THE "WAXMAN" CONTROVERSY AND WHY IT MATTERS

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PRESS RELEASE

Imagine for a moment that you are running the National Health Federation. The NHF has had excellent relations with most other health-freedom organizations, including one in particular to whom NHF had donated money and even allowed to participate on its Codex delegation. But since a merger late last year, and with new leaders in control of its U.S. operations, this other organization has begun acting differently. Instead of the usual, well-tempered messages emitted by them, they have begun sending out sensationalist e-mail alerts, with incorrect information, and shamelessly taking credit for health-freedom victories that were either long-past, non-existent, and/or not due just to them alone. What would you do?

Sensationalist Claim #1

Starting in January, this organization claimed a victory for modifying “the U.S. Senate healthcare bill to ensure that the Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) program includes integrative medicine practitioners on its board and advisory panel. The first inclusion of integrative medicine in any federal program, this will provide integrative medicine a voice in determining important areas of research, such as the role of dietary supplements in prevention and treatment.” (See their 1/26/10 alert, emphasis added.)

Leaving aside the fact that this is not the “first” inclusion of integrative medicine into a federal program (the Office of Alternative Medicine at NIH was) and that it is mere tokenism akin to putting a few Jewish helper guards on the death trains to Auschwitz, it shows an ignorance of past events, an over-eagerness to claim credit for the efforts of all those many others who actually pushed for the integrative-medicine positions to be created, and a naiveté that this token position will make any difference at all. Consider the country’s previous experience at NIH where that office was hijacked long ago by non-integrative interests before it morphed into the useless National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). Due to this hijacking, former Congressman Berkeley Bedell, who was instrumental in its creation, had no choice but to create his own private foundation to do the work many had hoped would be done under the NIH umbrella; this was the reason for his starting the National Foundation for Alternative Medicine. NHF predicts that whoever is appointed to the integrative-health position on this CER board will be controlled by drug-company and/or government elite interests. It will accomplish nothing to promote health freedom. Not to mention that this other health-freedom organization had very little to do with the change and deserves little credit.

Sensationalist Claim #2

Then, in March, they trumpeted first that “we . . . succeeded in getting that language changed” in the Food Safety bill that mentioned Codex harmonizing language. (3/6/10 alert) This false claim was then followed in April with the blaring headline “[Organization Name] Victory! Supplements Are Exempted From Codex Language in Food Safety Bill” (4/14/10 alert). That article then announces “their” victory with the statement “The FDA Food Modernization Act (S. 510), also referred to as the “Food Safety” bill, has been modified to exempt dietary supplements from language that otherwise creates a slippery slope toward U.S. harmonization with Codex Alimentarius.” The only problem is that this exemption-language victory was the accomplishment of many different organizations, not just theirs alone. By taking sole credit for this accomplishment, this organization unfairly diminished the efforts of all the rest of us who had worked hard to eliminate it, misleading the public into putting support behind “their” organization in the future rather than supporting the organizations that have been actually getting the results achieved. When NHF does work with other health-freedom groups on a specific goal, we always name the groups and give credit to them in our reports to let the public know whose efforts made the difference.

Sensationalist Claim #3

Next, we receive an e-mail with a headline screaming “Congressman Waxman Slips Obscure Anti-Supplement Measure into Wall St. ‘Reform’ Bill Passed by the House” (April 27, 2010 alert). In the same alert, they also say, “This language could be used for an end run around the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), the legislation that governs dietary supplement regulation by the FDA.”

To support this claim, that organization’s chairman then appeared on May 4th on the Ronald Hoffman “Health Talk” radio show and was literally frantic, stating that this law had already passed and was now in effect, and there was nothing we could do about it! She said, “These provisions that Waxman has inserted into this bill directly attack and overturn DSHEA.” (emphasis added) Here she was telling the listening audience that DSHEA’s protections had been eliminated and that all the years of hard work that had gone into getting DSHEA passed were lost!

And, then again, we heard “Two weeks ago we told you about a “sneak” anti-supplement provision (Section 4901) slipped at the last moment into the House Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173). “ (May 11, 2010 alert) “Sneaked in”? “At the last moment”? Into H.R.4173? Remember these words because that’s what that health-freedom organization has been claiming. They’ve even been claiming that it has now become law!

Our Response

With three major sensationalist claims within almost as many months – each of which is very misleading at best and grossly inaccurate at worst – who wouldn’t wonder what was happening with these people? So, what would you do? Write them, of course, and tell them that this new approach is wrong. NHF did just that, we wrote them. No response.

Yet, they already know as well as anyone in the World the supreme importance of getting the facts straight and avoiding the tendencies to stir up emotions with misinformation – or try to take too much credit for things that others in the health-freedom movement largely worked to achieve. It was not so long ago that we at NHF even commiserated frequently with them about yet-another entity that had inserted itself into the health-freedom movement only to end up running off half-baked, spreading fear and sensationalizing with gross misinformation, in order to gain attention for themselves and to gain more financial contributions and profits.

