108 STAT. 4326
PUBLIC LAW 103-417—OCT. 25, 1994
(4) healthful diets may mitigate the need for expensive
medical procedures, jsi^ch as coronary bypass surgery or
angioplasty;
(5) preventive health measures, including education, good
nutrition, and appropriate use of safe nutritional supplements
will limit the incidence of chronic diseases, and reduce longterm health care expenditures;
(6)(A) promotion of good health and healthy lifestyles
improves and extends lives while reducing health care expenditures; and
(B) reduction in health care expenditures is of paramount
importance to the future of the country and the economic wellbeing of the country;
(7) there is a growing need for emphasis on the dissemination of information linking nutrition and long-term good health;
(8) consumers should be empowered to make choices about
preventive health care programs based on data from scientific
studies of health benefits related to particular dietary supplements;
(9) national surveys have revealed that almost 50 percent
of the 260,000,000 Americans regularly consume dietary supplements of vitamins, minerals, or herbs as a means of improving
their nutrition;
(10) studies indicate that consumers are placing increased
reliance on the use of nontraditional health care providers
to avoid the excessive costs of traditional medical services and
to obtain more holistic consideration of their needs;
(11) the United States will spend over $1,000,000,000,000
on health care in 1994, which is about 12 percent of the Gross
National Product of the United States, and this amount and
percentage will continue to increase unless significant efforts
are undertaken to reverse the increase;
(12)(A) the nutritional supplement industry is an integral
part of the economy of the United States;
(B) the industry consistently projects a positive trade balance; and
(C) the estimated 600 dietary supplement manufacturers
in the United States produce approximately 4,000 products,
with total annual sales of such products alone reaching at
least $4,000,000,000;
(13) although the Federal Government should take swift
action against products that are unsafe or adulterated, the
Federal Government should not take any actions to impose
unreasonable regulatory barriers limiting or slowing the flow
of safe products and accurate information to consumers;
(14) dietary supplements are safe within a broad range
of intake, and safety problems with the supplements are relatively rare; and
(15)(A) legislative action that protects the right of access
of consumers to safe dietary supplements is necessary in order
to promote wellness; and
(B) a rational Federal framework must be established to
supersede the current ad hoc, patchwork regulatory policy on
dietary supplements.
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