Hello everyone!

I wanted to take a minute and let you all know about a couple of events we will be attending in February. We’ll be exhibiting concurrently at two shows – one on each side of the country!

Lynn and Peggy will be exhibiting during the CAMEXPO East at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, NYC – Feb. 9-10. We’ll be in booth 307, and will have samples from our NESS, BioSET and Advanced Formula lines of superior quality digestive and systemic enzymes - as well as product and company info. If you’re reading this, and think you may want to attend the conference (and are an Enzymes, Inc. professional customer) – give Peg a call and she’ll see what she can do to get you in the door!

At about the same time, Steve will be participating in the Parker College of Chiropractic Las Vegas annual convention. This is the mother of all chiropractic trade shows! We’ll be in booth 1214 with samples of our from our NESS, BioSET and Advanced Formula lines of superior quality digestive and systemic enzymes - as well as product and company info.

In addition, Ellen Cutler of the BioSET institute will be present, at announced times, doing some allergy testing and will have copies of her book MicroMiracles: Discover the Healing Power of Enzymes.

Again, thank you all so much for being our customers - we look forward to hearing from you soon!

Wow.

I was thinking of what to write about the second installment of the CBS News herbal supplement “report”, but it looks like the comment section from their website will do just fine. I’m just going to post some of the comments from there, here.

Congratulations to the American People for writing in about this story. I was blown away by the number of comments on the site. Something tells me big-pharma style FDA regulation, or CODEX establishment if “upper limits” will not be carried out in a clandestine manner in this country. Give the people what they want.

Here are a few entries from the CBS comment board:

Delete my post again CBS, I’ll keep submitting it until I have been sufficiently amused. I have not yet read Hurly’s book Natural Causes so I quote Steve Mister, CRN president:

“The book includes more than 200 footnotes, but a cursory examination shows the author repeatedly footnotes his own inquiries, other people’s opinions and people who spoke anonymously. This is not the bibliography of a serious piece of work. Hurley relies primarily on personal opinion and isolated incidents to falsely imply that these cases represent the experience of the more than 150 million Americans who take safe, beneficial dietary supplements as part of their healthy lifestyle choices. The book Natural Causes cannot be considered a credible, scientific work. This is an assortment of extreme anecdotes that exploit rare and tragic misfortunes in an agenda-driven attempt to sell books.”

It is clear the real reasons you chose to do this story have nothing to do with facts related to the nutritional supplement industry. As has been detailed by many others posting here, one reason is your reliance on the pharmaceutical industry. Secondly, you chose this story and to get folks to watch your failed anchor Katie Couric. She and your nightly news are a failure, and by promoting this sensational story I again contend you will lose 20 times the number of viewers you could have ever gained by getting them to tune in.
Posted by catalogbiz at 11:47 AM : Jan 17, 2007

Having been an MD for the last 17 years I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work as a consultant with the two of the largest pharma companies in the World. Ten years ago these companies had full R&D pipelines with great products that kept them preoccupied. Now the number of products in their pipelines has dropped significantly and they’re turning to other areas to drive revenue. In particular Glaxo Smith Kline is moving into the weight loss category with an OTC product (Alli) that will be sold in Wal Mart this year once FDA approval is granted. This has always been an area that dietary supplements thrive in and Big Pharma has avoided. Now this is changing and Big Pharma is coming after the supplement players.
Clearly CBS did not decide to just run a prime time story about supplements on a whim. Look at who advertises the most on CBS. Glaxo… I don’t doubt for a second that the marketers at Glaxo demanded that CBS develop a story to discredit the supplement industry. Keep an eye out for Alli commercials on CBS in the coming months.
Dr Joe B
(Full name with held as I’m a practicing MD that does not need to be hassled by Big Pharma)Posted by DrJoeB at 10:34 AM : Jan 17, 2000

>Thirty years ago, my doctors predicted I would be a cripple by age 60. I started taking nutritional supplements and and still enjoying good health at age 76. Hurley is serving BIG PHARMA in making the claims he does. Thousands more people are killed by FDA approved drugs every year, relatively few by the wrong use of nutritional supplements. FDA benefits BIG PHARMA, not the people. BOBVAN30

