With military precision, the pharmaceutical industry and medical monopoly have created and launched two new guided missiles to blow away competing herbal and alternative health products and practitioners.

The target is the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). The first missile is S­722. On March 26, 2003, Sen. Richard Durbin (D–IL) introduced S-722. The cosponsors are Charles Schumer (D–NY), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D–NY) and Dianne Feinstein (D–CA).

On precisely the same date, the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) launched the second missile. It published a lead editorial entitled "The Need for Regulation of Dietary Supplements." It insists that:

"If dietary supplements have or promote … biological activity, they should be considered to be active drugs." (See JAMA 3/26/03, Vol 289 No. 12).

The old AMA/FDA argument, which was rejected by Congress in 1994, was that every true health claim turned dietary supplements into drugs.

The new AMA/FDA strategy is that if herbs have or promote biological activity, they must be regulated by the FDA as active drugs.

Well, virtually all herbs and other dietary supplements have some biological activity. Some herbs have far more and others far less activity. S-722 and the AMA pretend they are only targeting those herbs that have so much biological activity that they produce "adverse experiences." Durbin misleadingly calls his bill "The Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2003."

Please click here to download a form letter. Please copy and sign it and get friends and customers to sign their copies. Mail or fax your signed copy to both of the U.S. senators from your state. Please send a copy of any replies you receive to Clinton Ray Miller, 139 Northmont Road, Statesville, NC 28625. My fax is 1-704-924-8616.

It is no accident that S-722 and the AMA editorial appeared on the same day. A similar European Directive is making its way through the European Union (EU) Parliament. If we kill S-722 it will slow down the global bill.

You can get the phone and fax numbers of your U.S. senators by calling the main switchboard at the U.S. Senate at 1-202-224-3121.