By James J. Gormley, VP and Sr. Policy Advisor, Citizens for Health
Via The Gormley Files
As if Senate Bill 3002 (S. 3002) were not more than enough to deal with, according to The Hill Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) is criticizing the Senate for not moving on Senate Bill 510 (S. 510).
Unfortunately, The Pew Charitable Trusts has been assisting with a coordinated lobbying effort to press Senate leaders to bring the bill to the floor. Sandra Eskin, director of Pew’s food safety campaign, told The Hill that she is “cautiously optimistic” that a vote can occur in the first half of March, before the Senate’s next recess week starts on March 29.
Regan LaChapelle, a spokeswoman for Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), told The Hill that the majority leader hopes to bring the bill to the floor either during the current work period or the next, which runs from April 12 to May 28. “It’s on our list of legislative priorities,” she said. “It could be in March or the next work period. Obviously we have many issues to address.”
House Republicans were split on H.R. 2749, with 54 supporting it and 122 opposed. GOP members who backed it include Reps. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Joe Barton (Texas), Dave Camp (Mich.) and Greg Walden (Ore.).
After the House bill passed, Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) told The Washington Post: “The federal government will tell our farmers and ranchers how to do something they’ve been doing since the dawn of mankind. It goes too far in the direction of trying to produce food from a bureaucrat’s chair in Washington, D.C.” Twenty House Democrats opposed the bill.
Now moreso than in recent memory, it is critical that we all stay tuned to these issues, keeping an eye out for our continuing posts and opportunities for action on S. 3002 and S. 510 — and whatever else floats down the Potomac that threatens DSHEA, our supplements and our health-food stores!
James,
Right you are! We alerted the public to the “stalking horse” connection between S 3002, which would bring Codex restrictions to our Dietary Supplement DSHEA freedoms and S 510 which would force the industrialization of food production.
Vigilance is needed by all… and I was so impressed by how quickly the Health Freedom Movement responded this time! On the day of McCain’s announcement, February 3rd, NPA had sent out an email alert and over the next five days, starting with our Health Freedom Blog on February 4th — http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=4608 — various groups began the counterattack.
Of course Citizens.org reacted immediately. Life Extension Foundation, ANH, NHF and others quickly set up Action Items and hundreds of thousands of messages began to flood Congress, over 311,000 from our Health Freedom USA action item alone.
The rumor we hear is that one of McCain’s friends is a lobbyist for a major vitamin chain and the word is getting back to the Senator that he’s made a major mistake.
He may even withdraw the bill… but, the danger remains that its provisions will be rolled into S 510 which must be defeated!
Thank you for all your efforts in this key fight to preserve DSHEA!
Here we are again. It’s the Industrialist vs. the People. The FDA was appointed to a job it could never do: oversee safety of anything health or food or nutrition or supplements, and certainly not drugs. My tax dollars pay for these useless creeps! It’s not only that they want to live their lives sick and die an ugly death as a result; they want the rest of us to give them all our money and authority and do the same stupid thing! We don’t deserve the government we’ve got, and we certainly don’t deserve to have to fight these ridiculous and deadly plans and actions before us every day. Cut the FDA off at the knuckles, please, and don’t worry about the fact that nary a one has a head! In case you wondered, I’m against S3002 and S5510. I eat food and take supplements and recommend it to others. Sue A. Blanton, DC
Sue A. Blanton, DC
It’s called the New World Order, and we’re in it. It’s almost unbelievable. And even more shocking that more people don’t take this stuff seriously.
Ralph,
Thanks so much for your reply and your very welcome comments. I greatly appreciate and respect all you do and have accomplished with your blog, newsletter and HF USA!
Sue,
Thanks for your no-holds-barred approach; we certainly need to cut off this bill at the knuckles, to be sure, and S. 510 while we’re at it!
Ronald,
I agree that this seems like that; while it is true that complacency is out there, it is really more that Americans are basically trusting people who naturally find it hard to believe that there are collectives of forces out there with their own agendas that have nothing to do with what the American people actually need otr actually want—I’m not talking about conspiracy theories here—just dedicated interests that are well-funded, misguided and malign (as opposed to benign) or just amoral.
Best,
James (Gormley), CFH