ANH USA Making A Real Difference

ANH-USA effects change and protects the integrative medical community. We are dedicated to promoting integrative medicine and sustainable health and work to ensure that practitioners have the right to practice and consumers have the right to choose. The impact of our commitment is very real. Throughout our history we have played an important role in filing precedent-setting lawsuits and passing significant legislation that directly benefit the natural health community. We were instrumental in passing the Dietary Supplement Health Education Act of 1994, widely considered to be the single most important piece of legislation for the industry. We have filed six lawsuits establishing qualified health claims for saw palmetto, folic acid, Omega 3 fatty acids, fiber, Vitamin E and Vitamin B, and we successfully sued the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for violating the First Amendment as well as the Administrative Procedure Act by not allowing the dissemination of truthful, scientific information on dietary supplement labels.

Some of our more recent accomplishments include:

• Spearheading a grass roots effort opposing Senator McCain’s Dietary Supplement Safety Act, resulting in 200,000 messages to the senate in opposition and Senator McCain’s withdrawal of support from the bill in five weeks. The Dietary Supplement Safety Act would have severely impacted access to dietary supplements.
• Including an exemption for dietary supplements from dangerous Codex language in the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act that would have negatively impacted our community.
  
• Modifying the senate healthcare bill to ensure that the Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) program includes integrative medicine practitioners on the board and advisory panel. This marks the first inclusion of integrative medicine in any federal program and will provide integrative medicine a voice in determining important areas of research, such as the role of dietary supplements in prevention and treatment.
• Mobilizing our Grass Root Activists to send over 400,000 emails to public legislatures on important integrative health issues.
• Filing three lawsuits against the FDA in support of the natural products industry and their right to speak freely to consumers about the science behind their products.
• Collecting over 50,000 signatures on our Reform the FDA petition.
• Working to introduce the Free Speech about Science Act in the House of Representatives that will permit industry to cite peer-reviewed scientific research in support of product health benefits.
• Modifying regulations in Delaware and Michigan that would have limited the practice of nutrition to Registered Dietitians to include Certified Nutrition Specialists.
• Passing legislation in North Carolina that provides due process protection for practitioners targeted by the State Medical Board.
• Working in partnership with Praktikos Institute to create www.naturalhealthsciencenews.org, which aggregates natural-health science news and reports daily.
• Petitioning the FDA to remove the dangerous chemical BPA from children’s dental devices.

We are successful because of the support of our members and activists. Learn more about becoming a friend of ANH-USA, or visit our online action center to make your voice heard.