FDA Closes Public Comment a Month Early!
Remember I said in earlier posts that we had until April 30th to offer public comment on the FDA’s attempt to take away our herbs, vitamins and supplements? Well, it turns out that we were SUPPOSED to have until May 30th… but they cut it short, so the public could not comment! That is why we had to scramble to get our comment in, in time!
“The FDA has slammed the door shut on accepting public comments over its contentious ‘CAM Guidelines’ that threaten to destroy natural medicine by classifying virtually all health-enhancing foods, juices, nutritional supplements and functional foods as ‘unapproved drugs.’ NewsTarget has acquired emails from an FDA employee and key author of the CAM Guidelines. This email contains statements that directly contradict the FDA’s own website and reveal a tactic designed to silence public commentary by retroactively declaring the comment period to be closed even while the FDA’s own documents state the period should continue for another 30 days. Check it out yourself: The FDA website says the comment period ends May 29, 2007. But in an email received today by NewsTarget, the FDA’s Philip L. Chao claims ‘…the entry was mistakenly changed by an employee in mid-April, and we will correct that error soon. Thus, internet media reports claiming that FDA has extended the comment period to May 29 are NOT correct.’ Thus, the public comment period for CAM Guidelines is now closed, one month ahead of what the FDA’s own website provides as the comment closing date. And this is explained as being due to a ‘mistake’ by an FDA employee that will be retroactively corrected, only after the public comment period has been officially closed.”