FDA contact info, April 30th deadline...guidance document on complimentary and alternative mediicine

...just got this e-mail from the Weston A Price Foundation...


ACTION ALERT AND UPDATES
APRIL 20, 2006

FDA GUIDANCE DOCUMENT ON COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE (CAM)

You have probably received emails about a new FDA "guidance" document for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, published in the FDA's website. This document reminds us that FDA believes that under certain circumstances any vitamins, supplements, herbs and even vegetables juices can be treated under current law as FDA-regulated drugs. FDA believes, it appears from the guidance, that even massage oils could be classified as "medical devices" subject to FDA approval. The proposal is posted at
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/06d0480/06d0480.htm



Before sending out this alert, we consulted with Jim Turner, our General Counsel, who described this FDA document as an "opening shot of little significance in itself" but an indication of the direction that the FDA would like to go in expanding its regulation of complementary and alternative "medicine" products. That direction could include making the use of certain products currently important to the practice of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) a criminal offense, including certain products subject to FDA control used in conjunction with nutritional counseling, wellness consulting and many other alternative practices FDA defines as "alternative medicine,".

The comment period ends April 30, 2007. We ask all of you to voice your protest to this draconian proposal by asking FDA to withdraw this guidance, so that it goes no further. We also suggest that you urge FDA to conduct one or more public hearings on how it can effectively defer to state laws governing the practice of medicine, and can comply with the directions of Federal Courts to restrict its regulatory practices to the least intrusive actions available under the law.

Go
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/oc/dockets/comments/

COMMENTSMain.CFM?EC_DOCUMENT_ID=1451&SUBTYP=CONTINUE&CID=&AGENCY=FDA to file your comments in support of natural health care. (Note: You must copy and paste the entire URL, ending with =FDA, and you might have to copy and paste in two pieces to get it all.)

To submit comments by letter, be sure to reference FDA Document 2006D-0480: Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration, and write to

Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305)
Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061
Rockville, MD 20853

You may also have been hearing a great deal about the European Codex Alimentarius lately. We are preparing an Information Alert on this subject and will be sending it out shortly.
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