Astroturf Revisited

I spent hours researching my article on how the supplements industry is trying, at the grassroots level, to create a panic ("billions will die!") about a pretty innocuous set of regulations proposed by the UN/WHO whatever. Ironically, I forgot to research my own damn self! Almost exactly a year before, I wrote about pill pusher Nature's Plus's campaign (under the auspices of industry trade group 'Nutritional Health Alliance') against Dick Durbin, who had the chutzpah to suggest that, in light of all the dangerous crap Americans were being sold over the counter, perhaps warning labels were in order. At the time, I (and The Consumerist) took Nature's Plus to task for their racist slogan "GET A TURBAN FOR DURBIN! KEEP CONGRESSIONAL TERRORISTS AT BAY".

The reason I'm bringing all this up again is that the same Nutritional Health Alliance's current campaign on their hideous website is "A Health Freedom Call To Arms! ... Only swift and decisive action can now save our health freedom, and preserve our God-given legacy of safe, natural supplements for future generations." Riiiight... clearly time to cut down on your mentally debilitating products. Not surprisingly, DSHEA, which you'll recall is the industry-friendly bill (wherein supplements are virtually unregulated) they're fighting so hard to keep is prominently featured.

So there you have it - if there was any doubt that the multi-billion dollar supplement industry was up to no good, it should be gone now. The same racists behind "GET A TURBAN FOR DURBIN" are trying to scare people into supporting legislation that has long proven to be dangerous.

--YY