FDA plans to reclassify all vitamins, supplements, herbs and juices as FDA-regulated drugs

Ok people... this is getting VERY serious! This move will eliminate nutritional supplements and natural medicine from the United States, ensuring
monopoly profits and control by drug companies and the FDA.

The FDA is accepting public comments on the docket until April 30th.

What will happen:

Vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug. Raw juice retreats will be raided or shut down.

Therapeutic tea products, such as green tea, will be outlawed and confiscated.

Therapeutic tea products, such as green tea, will be outlawed and confiscated.

Growing and selling common garden herbs will get you arrested as a drug dealer.

Vitamin store owners will be arrested and prosecuted for "practicing medicine without a license."

Raw sprouts and other anti-cancer foods will be regulated as drugs.

Citizens owning personal inventories of "unapproved drugs" (vitamins and herbs) may have their homes raided at gunpoint and their inventories
confiscated by armed law enforcement agents.

A new FDA "guidance" document, published on the FDA's website, reveals plans to reclassify virtually all vitamins, supplements, herbs and even
vegetable juices as FDA-regulated drugs. Massage oils and massage rocks will be classified as "medical devices" and require FDA approval. The
document is called Docket No. 2006D-0480. Draft Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation by
the Food and Drug Administration.

It is crucial that you take action to post your comments with the FDA right now and write your representatives in Washington to put a stop to this
outrageous effort to destroy natural medicine.

Originally posted by arius
I think you're overreacting just a.....well a whole lot! I don't understand why you want to allow unproven herbal medicines to be sold as cure alls.
It is snake oil. I think this is very good.

You are a disinformation agent.

Herbs and natural foods are the only real healing things we have that are safe. Pharmaceutical drugs are dangerous. They kill people. All the proof
is available. All you have to do is read it. Get off this thread.

The member you just told to leave this thread has every right to respond to your post. Just because you don't like the reply is no reason to call
them a disinformation agent.

I also happen to agree that more of this stuff needs to be regulated and tested.

Should I be allowed to pick the fur out of my cat's vomit and market it as a cure for cancer

If you're buying into these scams I feel sorry for you.
I also think your first post is a huge over-reaction, and I don't think you'll see people being rounded up for picking a few herbs from their garden
:shk:

The extent to which a false paradigm has gripped the nation, is most evident in the decisions of the FDA regarding natural foods, herbs, and other
alternative medicine components.

Our view of modern medicine is so biased towards expensive pharmaceuticals, that hardly anything is taught in medical schools about nutrition. Doctors
are given junkets and kickbacks when they prescribe new patent medicines, or pharmaceuticals. Helpful studies including real science and laboratory
controls about natural foods and herbs are suppressed, but profitable studies approving expensive drugs are shouted from the mountain tops.

Now the corporate strangle hold attempts to destroy DSHEA, and to make burdensome requirements for foods and herbs people have used for centuries. At
the same time dangerous patent medicines are grandfathered.

If people think all of the above is not the case, you do not know the system of campaign fund bribery that has dominated our governmental system far
too much for too many years.

I suggest the above link beginning this discussion deserves a read, rather than empty denunciations without foundation. Debate the matter, rather than
relay ad hominem attacks and unsupported polemics. There is no broad based foundation suggesting pharmaceuticals are entirely sacrosanct, rather their
own warning list of side effects suggest the need for a more attentive and informed public.

Herbs and other remedies of the natural health outlook have statistically insignificant negative reporting incidents. At the same time pharmaceuticals
have side effects including death, and the common man must worship their products?

A lot of these ingredients are hidden in other ingredients in order to hide them and this is perfectly legal.

The information is all there and you can find most of it at NewsTarget. I know I promote this website a lot but it does have a huge resource of
articles that cut right to the chase and tell the truth. The Truth. Something we don't get from the FDA, USDA, AMA, AHA or the mainstream media.

As for my outburst earlier, I apologize for that. I'm experiencing some major side effects as I wean myself off of some very dangerous
antidepressant drugs (under a doctor's supervision).

