The FDA is attempting to regulate vitamins, herbs and juices as "drugs". If they achieve this goal, you would need a doctor's prescription for your multivitamins! Whole Foods stores would boast bare shelves, as the pharmaceutical industry stepped in!
When it comes to health freedom, this is the FDA's end game. 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 Draft Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.
You can read the FDA proposal
here
This is really frightening in a lot of ways. I, personally, take a number of various supplements each day. A multivitamin, flaxseed oil, additional calcium, glucosamine and chondroitin, as well as a few others. I also take acidopholus for intestinal health.
If the FDA achieves their goal, every single supplement I take would be outlawed in the private sector. I would be required to visit a medical professional and obtain individual prescriptions for my supplements, and then would be required to purchase those items from the pharmaceutical companies that would now be the sole manufacturers of these items!
Talk about removing our freedom to care for our health as we see fit!
They would also deem naturopathic and homeopathic treatments as "medical" procedures and subject them to the same criteria. No more massages, no more acupuncture, no more biofeedback devices - not without "government" approval.
"...a product used in a CAM therapy or practice may be subject to regulation as a biological product, cosmetic, drug, device, or food (including food additives and dietary supplements) under the act or the PHS Act. Second, neither the act nor the PHS Act exempts CAM products from regulation."
Translation: Anything used in any system of medicine may now be regulated as a drug or medical device by the FDA. This includes a biofeedback machine, acupuncture needles, a cup of herbal tea, massage oil, a glass of vegetable juice or even a bottle of water.
"...if a person decides to produce and sell raw vegetable juice for use in juice therapy to promote optimal health... [and] if the juice therapy is intended for use as part of a disease treatment regimen instead of for the general wellness, the vegetable juice would also be subject to regulation as a drug under the Act."
Translation: Raw vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug and must be FDA approved as a drug if it has any health effect whatsoever. Handing a cup of raw vegetable juice to someone and telling them it's good for the detoxification of their liver will get you arrested for practicing medicine without a license and promoting an "unapproved drug."
..."biologically based practices" includes, but is not limited to, botanicals, animal-derived extracts, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids, proteins, prebiotics and probiotics: whole diets, and "functional foods". ...a botanical product intended for use in treating a disease would generally be regulated as a drug." ..."functional foods" may be subject to FDA regulation as foods, dietary supplements, or drugs under the Act.
Translation: All foods, supplements, superfoods and functional foods may be reclassified as drugs by the FDA, then regulated off the market.
If... the manipulative and body-based practices involve the use of equipment (such as massage devices) or the application of a product (such as a lotion, cream, or oil) to the skin or other parts of the body, those products may be subject to regulation under the Act."
Translation: Massage oils and creams will be regulated as "drugs" and acupuncture needles as "medical devices." Taking this absurdity one step further, massage therapists who use their fingers to touch patients may have their fingers regulated as "medical devices" and be accused of practicing medicine for merely touching patients.
Please visit the link I have provided for an in depth report on just exactly what we will be facing in this country should this proposal be adopted into law!
The FDA is welcoming comments until April 30th
here. It is important that we make our voices heard before the government takes away something so personal and vital to our individual rights. We need to be allowed to be personally responsible for our own mental and physical health!
I posted the following comment on the site: "I am in direct opposition to the proposed regulation by the FDA on CAM products!" I suggest you all do the same.....................
