You last chance to bring back freedom is to vote Ron Paul - even if you HAVE to become a Republican in the Primary for your state - suck it up for freedom and support and vote for Ron Paul.. .PLEASE AMERICA

The sad thing is, you wouldn't need vitamins or dietary supplements - or pharmaceuticals for that matter - if everyone ate and lived correctly, but we don't eat correctly and we certainly don't live correctly. I know a Haitian lady who can point at just about any plant lying around and tell me what they use it for, from heartburn to the flu. I think the trade off of removing yourself from nature (in mind, I mean, as it is impossible to remove yourself from it physically) is effectively outsourcing and degrading your well being.

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The pharmaceutical industry and its lobbyists have been on a roll and they see no reason to let up. Among their victories:

--The USA and New Zealand are the only two "western" countries where direct to consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs is legal. >>> Thus, the incessant onslaught of prescription meds on TV.

--US citizens pay more for prescription medicines than citizens of any other country on the planet.

--The US government cannot negotiate lower prices (in bulk) for medicines, for Medicare recipients, for example - although the V.A. can.

--The US government is not allowed to import lower priced meds from abroad for programs like Medicare.

--US companies cannot import lower priced meds from abroad for resale.

--US citizens have grudgingly been allowed to import small amounts of meds for personal use only.

--Prescription drugs kill over 200,000 people each year in the USA. And pharmaceutical companies get a wrist slap at most.

If this proposed new law against nutritional supplements goes into effect, as it has in Europe, the pharmaceutical industry will have won its biggest victory by eliminating its largest competitor.

We CANNOT allow this to happen. The shine.yahoo article link in the OPs post has links to what we can do about it.

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The only supplements I take these days are spirulina and chlorella(better than any vitamin, by far). I wonder if they would be outlawed as well..even if they are, I would have no problem breaking the law to get them. the US govt. has no business making anyone take bull# pharmaceuticals..

Originally posted by topherman420
I might be the odd one out here, and I don't completely agree with what is going on (if the article isn't sensationalizing this) but there is a pertinent point to bring up.
I see how much vitamins are costing my mother each month. She requires q 10 and b 12 as well as a few others. This can add up to a big chunk of her disability, and I find it ridiculous.

And how do we actually know what is in them and how much of it? Well I guess well known brands are a good bet but even then does anyone actually test them to see whats in it and if its maybe not a bad idea to regulate it? I certainly don't want my mother spending 22 bucks on a bottle of q 10 when in reality its traces of q 10 and some filler and I certainly don't want her to be affected by any outlaw on them (even though she can still get a free b12 shot every 3 months in canada).

edit on 16-9-2011 by topherman420 because: (no reason given)

we're not talking about snake oil here..the FDA works for big pharm. the only reason they're doing this is to put more money in big pharm's pocket. well,if they think this is going down, and everyone's gonna go along, they're in for a nasty shock.

If they take away the supplements that are in pill form, couldn't you just - oh I don't know - eat the foods that have the particular supplements you want in them? I can get 100% vitamin C from drinking a serving of OJ. Personally I hate any kind of "pill" that has produced artificially. If the people producing the food are evil, the people making supplements are evil, government is evil - I could go on - why even live? But seriously now, if you are presented with an obstacle, adapt and overcome. Life has been doing it for millions, if not billions, of years.

These supplement companies do need oversight. These tycoons are after me & know I just started taking vitamins. One a day is what I take, and if their vitamins harm my body, my temple, my vehicle in any way, revenge will be swift. Message to all : Please don't make me show you all who you're trying to %#@& with......
=]~~~ Later on losers!

Originally posted by Tom1984
It's absolutely a great idea! You see most supplements (Especially where I am from in Australia ie: Blackmores are made to food standards and just don't get absorbed into your body! Also what they put on the labels you don't know if that is what you're getting inside the bottle)

I think if the FDA gets strict on quality control a lot less placebo's will be sold from companies only interested in profits and a lot more people will get healthier knowing which brands are the safest!

The fascinating thing is that people are complaining saying what is being sold now is apparently safe, but if it was regulated it wouldn't be. If corporations are evil and all trying to hurt us, then everything should be killing us. Unfortunately people are living longer every year and we have medical breakthroughs all the time. How do you distinguish between "big pharma" trying to kill you versus an unregulated company selling you what is supposedly a pill full vitamin B. Can you?

We dont NEED vitamins..
we Also dont need big Pharma.
Yeah If your gonna choose to live on the dollar menu,.. then well you will
contract an illness.
Basicly it will come down to not just survival of the fittest, but the smart as well.
I have been off supplements for many years now and I am healthy.
By clean eating. organic fruits, vegies, and meat protein.
Or you can choose to live by what the FDA feeds you..

Originally posted by AGWskeptic
A,D,E and K are fat soluble, in other words they build up in your body if you take too much.

The rest are water soluble, take too much you just pee it out.

As far as I'm concerned they could pull all of that snake oil off the shelves, the most anyone needs is a single multivitamin daily.

You may feel better when taking handfuls of vitamins, but it is only a placebo effect.

Both pill industries are bad, not just big pharma.

Not entirely true. My son is on B-2 (Riboflavin) at the direction of his pediatric neurologist for the prevention of migraines after my son had bad reactions to two prescription migraine preventatives. The neurologist is a specialist in the area of migraines and finds that B-2 at the proper dosage is more effective for more people than the prescription drugs. So far, 11 months and no hospitalizations - a new record!

And then there's my husband - a Crohn's sufferer. Crohn's disease causes damage to the intestines and interferes with the absorption of many nutrients from food due to scaring of the intestinal wall. What nutrients seems to depend on the portion of the intestine that was damaged. In my husband's case, he needs to supplement with B12 due to the section near the ilium being scarred. Without the B12 supplementation, he gets foggy and has trouble with his memory. Blood tests confirm the deficiency.

So, no placebo effect in either case - rather a well documented need for vitamin supplementation. And I'm going to be pissed if our ever-for-sale government makes it harder to care for my men folk then it already is.