WASHINGTON D.C. – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – H.R. 4282, the Health Freedom Protection Act will be presented to over 300,000 people during the 21st Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. March & Rally Celebration at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, January 16 in front of the MLK Jr. Center in Atlanta, GA. Rev. James Orange, Founder of M.L. King March/Africa/African American Renaissance and Coordinator of the Celebration, invited Jonathan Emord, Chairman of the Coalition to End FDA and FTC Censorship and author of the bill, and Dr. Charles B. Simone, one of the world’s leading oncologists and immunologists, to introduce the bill following the 1:00 p.m. march that begins on Peach Street and Baker Street.
The bill would end FDA and FTC censorship of truthful nutrient-disease treatment information while keeping in place existing federal statutory provisions against fraud. FDA currently prohibits all claims that a food or a dietary ingredient treats a disease, regardless of the scientific support for the claim. The bill ends that practice and would allow science supported treatment claims to enter the market.
“It is fitting, and indeed an honor, for us to appear with leading civil rights advocates in the great shadow of Dr. Martin Luther King to support passage of a civil rights bill that will end FDA and FTC censorship of truthful health information,” says Emord. “In the words of Dr. King, ‘of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane,'” he said. “Right now, to protect drug companies from competition, FDA censors the claim that calcium reduces bone fractures; that fish oil reduces the risk of sudden death heart attack; that chromium and vanadium treat type II diabetes; and that saw palmetto treats benign enlarged prostates,” he said. “That censorship contributes to the deaths of over 110,000 Americans annually, a disproportionate number being black Americans, and it contributes to needless pain and suffering in millions,” he said. “If we are to end America’s increasing drug dependency and provide true and affordable alter!
natives to drugs having costs beyond the budgets of most Americans, we have got to end this censorship and open the way for safe and effective alternatives. This bill does just that,” he said.
Millions of black Americans suffer from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and osteoarthritis, among other diseases. African Americans are 1.6 times more likely to have diabetes than non-Latino whites. 25% of African Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 have diabetes. 41.4% of African American men and 44.7% of African American women over the age of 20 have cardiovascular disease. African American men and women experience a higher prevalence of knee osteoarthritis than white men and women. Reliance on dietary interventions, such as fish oil, chromium and vanadium, antioxidants, and glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate can provide relief without the exorbitant costs and serious adverse effects associated with drug treatments. H.R. 4282 will allow science based claims into the market so all Americans can rely on safe food ingredients to help reduce disease risk and treat existing disease.
Emord is a Washington, DC attorney who has defeated the federal Food and Drug Administration in federal court more times than any other lawyer in American history and is the Principal in the Washington DC law firm Emord & Associates, P.C. (www.emord.com). He represents over 450 food and dietary supplement companies, physicians, and scientists.
Dr. Simone has worked extensively on nutrition and health issues in the African-American community and has treated or advised on cancer issues such notables as President Ronald Reagan, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and former Congressman Peter Rodino. He is known as a pioneer in cancer research and one of the leading experts on cancer and nutrition.
Introduced November 9, 2005, the bill is endorsed by fifteen members of Congress. It is pending before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. For more information on the bill, visit http://www.StopFDACensorship.org. For more information on the Martin Luther King, Jr. March & Rally, visit http://www.mlkmarchaaar.org.
