i just sent this message to the fda on their website:
are you out of your minds?(that was a rhetorical question. look it up.)
since you people obviously dont have the sense god gave a goose, why dont you back off and let people who are seeking true health without the harm of all the crap you folks approve of coming from your buddies at bayer, et al(aka - big pharma), do their own investigating and experimenting? is that too fricking simple for you to comprehend? i call you the federal death administration. its what youre best at.
let me reiterate: leave private citizens alone. let herbs and minerals and anything else that that does not have an ld50 greater than water be sold. what are you afraid of? oh yea, i almost forgot, being worthless!!!! to avoid those kinds of feelings, you might actually investigate drugs like vioxx before you approve of them. and tell your buddy rummy to have an aspertame enema, on me. send me the bill.
It is that kind of thinking that has us trapped where we are!
We always give up, give in and hand it over to them.
We have got to start pulling together, afterall we have the internet to connect us all together now. Do you realize how powerful that can make us? We could, with some real effort, ban together and say, NO, we are not going to do that today!
What if no one showed up to vote?
What if no one showed up for work?
What if no one bought a particular brand name of product for one month?
Defeatism Trapper will get you (or anyone else) nowhere.
Q. How was DSHEA born?
A. Out of the will of the people.
If we make enough collective noises, then change can happen for the better.
In the words of Dr Ralph Cinque....."If Federal Governments and their Agencies go too far, the uprising and backlash against them will not permit any change against the will of the people"
Trapper, I will live off the land if I have to, but before I resort to that I have to give it a fighting try. Now is the time for us to rise up against them. If there are enough of us we can change the way things are but we can't assume that the FDA or anybody is too big or strong for us. We can be just as strong and effective, but we have to have our voices heard.
Myself, I will not bow down to them or give up. I will give them one hell of a fight. Hopefully more and more will see the vision and together we can win.
I'm sure they have a reason for doing what they are doing but also they should also be "aware" of their actions in the sense that before they deem something unapproved or seize goods, they should at least issue a temporary hold order for distributing the products questioned and test them. That way, it would be fair. Food supplements has been around the block for a good how-many-years now and personally, it won't hurt FDA by adding a service as testing them. some supplements, have clinical studies. Them having that, it only means people spent time and effort to do this because they found out something that is beneficial – some drugs, if not all, came from plant extracts after all.
Please do not get me wrong here, I am not against FDA as they only protect the people, I just feel that maybe what they lack is the ability to look into the supplements more deeply. For me, they are just being “over protective”. Just my two cents though.
Warning: these sort of posts make me feel a little manic.
We are hearing a lot of great advice as to what we can do, but we have to know what exactly we are fighting against.
What are the 3 most important words you'll ever learn, or hear? "I love you," or "Conflict of interest?" Conflict of interest is as old and inherent in human society as language, or making fire. In fact, like the act of lying, the concept of conflict of interest may be even older.
We seem to imagine it as something which affects government, but it is an inherent and inseperable part of the political, economic, and religious process.
Has anyone ever heard of "Dollar a Day Men?" Historically, the CIA, (USA External Affairs), had had 3 basic tiers; grunts - the doers, management, and the upper eschelons - Dollar a Day Men; very wealthy men, CEO's, Presidents, execs, etc., of major corporations. These wealthy men selflessly accepted payment of just one US dollar a day in return for serving thier country in the CIA.
The CIA quickly expanded from monitoring boardering countries to assuring "American interests" within the continant, to the hemisphere, to the world. Does the term "US interests" mean the average American citizen? At US $85 a barrel, what do you think?
How long did George Bush Senior serve with the CIA? What oil companies was he associated with? Did the CIA aid in any way with the profit making of oil companies? Anyone remember "Our CIA informants have assured us that Iran has weapons of mass destruction?" Then, retired and out of the game, Greenspan blows the whistle,.... Kaboom ...Backtracks ... "Opps, I meant...."
The war is not between the US and Iraq/ Iran/ N. Korea/ or any other nation. It is not even between the rich and poor. It is between greed and compassion, the prison of the ego and enlightenment.
