Orrin Hatch: Nutritional "Supplements" Thug Champion in Congress

[Godhumor]

From Orac at Scienceblogs and based off a NY Times article:

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/06/orrin_hatch_the_supplement_industrys_lap.php#more

---------------------------------
{NY Times Excerpt}

In the town of Lehi is the sprawling headquarters of Xango, where company officials praised Mr. Hatch, a Utah Republican, late last year for helping their exotic fruit juice business "operate without excessive intrusion" from Washington.

Up in Sandy, Utah, is 4 Life Research, whose top executives donated to Mr. Hatch's last re-election campaign after federal regulators charged the company with making exaggerated claims about pills that it says helps the immune system.

And nearby in West Salem, assembly-line workers at Neways fill thousands of bottles a day for a product line that includes Youthinol, a steroid-based hormone that professional sports leagues pushed to ban until Mr. Hatch blocked them.

{Orac excerpt}

And, as the article goes on to mention, Hatch was the principal author of the DSHEA. These days, any time the Obama Administration has tried to write regulations to regulate supplements more strictly, Orrin Hatch has been there to block them. it's been a hugely mutually beneficial relationship, and the article describes just how incestuous the relationship between Hatch and supplement companies based in Utah has been. First of all, there's huge amount of campaign contributions that Hatch garners every election cycle from supplement manufacturers, but it's more than just that.

----------------------------------

The article then has a few sections on explaining how Hatch's family and friends have cashed in on this relationship. There is also some talk of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 that Hatch was the chief author of to prevent regulation of "supplements".

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I'm uneasy about the federal agency or government regulating nutritional supplements.

I go to a naturopath who monitors me and prescribes supplements and I also go to Vitamin Shoppe where I can get affordable supplements. I don't want the price to increase by insisting that I go to a physician whom I can't afford (no insurance) and who doesn't understand the supplements, and by restricting the manufacture of the supplements to Big Pharma ('nuff said).

[Godhumor]

2. If you are going to claim a health benefit (i.e. Builds your immune system!") then I disagree

I'm not talking vitamins, I'm talking the crap that you see on the shelfs dictating a wonder juice that can boost x, y, z without fear of being called on whether it is true or not. It not only preys on consumers but it is doubly dangerous if people believe those claims and take them in lieu of actual medicine.

Why I call them "supplements" and not supplements. Most of the crap Hatch protects is bunk of the highest order.

[Godhumor]

3. Bumping to front

Quite a cozy relationship Hatch has with a very dubious industry