(We've been given a little more time to express our outrage to FDA (and Big Pharma) regarding power over our own bodies, and our ability to take charge and full responsibility for
our own health decisions.  Isn't that GENEROUS of them ?!? ~L~)

Another place to protest the FDA's potential cut-off of our access to vitamins and herbal remedies. Please respond and share widely. This is so important to all of us.

 
http://www.newstarget.com/021810.html
 
FDA's attempts to slip its CAM Guidelines under the radar fail; deadline for public comment extended to May 29 
 
Click here to post your comments directly to the FDA on the FDA Docket Management Comment Form
 
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/oc/dockets/comments/COMMENTSMain.CFM?EC_DOCUMENT_ID=1451&SUBTYP=CONTINUE&CID=&AGENCY=FDA
 
  Keep in mind that all comments become part of the official FDA record, so write your comments carefully.

 
 
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  Following widespread criticism by the public over proposed CAM Guidelines that the agency tried to slip under the radar (see below), the Food and Drug Administration has now extended the deadline for public comment to May 29. (It was previously April 30). The CAM Guidelines (click here to read them yourself) represent a new era of thinking at the FDA and describe the agency's intentions to regulate herbs, functional foods, therapeutic oils, nutritional supplements and even physical devices such as massage rocks as either "drugs" or "medical devices." Click here to read our previous story describing the CAM Guidlines. These guidelines have been widely described as a brazen FDA attempt to destroy naturopathy and alternative medicine.

The FDA was petitioned on April 22 by health freedom attorney Ralph Fucetola, a trustee of the non-profit National Solutions Foundation (www.HealthFreedomUSA.com), to extend its deadline for public comment. The petition also specifically requested that the FDA hold public hearings on the issue, but no decision has apparently been made on that issue.

It now seems that the FDA attempted to sneak the new CAM Guidelines under the radar, hoping the public would never notice the guidelines until they had already been adopted and approved. The original CAM Guidelines document was quietly posted by the FDA on the day after Christmas, 2006, yet did not appear in the Federal Register until several months later. By the time the document was able to be found and commented on by the natural health community, only about thirty days remained in the public comment period. Thanks to public pressure and the National Solutions Foundation petition, the public comment period has now been extended by an additional thirty days to May 29th.

To date, more than 108,000 comments have been received by the FDA on their CAM Guidelines. The issue has received widespread coverage in the natural health community, including articles on NewsTarget.com. The National Solutions Foundation says that an additional 267,000 people attempted to post comments but were unable to do so. NewsTarget previously suggested that comments posted to the FDA might be intentionally ignored or deleted, and according to the NSF, letters that are written to the FDA about this docket are routinely ignored.

Your comments are still needed to protect health freedomThe most effective way to make your voice heard on this topic is to either post your comments electronically, or write your representative in Washington to apply pressure on the FDA from the legislative side.

Click here to post your comments directly to the FDA on the FDA Docket Management Comment Form. Keep in mind that all comments become part of the official FDA record, so write your comments carefully.

The National Solutions Foundation also has a web comment form posted here, which uses the "Democracy In Action" engine to send comments to the FDA and adds your name to a petition asserting our collective right to health freedom. This petition needs approximately another 90,000 electronic signatures to be taken seriously by the FDA, so please consider signing this petition as well.

"My middle name is not Darth Vader" claims FDA officialLate last week, John Weeks from The Integrator Blog (click here for the full interview) published an interview with Philip Chao, the only FDA official referenced in the CAM Guidelines document.

That interview asks the important question: Why was the CAM Guidelines document posted in the Federal Register on February 27, with a comment deadline of April 30, when the document itself says there will be a 90 day comment period? The Integrator asks, "Can't you see how, with a suspicious public out there and all this hoopla that just extending to 90 days from February 27 makes some sense."