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Support Ron Paul's Health Freedom Protection Act

Send a letter to your Representative asking him/her to support H.R. 2117, the Health Freedom Protection Act.

The FDA's approval process for informational labeling of food-based health claims has been so slow and uncertain that very little meaningful health information is making its way to food and dietary supplement consumers. Why does the FDA ban speech that can heal and save lives? Many dietary ingredients have therapeutic effects, yet telling the truth about those effects in the market can land you in jail. The Food and Drug Administration makes it next to impossible to assert any claim that a supplement or nutrient has the potential to positively affect a person's health.

The Federal Trade Commission prosecutes parties who make advertising claims about the effects of foods and nutrients on the body. It does not limit those prosecutions to parties that actually deceive consumers. It also does not limit those prosecutions to products that fail to perform as advertised. In short, in this standardless environment, the FTC can exercise a great deal of discretion to determine what claims are deceptive and which ones are valid. No one in this country should be held by the government to be a deceptive advertiser unless the government proves that consumers have in fact been deceived.

Ron Paul's Health Freedom Protection Act, a bill first introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2005, would give consumers access to truthful, non-misleading health information and end FDA and FTC censorship. H.R. 2117 was re-introduced in the House on Wednesday, May 2, 2007, but has not yet attained the level of support it enjoyed in the last Congressional session.

In this Presidential election year many of the candidates are clamoring to offer health policies that simply maintain the status quo and enable the pharmaceutical industry to maintain its stranglehold on consumers. These same candidates would also allow the FDA to continue to shirk its duty to protect consumers from the often dangerous or lethal drugs big pharma is all too eager to push on the public. It is especially important at this time for our elected representatives to support policy and legislation that puts consumers in control of their own health decisions.

That is why it is critical that you urge your Representative to support the Health Freedom Protection Act, H.R. 2117, by signing on as a cosponsor. With your help we can surpass the level of support the bill enjoyed in the 109th session, and bring it to the floor for a vote. The time is now.

This is your chance to let Congress know you will not sit back while our government works to keep important health information from consumers!

(Some content taken with permission from Jonathan Emord and the Coalition to End FDA and FTC Censorship, www.emord.com)

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November 20, 2009

Subject:
Please support H.R. 2117, the Health Freedom Protection Act

Dear Representative:

I am a constituent and a member of Citizens for Health, and am concerned that consumers in the U.S. are not getting all the information they need to make safe, natural health choices.

The FDA's approval process for informational labeling of food-based health claims has been so slow and uncertain that very little meaningful health information is making its way to food and dietary supplement consumers. The Federal Trade Commission prosecutes parties who make advertising claims about the effects of foods and nutrients on the body, and does not limit those prosecutions to parties that actually deceive consumers. The result is censorship of meaningful health information that could improve millions of lives.

A bill has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would give consumers access to truthful, non-misleading health information - the Health Freedom Protection Act, H.R. 2117.
The purpose of this bill is to amend the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to ensure that:

1. Accurate health claims are not suppressed
2. Consumers are given truthful and full information about the science supporting the health-enhancing effects of foods and dietary supplements (including scientific evidence that foods, dietary supplements and dietary ingredients may provide benefits relating to the cure, mitigation, treatment and prevention of disease (not drug effects).
3. The FDA honors the intent of the Congress to not censor accurate health claims

Passage of The Health Freedom Protection Act, H.R. 2117, would not only yield more health information on the foods and supplements we buy, but it could also cut our drug costs by educating us about natural alternatives.

If you have already signed on to the bill as a co-sponsor - thank you! I applaud your support of my right to the  information necessary for me to make my own health choices. I now ask you to work to get more of your Congressional colleagues to co-sponsor the bill and bring it to the floor for a vote.

If you signed the bill as a co-sponsor in the 109th session, there is no time like the present to remind your constituents that you are a champion of health freedom.

I join with Citizens for Health and urge you to do all you can in support The Health Freedom Protection Act, H.R. 2117.

Thank you, and I look forward to your reply.

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