Pornography, Dietary Supplements and the First Amendment

"...in 2002 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that large sections of the 1996 Child Pornography Prevention Act, including the depiction of virtual child porn, were overly broad and unconstitutional. Free speech advocates and pornographers had challenged the legality of the act, and six of the nine justices sided with them..."

Today pornographers have free reign. The federal courts routinely strike down any attempt to stop even the most vial pornography sites under the auspices of free speech.

The intent of this short article is to contrast the unrestricted free speech of pornographers shown by the above quote with the lack of free speech of millions of Americans are now denied because of the pharmaceutical medical monopoly that exists which aggressively restricts the right of Americans to have access to knowledge about the benefits of nutritional supplements.

On one hand, pornographers have unlimited free speech and on the other hand, millions of Americans and entrepreneurs have suffered the loss of basic 1st Amendment freedom and even physical raids by armed "jack booted thugs" from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).This is egregious state of affairs should make the average American's blood boil.

Just who supports the FDA in their ongoing attack against Americans 1st Amendment freedom? The Pharmaceutical companies, medical associations, doctors, medical journals, hospitals and numerous corrupt Congress creatures do so by supporting the FDA's blatant disregard for federal court decisions and the 1st Amendment. They condone the use of terrorism against the American people and, ultimately, support the continued use of police state tactics against innocent Americans who simply want truthful information about dietary supplement and the freedom to use supplements if they do desire.

A little history:

One of the signers of the Declaration of Independence was, Dr. Benjamin Rush, a doctor, educator and politician. Dr. Rush was a member of the Continental Congress and was a member of the Pennsylvania Convention that ratified the US Constitution. He became a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and was a founder of the first American Antislavery society. Rush Medical College in Chicago is named after him.

In addition to Dr. Rush's amazing career in medicine he had one very significant idea that he wanted added to the Constitution's Bill of Rights. Dr. Rush believed that the right to Medical Freedom should be imprinted into the Bill of Rights and was just as important as the right to Freedom of Speech and Religion. His thoughts were incredibly accurate given today's political climate. The following is a quote from Dr. Rush's argument before the American Continental Congress:

"Unless we put Medical Freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship....to restrict the art of healing to one class of men, and deny equal privilege to others, will be to constitute the Bastille of Medical Science. All such laws are un-American and despotic, and have no place in a Republic...The Constitution of this Republic should make special privilege for Medical Freedom as well as Religious Freedom."

Unfortunately, the right to medical freedom was not added to the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, and now we have the government, medical and pharmaceutical groups working together to limit our health choices. In short, we have a monstrous medical monopoly enforced by the increasingly compromised and corrupt FDA along with the Federal Trade Commissions (FTC) which routinely censors truthful health claims.

Free Speech and Dietary Supplements

Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Health Freedom Protection Act. This bill restores the First Amendment rights of consumers to receive truthful information regarding the benefits of foods and dietary supplements by codifying the First Amendment standards used by federal courts to strike down the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) efforts to censor truthful health claims. The Health Freedom Protection Act also stops the Federal Trade Commissions (FTC) from censoring truthful health care claims.

The American people have made it clear they do not want the federal government to interfere with their access to dietary supplements, yet the FDA and the FTC continue to engage in heavy-handed attempts to restrict such access. The FDA continues to frustrate consumers' efforts to learn how they can improve their health even after Congress, responding to a record number of constituents' comments, passed the Dietary Supplement and Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). FDA bureaucrats are so determined to frustrate consumer access to truthful information that they are even evading their duty to comply with four federal court decisions vindicating consumers' First Amendment rights to discover the health benefits of foods and dietary supplements.

FDA bureaucrats have even refused to abide by the DSHEA section allowing the public to have access to scientific articles and publications regarding the role of nutrients in protecting against diseases by claiming that every article concerning this topic is evidence of intent to sell a drug..... This edited version is from the speech of the HON. Ron Paul of Texas before the US House of Representatives in 2005.

Collusion and Corruption at the FDA

"According to a USA Today study, more than half of the experts hired to advise the government on the safety and effectiveness of medicine have financial relationships with the pharmaceutical companies that will be helped or hurt by their decisions. These experts are hired to advise the Food and Drug Administration on which medicines should be approved for sale, what the warning labels should say and how studies of drugs should be designed. The experts are supposed to be independent, but USA TODAY found that 54% of the time, they have a direct financial interest in the drug or topic they are asked to evaluate. These conflicts include helping a pharmaceutical company develop a medicine, then serving on an FDA advisory committee that judges the drug.

The conflicts typically include stock ownership, consulting fees or research grants. Federal law generally prohibits the FDA from using experts with financial conflicts of interest, but according to the article, the FDA has waived the restriction more than 800 times since 1998." Note: An article by Dennis Cauchon, the USA TODAY Newspaper, Sept. 25, 2000 More heavy handed tactics and outrages, brought to you by the FDA

When it comes to health freedom, a new FDA document recently published on the FDA's website reveals plans to reclassify virtually all vitamins, supplements, herbs and even vegetable juices as regulated drugs. Who gave these unelected tyrannical bureaucrats the mandate to do this? How can they justify their efforts when in reality they are misleading and directly harming the public by refusing us our 1st Amendment freedom of speech related to dietary supplements that even Congress has stated in DSHEA that there is scientific evidence of a correlation between ingesting certain dietary supplement and improved health? How many millions of Americans have suffered from being kept in the dark about dietary supplements that could possibly improve someone's quality of life?

In addition, the FDA is protecting their pals at Big Pharma by the new preemption policy that bans private lawsuits against drug companies in state courts once a drug and its label have been approved by the FDA. This looks like a protection racket for their financiers at big Parma! This is simply outrageous!

The Solution

The HON. Ron Paul of Texas has said: Americans are justifiably concerned over the government's escalating intervention into their freedom to choose what they eat and how they take care of their health.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in order to comply with standards dictated by supra-national organizations such as the UN's World Food Code (CODEX), NAFTA, and CAFTA, has been assuming greater control over nutrients, vitamins and natural health care providers to restrict your right to choose the manner in which you manage your health and nutritional needs.

I have been the national leader in preserving Health Freedom.

I have introduced the Health Freedom Protection Act, HR 2117, to ensure Americans can receive truthful health information about supplements and natural remedies.

I support the Access to Medical Treatment Act, H.R. 2717, which expands the ability of Americans to use alternative medicine and new treatments.

I oppose legislation that increases the FDA's legal powers. FDA has consistently failed to protect the public from dangerous drugs, genetically modified foods, dangerous pesticides and other chemicals in the food supply. Meanwhile they waste public funds attacking safe, healthy foods and dietary supplements

I also opposed the Homeland Security Bill, H.R. 5005, which, in section 304, authorizes the forced vaccination of American citizens against small pox. The government should never have the power to require immunizations or vaccinations.

In Conclusion:

Who has more freedom of speech, pornographers or everyday Americans who want to access scientific knowledge about the benefits of dietary supplements? This outrage cannot continue to stand. Congress should immediately de-fund the FDA leviathan.

On the one hand, dietary supplements have millions of advocates who claim to have had an improved quality of life, while on the other hand, millions of Americans have been damaged by pornography along with the thousands of documented cases of rapes and murder tied to the use of pornography.

Congress creatures do not see the light until they feel the heat. Let's raise our collective voices and demand the passage of the Health Freedom Protection Act, HR 2117.

If follows from what has been said above that consumers of dietary supplements and the manufactures of supplements should have the same free speech protections that the pornographers have. Demand it!