Perhaps off topic? What happened Monday with US Senate bill S.1082 which initially appeared to threaten alternative medicines

[Rosemary C Hyde PhD]

List members in the US may be wondering what happened on Monday with the
bill S.1082, introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy, to approve the FDA's
desired changes to its policies. Basically, this bill is a global
redefinition of the FDA's mandate relative to drugs, trials, safety, fees,
advertising -- and it seems to address pharmaceutical products rather than
food supplements or herbal/ alternative medicines. The Senate did cross out
a lot of the initial provisions of the bill and revise them before referring
the Bill to committee.

On Monday, the revised bill was referred to the Senate Health and Education
Committee, chaired by Sen. Edward Kennedy.

I scanned all 300 pages of the revised document as referred to the
committee. I couldn't find a reference to supplements or alternative
medicine in it. But I'm not a lawyer (so even if I'd read carefully all
those pages, my mind, totally glazed after about 10 pages of impenetrable
legalize, would probably not have recognizined such a reference if I had
seen it.)

If it turns out that the bill still somewhere contains potentially draconian
threats to alternative medicine, I'm sure someone will find out and let us
know. In that case, we'll need the page number and section number of the
language we wish to protest, and it will be important to write to committee
members before the bill gets referred back to the full US Senate.

Rosemary