Posted by bobvan30 at 10:03 AM : Jan 17, 2007

Thank God for supplements, after prescription drugs such as Lipitor, HCTZ, and more almost killed me. Today I eat right and take a lot of NATURAL Supplement. Unlike prescription drugs which are synthetic and toxic to the body, Supplements are mostly natural if you take the correct ones. Prescription drugs kill over 106,000 people per year and many more people have a great reduction in quality of life. I at one time was one of these, but now I feel great and my life is full of energy. On the other hand, deaths by vitamins poisoning appear to be quite rare in the US, typically none in a given year. Source Wikipedia a highly reputable source of information, unlike CBS.How about doing a story on the blatant false advertisement you are seeing every night on TV related to prescription drugs? Start with Vytorin by Merck. You probably won’t because they spend too much money with you on advertising. Cholesterol is not even the main cause of the problem and related to family, what a joke. Maybe in extremely rare cases unlike they lead people to believe. And they brain wash the public every night with those lies. Come to the 21st Century of Cellular medicine by such people as Dr. Matthias Rath and learn the truth for a change. Conventional medicine and conventional doctors are still in the “dark ages” when it comes to infective and degenerative diseases and Prescription Drugs are The largest Orchestrated Fraud in human history.

Posted by mirtocap at 11:09 PM : Jan 16, 2007

From the FDA’s own web page comes proof that dietary supplements are regulated more strictly than foods but less strictly than controlled substances (drugs):FDA regulates dietary supplements under a different set of regulations than those covering “conventional” foods and drug products (prescription and Over-the-Counter). Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), the dietary supplement manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that a dietary supplement is safe before it is marketed. FDA is responsible for taking action against any unsafe dietary supplement product after it reaches the market. Generally, manufacturers do not need to register their products with FDA nor get FDA approval before producing or selling dietary supplements.* Manufacturers must make sure that product label information is truthful and not misleading.

FDA’s post-marketing responsibilities include monitoring safety, e.g. voluntary dietary supplement adverse event reporting, and product information, such as labeling, claims, package inserts, and accompanying literature. The Federal Trade Commission regulates dietary supplement advertising.

*Domestic and foreign facilities that manufacture/process, pack, or hold food for human or animal consumption in the United States are required to register their facility with the FDA.

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/supplmnt.html

Posted by neilelevin at 08:55 PM : Jan 16, 2007 CBS, Katie and the nightly news staff,

I own a small supplement company. I was surprised at how little your story did to show the kind of FDA regulation that we in the industry actually do have to deal with. There are numerous rules concerning labeling and claims that can be made about products. For example you can make a structure function claim but not a health claim or disease claim concerning your products. This information is available from the FDA. Your story would seem to indicate that the supplement industry is unregulated and has no merit. The top manufacturers of supplements in the country would never be able to afford the cost of FDA regulation if it was analogous to the way pharmaceuticals are treated. Drug companies have so much money at their disposal that they can afford the half billion dollars it takes to push something through the FDA.

I fear that stories like yours will harm companies like my own and have a deliterious affect on the health of many americans because of the way the supplement industry was negatively portrayed.

Sincerely,

Dr. Robert J. Gatto Jr.
Manager
Allegheny Nutritionals, LLC

Posted by rgattodc1 at 07:56 PM : Jan 16, 2007

I think that is enough said. Thanks again for reading our blog!

When I was in school studying journalism, one of the core concepts we were taught is news reporting should be just that – news reporting. It should present the news – not take sides.

While the new CBS examination of herbal supplements does present both sides of the story, it is incredibly biased against the supplement industry right out of the gate. Like I mentioned in my previous post, a tag line of - If you or someone you know uses dietary supplements, you need to watch – is a red flag.

Also, I found the number of pharmaceutical company commercials running during the broadcast somewhat disconcerting. Even on the website page, a Tylenol banner ad is blazing away…

It appears the entire broadcast is incredibly well placed PR for a new book (also mentioned in my previous post), which attacks the nutritional supplement industry. From a PR standpoint I have to give that agency props – talk about a home run! The author is reported to be a science and medical writer, and appears to be quite familiar with many issues surrounding the industry.

I’m sure he recognized it is a ripe time to release such a work - with adverse event reporting, the NIH MVM panel, and Codex Alimentarius being timely and newsworthy issues. The groundwork has been laid, and the author has hopped on the ephedra-scare bandwagon - and stands to make a great deal of money from writing this book.

