An open letter to my legislators and yours:

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There's a food and nutrition "safety" bill running through the system right now, and I have to ask your  help to kill it off. The DSSA (Dietary Supplement Safety Act) would hurt voters by reducing consumer freedoms and wasting tax dollars through needless policing of the nutritional  supplements market.

Let me explain what I think is sensible in a food and food supplement system:

1. If there is a material misrepresentation about the CONTENT of a supplement, that should  be a crime. So we need to see all ingredients, not just "active" or "inactive" ones, on  every processed product offered for sale for consumption. (Existing law already requires this, I think.)

2. Don't put health claims on foods or food supplements. In fact, don't even put anything  that hints at a health claim. If you've seen those claims about breakfast cereal lowering  your risk of one or another disease, or the "nourish your brain" juice in the produce aisle,  you know what I'm talking about.

3. If there's a controversial ingredient (say, stevia, trans-fats, aspartame, diacetates, bisphenol-A, genetic modification, or byproducts of ionizing radiation) then don't regulate it, label it. And label it boldly. Until the academics can come to a consensus untainted by concerns about the sources of funding for research, the best thing is to make the consumer fully aware of what's in the food he buys. Treat the issue similar to the way we treat common food allergens: A labeling requirement.

4. The G.R.A.S. doctrine: A food we've used safely for generations should be GENERALLY RECOGNIZED AS SAFE. Additionally, true hybrid crops (not genetically modified ones) are most likely also safe, but should be labelled as a recent hybrid, along with parentage, to facilitate allergy safety.

5. No favors for centralized efforts. For example, if there's a fixed fee to certify a supplement farm, then a large conglomerate farm has an advantage. If there are large barriers to entry, it creates conditions for monopolies to take wealth away from society.

Please take a close look at any so-called "safety" bill to ensure that none of these common-sense ideas are violated.

Thank you.