Update on Senator McCain’s Anti-supplement Bill, DSSA (S. 3002)
March 9, 2010
As we explained in our special message last week, Senator McCain in private conversations within the Senate has agreed to withdraw support for the worst provisions of the DSSA. He is reeling from the massive outpouring of opposition from the American public. In a letter dated March 4, Senator Hatch wrote to Senator McCain, “I want to thank you for agreeing to withdraw your support for the provisions of S. 3002 that I believe would do great harm to the dietary supplement industry”.
McCain’s retreat was further confirmed by a McCain staffer. At the same time, other reports have stated that the Senator is “revisiting” the bill 
after meeting with Senator Hatch, and has no plans to withdraw the bill as it stands.
So far, Senator McCain has remained publicly silent. The last public statement he made was his floor statement in which he seemed to misunderstand what was in his own bill.
Technically, Senator McCain cannot withdraw the DSSA from the Senate without unanimous Senate agreement; however, he can publicly announce his intention to withdraw his support for the disastrous provisions of the bill, what he has already told Senator Hatch privately. We invite McCain to clear up the remaining confusion about his intentions and set the record straight!
It’s critical to receive confirmation from McCain directly. Now is the time to keep the pressure on to ensure the final defeat of DSSA! So, until we hear directly from Senator McCain, let’s keep contacting our senators to express our opposition.
There are also numerous rumors floating around that individual elements of the McCain bill will turn up as amendments to other legislation. We will be maintaining our steely vigilance against all other legislative efforts that might infringe consumer and practitioner access to US natural health products, on which so many Americans (and hundreds of thousands outside of America) depend.
(For any of you just coming into the conversation now, Senator McCain’s mis-named Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA) would repeal key legislative protections for supplements. It would give the FDA arbitrary authority to pre-approve a discreet list of supplements and dosages while banning all others. This would almost certainly lead to a highly restrictive European style regime with very few approved supplements and dosages.) Take action here to defeat this bill!
Take this bill away!!!!!!
From what little I have heard about this bill it needs to be stopped. I looked over a couple responses here and people have very solid points that congress should think on, such as the state of American “food”. There are a number of reasons why our nation is falling farther behind to other countries and supplements is far from it. With the lack of nutrition in our foods and the bulk of the county having to rely on fast food as it is, the body can not be sustained and requires greater quantity and leads to obesity. Leaving that alone though can anyone remember how long it has been since they didnt sit down in front of the TV to hear at least one commercial in the day about an “FDA Approved” medication being recalled and the center of lawsuits? Lawsuits from people dying or being permanentaly hurt from the medications a government agency already failed to protect us from. I also can not recall ever hearing about someone who went to the local GNC (or other herbal store) and being harmed or killed by unexpected side effects. In the end they also need to realise that the FDA is already over worked with their duties and to try and throw the entire supplement market into the mix would only further break down their “system” thats already failed us. Between this bill and a lot of the provisions in the new health care reform, I think its time we clean house and elect some new officials to try and get it right. Lets put the fear of losing their government paychecks and housing back into the politicians!
We don’t needs bills to hurt the nutrition industry – the pharmacy industry creates too many drugs with numerous side affects. There are many natural products available that can help people. Don’t cave into the big Pharmacy companies and cut out millions of people reaping good health from natural remedies without all the side affects that drugs create. They are all about money and only want to increase their coffers by eliminating competition. We need elected politicians who are informed and really looking to listen to the concerns of people. Bottom line is do the right thing – you do that than our country will remain strong because our strenght has always been in the will of its people – not the special interest of those who have money to profit their needs.