The problem with that kind of activity, as they know all too well, is that it makes the work of the legitimate, respected and authoritative health-freedom entities, of which NHF is the oldest and probably most well-established in the World, infinitely more difficult. Misinformation causes those in the public community who genuinely care about health freedom to focus their attention in the wrong places – places that don’t make any difference – and diverts the efforts and resources of the caring health-freedom community from focusing on the issues that are in fact the legitimate, most vital issues – where their attention is indeed very much needed in order to make a difference. The public thinks they’ve already been informed, or that they already addressed the issues, and therefore feels they don’t have to know anything more. Or, worse, they become confused by the misinformation and the conflicting reports, and throw their hands up, feeling helpless to do anything.

There are some dedicated leaders in health-freedom advocacy who have been calling into question the real motives of this organization’s new president and major donor, seeing him as a member of the wealthy elite. They cite the fact that he was closely affiliated with the Rockefellers, having been a Trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (known for donating large sums to the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and the United Nations, among others). Few people would exactly regard the Rockefeller elites as being strong advocates of health freedom, or of any other kind of freedom for the masses for that matter.

However, we prefer to suspend judgment until we know more. Until then, we choose to hope for the best, grant him the benefit of the doubt, and to focus on the area we do have all the facts about, which is the dissemination of accurate-versus-misleading information regarding health freedom and the politics that may threaten the public’s well-being.

In this regard, we find ourselves forced into the position of not only being the final-word source of accurate, reliable information on a key issue that has developed recently but also, once again, being the voice of reason to correct the inaccurate and misleading information that has been spread recently by, in this case, that still-embryonic but nonetheless quite-vocal health-freedom organization that has repeatedly been sensationalizing and distorting its messages to the public.

The “Waxman Amendment”

Keep in mind that this other organization, during the last 30 days, has loudly proclaimed not only that the sky was falling but that, in fact, it had already hit the ground with a loud and crashing thud. They claimed that it was all over for us in terms of access to dietary supplements by announcing – wrongly so, thank goodness – that Representative Waxman had just succeeded in slipping language related to health freedom into broad-sweeping finance reform legislation that had been quickly enacted into law.

Then, when NHF challenged their sensationalist statements about the “sneaky Waxman amendment,” they responded with what they called “evidence” that Waxman had “sneaked” in an anti-DSHEA amendment into the House Financial Reform bill (their 5/25/10 post).

Our Response on Waxman

Incredibly, all that their “evidence” consisted of was that Waxman was the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee that had considered another bill entirely (H.R.3126), and this bill, as opposed to a Waxman amendment as first claimed, was the vehicle for this supposed “sneak attack” on DSHEA. In fact, the Waxman committee simply considered H.R.3126, "as ordered and reported out by the Committee on Financial Services," in the first place. This is what the legislative record states. [Full Bill text - H.R.3126]

So what really happened? To put it into simple terms, nothing at all happened! There were technical amendments made to the finance reform legislation that involve procedural formalities only, which in no way have any material effect or implication on DSHEA whatsoever.

The language involves legalese; but to make our case plain, here it is for those readers who care to see the details. It’s really not that complicated at all, and clearly demonstrates why we say that other entity has been grossly sensationalizing. See for yourself, and you decide if DSHEA was just negated.

The following amendments were adopted by the Committee on Energy and Commerce before sending it back to the Financial Services Committee for inclusion in the final House Financial Services Wall Street Reform bill, H.R.4173. The Waxman and Ranking Member Joe Barton (R-TX) manager’s amendment, which passed by a voice vote by the other 56 members on the committee, restructured the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Commission by changing it from an agency into a commission. With regard to the FTC, the amendment made changes to the original H.R.3126 from the Financial Services Committee to provide the FTC and CFPC with reciprocal notice and coordination obligations when enforcing laws that both commissions have the authority to enforce. In addition, the Waxman-Barton manager’s amendment made several changes to ensure that the CFPC consults and coordinates with the FTC on consumer complaints about fraudulent or misleading financial services advertising or financial transactions with consumers. Finally, a new subsection 210(d) was proposed by Waxman and adopted unanimously by the other 57 members of the committee giving the FTC the authority to seek civil penalties in enforcement actions without first having to refer those actions to the Department of Justice.

It is important to note that Waxman’s committee only considered H.R.3126, and that bill – as the bill itself states – “is intended to improve consumer protection in the financial arena by creating one commission whose sole mission is consumer financial protection. H.R. 3126 would pull the consumer protection functions from each of the banking agencies, and some consumer financial protection functions from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and give those functions to the new commission.” Nowhere, during the time that Waxman’s committee was involved with H.R.3126 was there language that would apply outside of the financial-services arena. (See link here for H.R.3126 “Purpose and Summary” wording from the bill to show that it was only about consumer financial services, not supplements.)

Moreover, as Chairman of the E/C committee, Waxman will necessarily offer a manager's amendment to many bills. They do not mean that they originated with him. When committee members of any committee of the House and Senate have amendments to bills that all can agree to informally, instead of voting separately on each one they are combined into one "manager's amendment." In this case, the Waxman/Barton manager's amendment was agreed to by voice vote. Waxman also sits in the House of Representatives and voted for the bill. Done in the full light of the Committee, this is hardly “sneaking in” an amendment. And there is no mention whatsoever of the DSHEA law, or citation to its Federal statute or reference in bill text to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) in the final House version of H.R. 3126, nor in the House Financial Services bill passed by the full House, H.R. 4172, Section 4901, dealing with changes in FTC law. Rather, it is applicable to all industries, and, as such, they have all opposed it strenuously.