I agree with you, I see this as a grave issue, as today more than ever people are seeing the nutritional benefit of taking herbs, vitamins and natural
home remedies as alternatives to the slow death due to pharmaceutical drugs.

If you don't get why its so bad then you need to get educated in the issue at hand. In the past year, the FDA I believe has made it illegal to sue
the drug companies for any sideeffects you are subjected to from these drug companies as long as they have been given the FDA approval. We as citizens
need to let them now that we will not allow this to pass.

This is indeed a matter of grave concern to many people who have no medical insurance and have turned to vitamins and herbs to help with health
issues. I have used and studied vitamins and herbs for over 25 years, and there is a large body of information on the net, studies supporting the
benifial effects, and also any dangers concerning the use of
vitamins and herbs. If you go to the site featured in the opening post follow the links and do some self educating, you might be surprised at how
eyeopening the information is. I certainly trust a natural source over chemical substitutions. It has been proven with the FDA's track record that
they truly have little or no concern over an individual's health and well being. If they can't regulate and monopolize it then it should be
illegal, as they must feed the corporations.....Big Pharma!

we are well into 2007 and the AER bill is not in place. if Codex can be delayed, it can be neutralized, too.

more regulations just mean that you will get only approved brands of snake oil, which then become mandatory. if you grow stuff yourself or if you are
fully aware of the ingredients (which then have to be fully labelled, that's where legislation could be put to much better use!). i admit that this
would conflict with exisiting drug legislation, though, because the eevil person in question could resort to growing normal, low-THC (as opposed to
hashish) Hemp for its amino acids and overall nutritional value.

see rexresearch.com/hhusb/hmphlth.htm#hhl3 if you are interested.

looks like banning of certain plants was just the precursor to total food based dictatorship. i recommend the following thread for an overwiew about
the situation on this forum

the real solution is of course calling these grand schemes of global control what the are: delusional schemes of grandeur, needlessly destroying the
health, wellbeing and peace of entire nations. as long as concentration of power is heralded as progress we will not be able to get off this slippery
slope.

who needs worldwide supplement bans? is there any reason which can stand scrutiny? snake oil is a matter of personal responibility, as long as
ingredients are known. tbh, labelling is a cop out, without at least primitive lab tests in the hands of millions of people, we can never be sure of
what we are eating as supplements.

I think that the FDA should show restraint in regulating such natural herbs and supplements, but when specific health claims are made for a product,
it does seem they are marketing it as a drug and therefore it should be regulated for safety and effectiveness just like other drugs.

Labeling, testing and other things are no problem to me, I think claims should be investigated. It is a problem though when the availability of a
product is hampered. In fact, I wish that there were no such things as prescriptions and we could buy whatever we pleased over-the-counter.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
annestacey, your post is so over-the-top fearmongering it's incredible.

Yeah at first I thought it seemed that way also, but all of that information came from the NewsTarget website and Mike Adams is not really a
fear-mongering kind of person. He is very truthful in his reporting and because a lot of people fail to pay attention to these issues, sometimes it
requires the bells to be sounded a bit louder. I invite you to read his latest articles on this topic.

This is an excerpt from today's article right on the front page (the other articles are listed on the front page further down):

Holy water, for example, could be regulated as a drug. Churches that continue to use Holy water in their services could be raided and accused of
practicing medicine. Sound absurd? The FDA has already conducted an armed raid on one church (see "tyranny" article, above) and made no announcement
that churches are exempt from FDA rule.

I agree with you... it sounds like fear-mongering. But his information is true and correct. But the FDA is an organization to be very afraid of. I
came to my own conclusion that if Mike Adams feels this is so critical of an issue that he needs to ring the alarm bells, then it must be THAT
serious.

Mike also states in that article:

The FDA believes it is above God. Any person who has ever dealt with the FDA will confirm this. The arrogance of the FDA is so extreme that if the
agency could find a way to actually regulate God, it would no doubt have done so by now. Because prayer heals people; physically, emotionally and
spiritually.

