Congress may soon consider several proposals to change the laws that regulate your access to dietary supplements. If passed into law, access to the vitamins and herbs you use could be restricted and/or their costs significantly increased. Some proposed laws are pertinent to only New York State, while others would have an impact on a national and international level. The continually changing regulatory environment can be confusing and difficult to stay current on new developments. The following websites inform and educate consumers about existing legislative proposals. Many of these websites offer you an opportunity to register for e-newsletters and to receive notifications on when and how to act to block legislative activity.

www.citizens.org
Citizens for Health is a national nonprofit consumer advocacy group that works to ensure consumer access to alternative therapies, dietary supplements, and a healthy environment. They foster active citizen leadership to create political solutions to support the rights, which they promote. The Citizens for Health website will keep you informed on current legislative health issues and direct you on how to take action to support or block proposed domestic policies.

Click on “Take Action” to read about current active issues. Click on “Action Alert” to sign up and receive email notifications regarding new legislative proposals. This website makes it very easy to send an email or letter to your local legislators to let them know your opinion on their policies.

www.NNFA.org
The National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA) is a non-profit organization that represents the natural products industry, which includes health food stores, manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers. NNFA promotes consumers’ freedom of choice in the marketplace. They unite members with a common vision and represent the industry in legal and regulatory avenues to promote a favorable marketplace. They are leaders in the industry who encourage even higher standards of quality.

The website offers excellent information on current legislative issues. Click on “Issue Center”, to learn more. Click on “Take Action”, to learn more about domestic and international laws, how to contact local media, and to learn how to contact your representatives.

Say No to Bad Dietary Supplement Bills in NY State.

We need your help to stop new legislation in New York that wrongly targets safe, effective, and affordable supplements. Two unnecessary bills pending in the New York State legislature would result in higher costs and lower availability for dietary supplement.

www.NYANP.org
The vision of the New York Association of Naturopathic Physicians is to promote licensure of Naturopathic Physicians in the state of New York and to strengthen standards of naturopathic medicine. Through licensure, ethical conduct of Naturopaths may be regulated by developing a state board and health insurance coverage may become a reality for patients.

This website provides opportunities to become involved in ND licensing efforts and to facilitate citizen communication with local representatives.

A Big Step in the Licensure Effort
January 24, 2006 now marks history in the effort to license Naturopathic Doctors in New York! We have reason to celebrate! S1617 was passed out of the Senate Higher Education Committee to the senate floor, thanks to Senator Volker, bill sponsor, and Senator LaValle, Chairman of the committee. The bill was passed with the emphasis that continued and effective discussions between the NYANP and the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) need to occur before S1617 is put to a vote on the senate floor.

www.coalitionforhealthfreedom.org
The Coalition for Health Freedom is a not-for-profit organization, and is an alliance of some of the foremost health freedom non-profits, organizations, and international groups working to educate and inspire action on Codex and related issues, and to expand health choices. Codex is an international law that severely limits the type of dietary supplements that can be sold and the maximum doses. Codex has the potential to affect all countries to varying degrees, and may severely restrict consumer access to nutritional and herbal supplements.

www.alliance-natural-health.org
The Alliance for Natural Health is based in the United Kingdom and is an international not-for-profit organization, which promotes and protects natural health care. Much of the information on this website is related to European Union Directives, which are limited to Europe, however, this organization is also highly involved in international Codex activities.