Well, I knew that I would get drawn into it
sooner or later – becoming Editor of Health Freedom News –
because I had been contributing more and more to the review
and production of the National Health Federation’s flagship
magazine over the last year or two. Michael Culbert had done
such an outstanding job of being the Health Freedom News
Editor, but it was time
to make a change. I had previous experience as the Managing
Editor for the California Law Review while a law student at
the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt
Hall), and before that had run my own typesetting business and
worked as a printer in the printing industry in Houston,
Texas. So, I have the background, it is just the time that
seems to be so precious and in such short supply.
But, while we all have limited time, it is important to
continue growing the Federation into the important and
influential organization that it has been since its founding
by Fred Hart and others in 1955. Having made so many important
contributions to advancing health freedom in the United States
and elsewhere, including fighting fluoridation and mandatory
vaccinations
as well as aiding in the passage of health-freedom legislation
such as the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of
1994 (“DSHEA”) that protects our right to vitamins and
minerals, the Federation and its members stand at an important
juncture.
For ten years we have enjoyed substantial freedom in our right
to consume those vitamins, minerals, and other supplements
that we wish to take. And because of that freedom, we are
healthier and happier individuals. We can thank the National
Health Federation and all of its members who have supported it
over the decades for the rights that we now enjoy.
Unfortunately, as we all well know, we cannot ever rest on our
laurels. For the last few years, do-gooders, government
control-freaks and all others who think they know better than
God and us what is good for us have been mounting a campaign
to take away our health freedoms. Their tactics have been to
use the media to smear an herb or vitamin or amino acid with
claims of danger, death and/or ineffectiveness. Then, a few
fringe groups such as the so-called “Quackbusters” or the
equally ill-intentioned Consumer’s Reports will claim that
“something” must be done to protect the health of our
citizens. The third step is for some Senator or Representative
to then introduce a bill restricting our health freedoms, all
in the name of protecting our health, of course. What is never
mentioned is that these same Senators and Representatives are
protecting their own financial interests by pocketing big
bucks from the Pharmaceutical industry at the same time as
they are supposedly acting in the public interest.
The United States Senate long ago ceased being anything but an
institution for self-promotion and pocket lining. And only a
precious few members of the House of Representatives, such as
Rep. Ron Paul, still remember and respect limited,
constitutional government and the protection of freedom that
such limited government provides. That is why we are now
seeing a host of anti-health freedom bills being proposed for
passage. From Senator Dick Durbin’s so-called “Dietary
Supplement Safety Act“ (Senate Bill 722) to Senator Orrin
Hatch’s totally misguided “DSHEA Full Implementation &
Enforcement Act” (S.1538) to our old friend Representative
Henry Waxman’s “Dietary Supplement Access and Awareness Act”
(H.R. 3377), we are seeing bills that seek to roll back the
gains we have achieved through DSHEA and other legislation. We
can and must defeat
all of these bills. Unfortunately, half the battle is
educating our fellow health-freedom advocates in other
organizations who naively support bills such as S.1538 in the
mistaken belief that a $105 million bribe to the FDA is what
it will take to defeat the other anti-freedom bills.
On the international front, the National Health Federation has
taken an important leading role in promoting health freedom in
Europe and elsewhere in the World by fighting the Codex
Alimentarius Commission and European Union’s proposed
restrictions
on vitamins and minerals’ potencies and availability. Our own
new Board of Governors member Paul Anthony Taylor of Great
Britain (see story on Mr. Taylor elsewhere in this issue) has
been extremely active and effective on our behalf in attacking
the ridiculously low “safe” upper limits that the Codex
Alimentarius Commission and European Union’s Food Supplements
Directive would impose on consumers’ intake of dietary
supplements.
You can read more about all of these developments by visiting
the Federation’s informative and frequently visited website
www.thenhf.com, which has been developed and kept up to date
by my sister, Cheri Tips, and Scott Adams. Thanks to their
daily hard work, the National Health Federation now has a
website that is making a difference every single day and of
which we can all be proud.
Starting with this issue, I myself have made a number of
changes to Health Freedom News and I hope that you like them.
The magazine’s cover has been given a newer, updated look and
there is a new structure to the arrangement of the articles
and columns inside as well. Please let me know what you think
about all of this because I definitely need your feedback.
Positive or negative, it will be much appreciated and it will
be the only way that I can know if our new direction is on
track with your views of where we should be going.