I think that the FDA should show restraint in regulating such natural herbs and supplements, but when specific health claims are made for a product,
it does seem they are marketing it as a drug and therefore it should be regulated for safety and effectiveness just like other drugs.

Labeling, testing and other things are no problem to me, I think claims should be investigated. It is a problem though when the availability of a
product is hampered. In fact, I wish that there were no such things as prescriptions and we could buy whatever we pleased over-the-counter.
[edit on 4/13/2007 by djohnsto77]

Yes I agree with your statements. However, the FDA is not known for showing restraint. I wish they could! If they could be fair and honest in their
regulations, that would be great. But unfortunately, the FDA already has a long history of raiding health establishments. That information is in
this article:

For me personally, it's frustrating. I've been on antidepressant prescription drugs for several years and have watched them affect me in very
adverse ways which has damaged parts of my life that are now beyond repair. So now is the time that I absolutely have to jump off the prescription
drug train before crashing and burning.

For people in that position, where natural herbs and supplements are critical for them to be healthy... the thought of having them taken away or
regulated to such a point that it's nearly impossible to get them, really is a scary and serious issue which can be very emotional for some. I tend
to get unusually emotional at times because I am still on the rollercoaster of coming off these meds. But I feel I'm lucky to have the "getting
emotional" side effects and not the "killing spree" side effects.

Remember, the FDA that wants to regulate natural herbs, vitamins and supplements are also the same FDA that allows dangerous disease-causing chemicals
in everyday grocery foods and allows them to be hidden in the labeling so we don't know they are there. Not to mention, the controversies
surrounding water fluoridation, pharmaceutical drugs, fictional diseases, vaccines, conflicts of interest that run rampant and are pretty much
ignored,... this list goes on and on.

People can continue to claim this is all fear-mongering but Mike Adams prefers to call it "brutally honest". In my opinion, anyone who thinks this
is fear-mongering are those who haven't investigated these issues deep enough and do not know the truth. And there is a LOT going on that people do
not hear about because you will not see or hear any of this in the mainstream media. The only way to find out this information is via the
internet.

Fortunately (yes there is a good point in all of this!), this is not like the 9/11 conspiracy where the truth cannot be found. It's all out there in
black and white... all you have to do is go read it for yourself.

Vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug. Raw juice retreats will be raided or shut down.

Therapeutic tea products, such as green tea, will be outlawed and confiscated.

Growing and selling common garden herbs will get you arrested as a drug dealer.

I highly doubt this. You are telling me that after these "reclassifications" if I grow anything in my garden such as carrots, peas, potatoes, etc I
will be arrested and charged as a drug dealer ahahhahahaah. Give me a break. I highly doubt that anything that you said in your first post is the
truth. What you are implying is that we will no longer be able to buy green tea because it will be outlawed? No longer be able to grow our own food?
I guess all the farmers in the world will all be arrested for being "drug dealers"

Originally posted by djohnsto77
I think that the FDA should show restraint in regulating such natural herbs and supplements, but when specific health claims are made for a product,
it does seem they are marketing it as a drug and therefore it should be regulated for safety and effectiveness just like other drugs.

Originally posted by annestacey
Vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug. Raw juice retreats will be raided or shut down.
Therapeutic tea products, such as green tea, will be outlawed and confiscated.
Growing and selling common garden herbs will get you arrested as a drug dealer.

I highly doubt this. You are telling me that after these "reclassifications" if I grow anything in my garden such as carrots, peas, potatoes, etc I
will be arrested and charged as a drug dealer ahahhahahaah. Give me a break. I highly doubt that anything that you said in your first post is the
truth. What you are implying is that we will no longer be able to buy green tea because it will be outlawed? No longer be able to grow our own food?
I guess all the farmers in the world will all be arrested for being "drug dealers"

Please....

I didn't say it or imply it... I simply reiterated what Mike Adams said on the NewsTarget website. You can highly doubt whatever you want. Go read
it for yourself and stop shooting the messenger.

take a look at past 'experiences': Amino Acid : Banned.... Prozac: Approved.EMS
1989, follow-up
thse drugs often cause what they are supposed to prevent, i'll look for a link later if you don't mind, gtg.
[edit on 13.4.2007 by Long Lance]

Exactly. Thanks Long Lance.

