Here is the opening:
"You can't have that. It's not good for you."(Read the full text of "Durbin's Bill Is Dietary Paternalism".)
We've all heard parents say that to their children at the grocery store checkout line countless times. While it may be appropriate for a mother to say to her 10-year-old, it's simply the wrong way to treat adults. Yet that would be the effect of new restrictions on dietary supplements proposed by Sen. Richard Durbin (D.-Ill.)...
We discuss the dangers of the proposed new restrictions on dietary supplements, which would require many supplement manufacturers to submit proofs of safety to the FDA before they could be marketed -- including many that are already freely available in drugstores and supermarkets without a prescription. The new regulations would raise the prices of many supplements and force others off the shelves entirely.
On a personal level, I am taking some dietary supplements (in consultation with physician colleagues) to help with my hip fracture healing. So anything that would restrict my ability to purchase such supplements to promote my health greatly alarms me.
Many thanks to my co-author Michelle Minton and her colleagues at CEI for her excellent work and for facilitating the publication of this piece!