The mafia, called the establishment, (all governments, corporations, miitaries, police forces, major media, major medical institutions, food distributors, religions, etc. you can add your own), have organically , and naturally developed due to the inherent greed, (or competitive drive), in all organisms. The FDA is just another tentacle of this entity, (organized like the CIA), but never before have we seen such precision in such an entity's ability and organization.
As for the religious alternative, (a Theocratic State), the Catholic Church didn't do much better in a thousand years.
The revolution will not be telivised because they own all the chanels. The revolution will not be a scream, it will be a whisper. "It is the stillest words that bring on the storm. Thoughts that come on doves' feet guide the world."
The "Free Speach Zones" are a hundred miles from where anyone will ever hear you. Standing out in public view is wonderful, but I fear, will only make you a target that the whole McWorld will never hear of, and if they do, they will forget you and your plight, and message quickly.
I've been asking myself and others for years how to fight this inherent human greed. This is the war. I fear that it is not out there, but is in here. I make it a point to tell everyone I know even a little well, who is suffering, how to get better.
If we can no longer buy CS machines, lets all learn how to build them. We can learn to grow our own herbs. Think of how many marajuanna grow ops that are in existence. Everyone on this site, (I hope, wish, pray), will awaken to thier duty to thier fellow human, animal, or living creature and begin the true, secret apostleship of Jesus, the Buddha, Mohamad, Krishna, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and so many others.
Please excuse my offensiveness, but I'm trying to force a point. I believe that the true covenant was that we would not f*ck each other in the *ss, and this covenent has been broken again and again.
As for the cinical, that's a wonderful tool also. It's helped me avoid doing anything for a long time.
something to munch on. Maybe when they make their site complaint FDA will get off their backs? Maybe a clear cut guidelines on these must be established!
I work with the guys at http://www.CharanteaUSA.com
here in their Philippine office.
I'm the contracted web site host and network administrator.
I also did a lot of marketing consulting for them for internet promotions.
FYI, the Philippine brand http://www.charantia.com
is BIG in the Philippines. They are the first and the BIGGEST name in PURE ampalaya / bitter melon. There are many brands here in our country.
The poorest of the poor people in the Philippines depend on either real bitter melon or charantia or other other brands of supplements for their diabetes control. Good thing the poor Filipinos cannot afford pharmaceutical drugs, but they sure can afford the tea bags and fresh bitter melon.
Who in his right mind would want to inject themselves everyday when you can have a cup of hot tea instead?
This is an outrage. Poor Americans going the way of Sicko just as Michael Moore said. Seems CharanteaUSA bitter melon supplements are just too effective and too cheap it hurts the drug companies.
If our country was as big as China I'd declare this a trade war.
Your US FDA are a corrupt bunch of drug company stooges. You ban CharanteaUSA, you might as well ban the importation of bitter melon vegetables to the USA.
What you Americans need to do is rally, protest, bring down the criminal gangsters that run your FDA. People power!
Treating Diabetes with Bitter Melon in the Philippines
In the Philippines the Department of Health is promoting bitter melon, locally called ampalaya, as a treatment for adult-onset diabetes in the form of a tea-like drink made by boiling its unripe fruits of young leaves. The ampalaya’s active ingredient polypeptide P, momordicin, and charantin - are most concentrated in the fruit and seeds.
(PRWEB) August 21, 2006 -- Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia) has long been used in the Philippines as a home remedy for diabetes, hypertension, kidney and liver problems, high cholesterol, constipation, and other conditions. The only medically verified use, however, is that of diabetes control.
Herbcare Corporation (www.herbcare.com.ph), the maker of Charantia Ampalaya Food Supplement for Diabetics http://www.charantia.com
(Charantia is a registered trade mark of Herbcare Corp.), has taken this home remedy and improved on it to enable diabetics and those prone to diabetes to enjoy its benefits without suffering through its bitter taste.
“That’s our secret. We’ve removed the bitter taste of the ampalaya, without compromising its effectivity in lowering blood sugar. Studies have shown that bitterness has nothing to do with its efficacy” Daniel Abelarde, Herbcare general manager, said.
Abelarde’s father, Lito, put up the firm Herbcare - for “herbals that work from people who care” – to meet the demand for cheaper, more efficient diabetes control. Herbcare’s first product was Charantia tea in loose bits. Charantia in teabags and Charantia 500mg capsules followed suit. All three Charantia variants are made from 100 percent fruits and seed of bitter melon, which has been proven in clinical trials to be most potent part of the bitter melon.
