DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS FEED A HEALTHY INDUSTRY

Examples of hypocrisy from politicians are hardly rare, but the
example is clear in [Sen. Orrin] Hatch's unbending support for the
dietary supplement industry ["A Dose of Herbal Reform," editorial,
April 10] . Even though death and serious health problems are
documented from the use of certain dietary supplements, his
insistence is that the industry--which is mainly based in his own
state--remain free of any regulation and its products be treated as
food products. Yet Hatch is a staunch supporter of the federal war on
marijuana, a war where even a hint of suggesting regulation is
ridiculed as being preposterous. Any discussion on the subject of a
state's right to regulate the medical use of marijuana is summarily
dismissed, even though marijuana has never caused a single death;
quite to the contrary, it is a healing herb.

Clearly, Sen. Hatch is beholden to his constituents in the dietary
supplement industry. Clear, also, is his service to the
pharmaceutical industry--a major donor to powerful people on both
sides of the aisle--in making sure sick people are prevented from
growing their own medicine or otherwise acquiring it from a
noncorporate source.

Rick L. Root

Westminster

"A Dose of Herbal Reform" (editorial, April 10) is way off the mark.
Yes, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) sponsored the 1994 Dietary Supplement
and Health Education Act, but it was the American people who pushed
it through--via one of the largest grass-roots responses ever seen on
Capitol Hill. Today, given our ailing health care system, the
American people want free access to their dietary supplements more
than ever. They want, whenever possible, natural alternatives to
prescription medications.

Yes, there are some unscrupulous small-time outfits selling herbs and
steroids, but the dietary supplement industry is doing all it can to
follow good manufacturing practices. When your editorial describes
the makers of supplements as "spoiled" and "powerful," it is frankly
ridiculous. The pharmaceutical giants, engaged in the most profitable
business in the nation, are the ones with awesome power. They don't
want the competition and are trying to discredit, control and usurp
the dietary supplement industry. In the meantime, they push dangerous
drugs through the Food and Drug Administration, raise prices to
obscene levels, taint medical ethics by funding doctors and
researchers and, obviously, influence the media.

Judith Plowden

Venice