there to anyone who has a pulse.

The new approach to killing natural health is through the bogus issue of “safety.”

There are three vectors in the attack—the recently passed Food Safety Law, new FDA regulations, and a bill now in committee sponsored by Dick Durbin.

They are all draconian. They use the issues of “good manufacturing practices” and “potentially unsafe ingredients.” The intention is to drive nutritional companies into the ground via a bureaucratic nightmare that involves inspections, charged fees, red tape, denying the use of many nutrients, and prosecutions.

Nutritional supplements are safest ingested products in the world. On the other hand, the pharma-system kills 106,000 Americans a year with its drugs. (See Starfield, JAMA, July 26, 2000, “Is US health really the best in the world?”)

In the next three years, you will see nutritional products disappearing from the shelves of your health food store, and then you will see a sudden escalation of that process, as funding for these government attacks swells.

The nutritional industry has been asleep at the wheel, scared, blithely wishful, and deferential to government regulators. It has displayed egregious weakness, and the FDA, which is an owned and operated subsidiary of the pharmaceutical business, has moved in for the kill—to eliminate its boss's competition.

The trade groups that represent the nutritional industry are the most idiotic, fawning, and ineffective bunch of lobbyists Washington has ever seen. To them I say: if I'm wrong, prove it.

The only rescue and hope is a sustained and very aggressive grass roots campaign launched by millions of Americans, who want free access and free choice when it comes to their health.

There is at least one online petition circulating. I believe the best way to go is the old-fashioned way: letters and phone calls. Not emails. When they can delete anything delivered online with a click, they feel nothing. When they have to deal with phone calls and postal carriers delivering tons of letters, they are inconvenienced to the point where they know something is happening to them.

Flood them.

Make yourself known to your representatives, the FDA, and the White House.

In 1994, this worked. I was there. Slicker methods of communicating don't necessarily mean better ways of communicating.

The difference between what I saw in 1994 and what I see now is the difference between a tiger on the move and a tiger asleep in a zoo cage.

We also need at least one nutritional company with deep pockets to pour finances into this campaign, and to enlist celebrities who care about natural health to step up to the plate and speak out. On television. Celebrities who will be listened to. It isn't just a Twitter world.

Get the link to the Emord radio interview and this article out there.

In the last 15 years, since the explosive and partially successful Health Freedom movement, the public has been trained in Being Nice. This is operant conditioning. This is useless.

If you want continued access to all the elements of natural health, if you want the marketplace to reflect your needs and concerns, if you want freedom of choice, instead of a corporate statism, in which drug-based medicine will be the all-embracing, all-ruling monopoly it intends to become—step up.

To the degree that the White House has claimed it is an advocate for health, it is a complete and utter fraud. The president should make it clear these new FDA regulations and the Durbin bill will never see the light of day. And the DOJ should take steps to declare major sections of the Food Safety Law unconstitutional. Sorry, but one organic vegetable garden on the lawn of the White House is not enough.

But don't hold your breath waiting for the federal government to bail us out.

If you're a consumer of nutritional supplements, write to or call those companies you buy from and ask them directly what they plan to do about this attack. Demand answers. And don't settle for “our lobbyists and trade organizations handle this for us.” That's like saying “we have no answer.” Make it clear that as someone who spends dollars on their products, you expect action now—otherwise, you'll take your business elsewhere.

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If you know, or have connections to, celebrities who are advocates of natural health or rely on nutritional supplements, make every effort to contact them and alert them that their help is needed. Athletes are included as celebrities—many of them rely on supplements for health and performance.

� 2011 Jon Rappoport - All Rights Reserved

Related Article:

1- Dick Durbin, Enemy of the Founding Fathers’ Republic

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Jon Rappoport has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize early in his career, Jon has published articles on medical fraud, politics, alternative health, and sports in LA Weekly, CBS Healthwatch, Spin, Stern, and other magazines and newspapers in the US and Europe.

He is the is author of several books, including The Secret Behind Secret Societies and The Magic Agent (a novel).

Jon is the author of a new course for home schoolers, LOGIC AND ANALYSIS.

E-Mail: qjrconsulting@gmail.com

Web site, www.nomorefakenews.com

Web site, www.insolutions.info


 

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