So, bottom-line: (1) There was nothing “sneaked into” H.R.4173; the action they refer to was actually done in the light of day with full reporting, and was for another bill entirely (H.R.3126); (2) At others’ (not Waxman’s) direction, this other bill was then inserted into H.R.4173; (3) When Waxman’s committee considered H.R.3126, it was a normal committee consideration done at the request of another committee; (4) Waxman’s role as chairman of his committee necessitates that when a manager’s amendment is agreed upon, he offers it; it does not mean that he authored it; and (5) There is no evidence that any of this wording was directed against DSHEA or supplements, and there is no wording mentioning DSHEA or dietary supplements!

Keeping Things in Perspective

This other health-freedom organization misled you by stating that “Waxman” “sneaked in” an “anti-DSHEA” “amendment” “into H.R.4173” – all of which was incorrect. They further misled you by publicly claiming on the air that the law had already passed and was in effect “now.” And as if that wasn’t enough, they fervently maintained that the primary law that protects dietary supplements had just been essentially diffused of its power – which was blatantly incorrect. What is there not to find wrong with this?

Now, please understand that we do see a potential but limited threat to dietary supplements as a result of this legislation. In fact, we see some threats here to all financial freedoms, which affects everything we do and therefore all freedoms. Our position is simply that things need to be kept in perspective. Referring to our NHF press release from last Saturday, May 22nd, they claim “The [NHF] article implies that the FTC expansion amendment does not really threaten supplements.” This is really not true. There’s a world of difference between acknowledging an indirect or limited threat as opposed to blowing things all out of proportion. The fact is that the situation does not even remotely rise to the level related by that other entity.

Sensationalist Claim #4

This leads us to the latest sensationalist claim of this other outfit. Now they are claiming “victory” largely because of their efforts in obtaining your letters when the Senate version of this bill recently rejected an FTC-powers-broadening provision. (their alert 5/25/10) But that organization’s efforts were a drop in the bucket compared to the combined anti-FTC-powers efforts of so many other organizations, such as the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, American Advertising Federation, American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Bakers Association, American Business Media, American Financial Services Association, American Frozen Food Institute, Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, Inc., Consumer Data Industry Association, Consumer Electronics Association, Consumer Healthcare Products Association, Direct Marketing Association, Direct Selling Association, Electronic Retailing Association, Financial Services Institute, Inc., Financial Services Roundtable, Food Marketing Institute, Interactive Advertising Bureau, International Franchise Association, Internet Commerce Coalition, Magazine Publishers of America, Marketing Research Association, National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, National Association of Professional Background Screeners, National Association of Realtors, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, National Automobile Dealers Association, National Business Coalition on E-Commerce and Privacy, National Council of Chain Restaurants, National Restaurant Association, National Retail Federation, NetChoice, Online Publishers Association, Retail Industry Leaders Association, Shop.org, Snack Food Association, Software & Information Industry Association, United States Organization for Bankruptcy Alternatives, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. And that list is not even comprehensive. Need we say more?

Conclusion

We at NHF call on this health-freedom organization to remind itself of the reason we are all doing this in the first place, which is protecting the well-being of the public by providing the public with accurate information on the topics that have the potential to have the most impact on health freedom – so the public can then take meaningful action as appropriate. We respectfully ask them to step back and make sure not to allow themselves to succumb to overzealousness or to such an overwhelming desire to quickly become well-known that the cause of health-freedom itself gets overshadowed and ends up being compromised.

Those of us who are truly dedicated to the cause and are constantly working to keep the facts flowing accurately end up having to work that much harder when the public is fed misinformation by entities that the public believes are also looking out for the public’s interests. The founders of this other health-freedom organization know this all too well. Hopefully, they just needed to be reminded.

Sensationalism makes for good headlines, but it really disrespects you the reader – the health-freedom proponent who matters the most. This other organization is essentially saying to you that it needs to embellish the truth in order to motivate you, (and that they are the ones who deserve all the credit and credibility – even though their actions demonstrate something quite different). We at NHF have a different philosophy – we actually think you can handle the truth, make the necessary connections, and then take the right action. We believe genuinely accurate information is essential. And we urge this other organization to return to its roots and once again do the same.

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As the oldest and best-respected health-freedom group on Capitol Hill, the NHF continues to be the credible source of objective assessment of, and proactive actions on, Congressional legislation and FDA matters that have material impact upon our freedom-of-health choices and access to dietary supplements and nutritional foods.

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Click here for the permanent link to this press release, use this link to inform others.

National Health Federation: Established in 1955, the National Health Federation is a consumer-education, health-freedom organization working to protect individuals' rights to choose to consume healthy food, take supplements and use alternative therapies without unnecessary government restrictions. The NHF is the only such organization with recognized observer-delegate status at Codex meetings. www.thenhf.com

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