House & Senate Both Pass Adverse Event Reports’ (AER) Bill
Christopher Barr
Naturally Speaking
December 18, 2006
Mourning freedom's early morning loss
Does this nation have a war on drugs or are drugs at war with this nation? This question concluded last week’s column. The answer was clearly given by Congressional cowards while most all of America slept after 3 a.m. in the early morning hours of 12/09/06.
Late in the evening of the day that last week’s column was written there was a bill passed stealthily by the United States Senate without a vote being taken. This was accomplished through a parliamentary maneuver that was also a paramilitary maneuver for the war of drugs against this nation.
Senate Bill 3546 has been called an ‘Adverse Event Reports’ (AER) bill and a ‘Consumer Protection Act’. It calls for regular and perpetual paperwork by dietary supplement manufacturers. The very least that will happen is prices will increase for the dietary supplements that you purchase. The increased costs associated with all this paperwork will either mean less profits for the companies or passing costs along by increasing costs of products. The real price you pay will likely be much greater as effective supplements begin to disappear from the marketplace.
The passage of the Senate Bill required the House of Representatives to concur in order for this to go to the President’s desk for signing into law.
In the wee, wee, wee hours of the weekend the House staged their own parliamentary, paramilitary maneuver for the war of drugs against this nation. A vote was taken on not voting on this law to allow it to pass without a vote. This ‘Suspension of the Rules’ parlor trick requires a 2/3 majority vote. There are 435 representatives so 290 votes would be required for this hostile takeover of consumer freedom to take effect.
There were only 203 congressional cowards who slithered their way to vote for this travesty. It was declared as PASSED almost 100 votes short of the required 2/3 majority. There were 132 other congressional cowards listed as PRESENT but casting NO VOTE. The 203 votes cast in favor of throwing the rules out were barely 2/3 of the votes that were cast though NOT even close to the 2/3 of the voters present.
Every Republican rep from the states of Arkansas and Missouri voted against this assault of the people except for one. JoAnne Emerson sat on her hands as one of those casting no vote at all. Democrat Berry of Arkansas also sat on his hands casting no vote at all.
This AER bill blurs the lines between drug damage and harm from supplements. It allows for nutrients to be blamed for injuries caused by drugs.
Tens of thousands of Americans die and are hospitalized due to drug injury EVERY WEEK from government approved drugs as documented by medical authorities. There are not even ten deaths in one entire year or even in multiple years from dietary supplements. There should be more efforts to stop the countless, continuous waves of deaths and injuries from drugs – much more efforts – rather than any effort to “protect” consumers from the barely detectable ripple of harm alleged from dietary supplement use.
This AER bill languished almost six months in Congressional committees due to lack of public support. If it becomes law it will have done so with no Congressional testimony, no Congressional discussion, and no vote other than the vote to not vote on this law.
A Presidential veto would cut down this attempted assassination of consumer freedom though it may already have the President’s signature by the time that you read this column.
Christopher C. Barr writes Naturally Speaking from Arkansas: The Natural State … naturally! You may write him c/o P. O. Box 1147, Pocahontas, Arkansas 72455 or by e-mail at servantofYHVH@hotmail.com .
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