While other companies tout products made from bitter melon as “miracle cures”, or panaceas, Daniel Abelarde does not believe in marketing their product that way.
“Many doctors are open-minded about us because we don’t claim that our products are cure-alls. We have a company policy by which we only market products that have scientific and or medical basis.”
What they do claim is that Charantia (www.charantia.com) – according to the leaflets Herbcare distributes – is recommended as a daily food supplement for diabetics to reinforce their diet, exercise and doctor-prescribed medication. Many diabetics reported that after two to four weeks of adding Charantia to their daily diet, they were able to stabilize and control their blood sugar at safe levels. It stayed there for as long they continued to take Charantia with their regular regimen. With prolonged uses of Charantia, a diabetic’s blood sugar no longer fluctuates too drastically, sparing vital organs from damage.
Because of Herbcare’s very scientific and ethical method of marketing, plus the fact that Charantia is very effective in controlling blood sugar levels, Charantia has the unprecedented distinction of being the only product, herbal or otherwise, to be endorsed by a national organization of doctors. Herbcare, the maker of Charantia is the only herbal company to be invited and allowed to participate in numerous medical conventions.
Charantia Ampalaya Dietary Supplement, sold under the brand name Charantia (www.charantia.com) in the Philippines, has earned the unprecedented distinction of being officially endorsed by a national medical organization composed of over 1,500 doctors. In October 2001, the Association of Municipal Health Officers of the Philippines (AMHOP), the national medical organization running the Philippine network of more than 15,000 public health centers, decided to officially make the supplement a regular part of its diabetes prevention and control management.
Safe, Reliable Diabetic Supplement Seized by FDA Over Website Wording
By Dante Abelarde
Dear Sirs,
With reference to "Approximately $71,000 of Dietary Supplements Seized at FDA Request" here is our view of the recent FDA seizure of our food supplement product Charantea Ampalaya Bitter Melon Tea and Capsules. We fear such negative impressions created by the FDA's move may harm what is otherwise a safe, reliable and well-known natural remedy used by diabetics around the world.
We would like to clarify to the public at large that the FDA's move was a result of their negative interpretation of the wordings on our website found at http://www.charanteausa.com
and has nothing to do at all with Charantea's efficacy or safety. Again, the trouble with the FDA is only rooted with the wordings and is not due to any safety or efficacy issues of the product. And much of the literature the FDA apparently took offense to was referring to the actual Bitter Melon plant's well-established benefits and the studies establishing its hypoglycemic properties and not to the finished product. In fact, even the public information website of the National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health (www.pubmed.gov), contains over 365 individual scientific studies conducted worldwide on the Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia Linn.) since the 1970s. We have merely made this and other similar helpful information available to our customers on our website so that they may be better informed and make informed decisions.
We have been coordinating with the FDA for several months before this recent incident, trying to comply with their requirement that there be no implied claims to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease (these are only allowed for pharmaceutical drugs). For this, we have adjusted our website claims and testimonials several times in the past few months. We have records of our email correspondence with the FDA agent in charge of our case, informing her of the changes and asking her to see if our changes were satisfactory as it was their interpretation that mattered, not ours. She refused to comment several times, citing that the FDA does not give advice on this and that compliance is solely our responsibility.
We agree that compliance is our responsibility. However, because only the FDA's own interpretation of what implies a claim or not is what will bring them to take damaging action, we feel it unjust to have our repeated requests for their comments to be ignored and to suddenly have a crippling blow struck against an otherwise honest business. We are a small business, with no resources for expensive lawyers to guide us through the labyrinthine maze the FDA seems to have set up for dietary supplements. We will probably close down as we have been told to stop selling despite our customer requests for Charantea. If we cannot sell, our business cannot survive.
Charantea is currently freely available and well-accepted around the world including Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. Only in the USA has it been considered an illegal drug.
We have not given up. We are still trying to find a way to do business that is acceptable to the FDA's opinion, and are determined to renew our efforts to comply with their requirements. We would like to thank all the people who have expressed their support for our company and in Charantea, and to our customers, whose approval is ultimately what really matters.