Petition to FDA to mandate GF labeling on drugs - pls sign

[Zizzle]

Please consider signing this petition:

Link to a website w/current petition for FDA

http://www.gopetition.com/petition/39858.html

Link to original thread about petition on celiac.com

http://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/topic ... ntry647149

Preamble from the petition.

Background (Preamble):
Gluten (wheat, barley, rye and oats) is often used in prescription and over-the-counter medication as a thickener and/or binding agent. To date, drug companies/manufacturers in the United States are not required to state on the label, whether or not their products contain gluten, even though it is estimated than 1 in 133 people are allergic to gluten.

To people with a gluten allergy (Celiac Disease), ingesting even a grain of gluten has a toxic effect on the body, causing debilitating gastrointestinal symptoms that can last for several weeks after the contamination. Currently, for Celiac patients, even a minor surgery unrelated to Celiac's can become a major ordeal because most doctors, surgeons, and pharmacists unknowingly poison the patient by giving medicine that contains gluten.

Today, the only way to verify an absence of gluten in the pharmaceutical product is to contact the manufacturer directly, rather than simply reading the label. Believe it or not, most antibiotics, ibuprofen and acetaminophen contain gluten. In fact, the majority of legal drugs used today contain gluten.

A simple government mandate to label medical products for easy identification of gluten content, would help millions of people each day to avoid gastrointestinal suffering, along with a list of other symptoms.

[tex]

Celiacs, as a group, are so self-centered, (present company excepted, of course. ) Why on earth didn't they request that all provisions of the Food Labeling Law of 2006 be extended to pharmaceutical products, (instead of merely targeting gluten)? That change would be very easy to implement, because all that the legislature would have to do, is to remove the exemption from that law that allows the drug companies to be above the law, in the first place. This exemption from the law is just another example of the lobbying power that Big Pharma has over the government. What Big Pharma wants, Big Pharma gets.

Unfortunately, because that provision is in the law, the FDA does not have the authority to "mandate" the change that the celiac groups are asking for. IOW, despite their good intentions, they don't understand the law. Changing that labeling requirement will require an act of congress, so while they are at it, it would be foolish to exempt gluten from the law, without exempting the other primary food intolerances, also.

I'm no lawyer, but I do understand a bit about the legal system, and the law is quite clear on this issue, so the FDA does not have the authority to make that change. All they can do is make recommendations about it, to congress. IOW, while signing that petition might help to raise awareness of gluten sensitivity, the petition should be directed at the legislature, not the FDA, and it should include all of the food sensitivity issues, (that are subject to the law), that the celiacs seem to be oblivious of.

At least, that's the way I see it.

Tex

[starfire]

Done, and in comments I suggested other allergies such as soy, dairy, etc.

[ant]

Also done, with similar comment on adding other food intolerance. There was a pull down box for "Hong Kong" so it worked.

(Although I am not a US citizen, I may visit the US again one day and would like to feel safe if I needed to buy drugs in the country.)

Best, Ant

[MaggieRedwings]

Done - it sure can't hurt but agree with Tex as to what he said regarding the outcome of what would be needed to get this done.

Maggie