I don't understand how people can say they don't believe this information but they won't go read it. Maybe they will not allow themselves to think
that our government could be so corrupt. If the rest of you who don't believe it can click your mouse on this link:
(www.newstarget.com...), go see for yourself how corrupt the FDA really is. Read the track record they have so far.
It's long and ugly. And don't forget to check the articles on the USDA and the
American Medical Association. Oh and don't let me leave out the
American Cancer Society whose "race for the cure" is really nothing more than a
scam to raise money for the pharmaceutical companies. It's like one big "Corruption Club".

Choose to look the other way if you like. But our food and water are being poisoned and what is the FDA doing about it? They're trying to take
control of the only healthy food sources we have left. Do you know about terminator seeds? At some point we may not be able to grow our own food.
Google "Terminator Seeds".

Long Lance - NewsTarget also has a list of articles that describe the prescription drugs that cause the diseases they're supposed to prevent. Lots
of reliable information there!

I would like to take a moment to address the FDA and the possiblity of herbal supplements being regulated. I am strongly against this action because
it goes against the basic principles of health care as it relates to preventive measures. I take health supplements to avoid sickness, which has been
working out great. The FDA restricting my ability to prevent my own sickness is dastardly to be nice, and is an obvious demonstration of the
organizations hypocracy and it's interest in keeping Americans sick in order to gain market share.

I will not tolerate this legislation and will take any and all action as a citizen and member of various health and human rights organizations to make
sure this legislation is not passed.

Whitaker starts by debunking the effectiveness of these massively hyped wonder drugs -- antidepressants like Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil, and the new
atypical antipsychotic drugs like Zyprexa. His research shows how they often are barely more effective than placebos in treating mental disorder and
depression, despite the glowing adulation they have received in the mainstream media.

But he goes on to make the startling claim that these new psychiatric drugs have directly contributed to an alarming new epidemic of drug-induced
mental illness. The very drugs prescribed by physicians to stabilize mental disorders in fact are inducing pathological changes in brain chemistry and
triggering suicide, manic and psychotic episodes, convulsions, violence, diabetes, pancreatic failure, metabolic diseases, and premature death.

John March, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine, prescribes the drugs to kids in some cases of serious
illness when he thinks the benefits outweigh the risks. But he says prescribing them for behavior problems alone may be a mistake. "We have no
evidence about the safety of these agents or their effectiveness in controlling aggression," he says. "Why are we doing this?"

At the same time, reports of deaths and dangerous side effects linked to the drugs are mounting. A USA TODAY study of FDA data collected from 2000 to
2004 shows at least 45 deaths of children in which an atypical antipsychotic was listed in the FDA database as the "primary suspect." There also
were 1,328 reports of bad side effects, some of them life-threatening.

It is one of a class of drugs known as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs).
There is evidence suggesting that some SSRIs are associated with an increased risk of suicidal behaviour and thoughts.

Question: what are anti-depressants prescribed for? aren't they causing the very problems they are supposed to cure?

Being a former food inspector for a state agency I also at one time shared your feelings on msg. However, after extensive research I found no evidence
that msg was harmful to people. I wanted it to be because I thought I had gotten sick from asian food. However, that was just wishful thinking as I
was biased. Perhaps the same way you are on this topic.

It is really two issues that you have brought up. First many prescription drugs are harmful and are overprescribed. It is the system that perpetuates
the problem. You are correct in saying that the drug companies make new expensive drugs that don't work any better than the 100 year old medicine
that now doesn't have a patent and hence has a low profit margin. You are completely correct on this issue. I truly feel for you as you get off
anti-depressants. I have a family member who also has this problem.

However, the other issue is untested and unproven herbal concoctions. I am fine with using cheap medicines even herbal medicines if they meet stand up
to the scientific method. Currently the only system we have is the FDA. Perhaps the FDA should fund testing on herbal medicines.

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