I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

Tonight’s episode reportedly focuses on government regulation, and I’m interested to see if FDA representatives feel they have enough power to regulate nutritional supplements through DSHEA – like they have said they do in the past.

As far as studies proving benefits, or lack thereof, there are many out which do both. Do a bit of Google Scholar research and you can see for yourself. One thing I always find interesting is the research supporting almost always uses the word “may” and says more research is needed, but the ones against appear to solidify the final word.

Is more research needed? Yes. Would more regulation meet with resistance? I doubt it. The issue is with the cost. An entire industry – very small in profit compared to their pharmaceutical counterparts – has been operating under a functional regulation system for quite some time. These companies simply cannot afford to conform to the same system as does the pharmaceutical industry, the pockets are nowhere near as deep.

I believe the reputable members of the industry would welcome further regulation, as long as the cost would not put them out of business. Some say it is exactly what the pharmaceutical industry wishes, then they could effectively monopolize the market. The industry has supported newly passed adverse event reporting legislation, and welcomes the detrimental effect it may have on unscrupulous manufacturers.

Obviously, I work for the nutraceutical industry and am biased as well. I do believe in the potential of vitamin and herbal supplements to provide health benefits. This is a blog from a supplement company, so a reader should have an idea what to expect. However, I found a comment made by an Amazon.com reviewer of the before mentioned book to contain quite a bit of insight, and I think speaks to concerned parties on both sides of the issue. A pharmacist and pharmaceutical/herbal medicine book publisher by the name of JPS Kohli said:

I would like to extend compliments to the herbal medicine manufacturers to have come his far by way of quality of products now available in the market. They should not feel rejected by criticism but take what is good from such criticism and build on it. Pharmaceutical industry also should support this industry that should call itself ‘Complementary Medicine’ rather than alternative.

Well put.

Tonight on CBS is the first installment of a two part series examining the use of dietary supplements. I think those in the industry are a bit wary of such an “examination” and fear it will tout the big-pharma agenda - that supplements are harmful. It is especially important as it relates to the AER Bill recently signed by President Bush and the ongoing debate concerning Codex Alimentarius vitamin and mineral supplement global regulation.

When I heard the - If you or someone you know uses dietary supplements, you need to watch - tagline last night, I thought to myself: “Oh no, what are they up to?” I frantically searched the Internet this morning for some mention, but with no luck. Then I received an e-mail from the Natural Products Association (NPA) giving a bit more information. I’m going to go ahead and post it here in it’s entirety, as it is a very succinct summary. If anyone from the NPA takes issue with this, simply send me an e-mail and I will take it down immediately.

January 15, 2007

CBS News to Examine Dietary Supplements
Two-part series to begin tonight

Beginning tonight, CBS Evening News will begin a special two-part series on dietary supplements, which the network is referring to as the “great supplement debate.” The Natural Products Association has been in contact with CBS, providing balanced background information about dietary supplements, and has learned one of the catalysts for the series is a new book titled Natural Causes: Death, Lies and Politics in America’s Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry. The association alerted members in December of last year about the release of this book and the potential use of it by news media and others.

“Once again the entire industry is being brought under intense scrutiny by a news organization,” said David Seckman, executive director and CEO of the Natural Products Association. “Why? The phrase in the on-air promotion ‘If you or someone you know uses dietary supplements, you need to watch’ is a good indicator. With between 150 to 200 million adult users of dietary supplements, a story that casts doubt on their safety, efficacy and quality is sure to draw many curious viewers and potentially add to ratings.”

What can Natural Products Association members do? Be prepared to address questions from your customers arising from this program: Are dietary supplements safe? Do they work? Does the government regulate them? Here are few key messages to be ready to share with them:

Dietary supplements are well regulated. Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission can and do take action when necessary to police the market place. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the power to ensure dietary supplements are safe, properly labeled and that the claims they make substantiated. And because of DSHEA, a new regulation addressing good manufacturing practices for dietary supplements that ensures their quality and purity will be soon be issued.


Dietary supplements have a great safety record, especially compared with other consumer goods, such as drugs and even other foods.

Dietary supplements do work, and every week more and more scientific research upholds this fact.

Members who want to respond directly to the CBS stories can use the Natural Products Association’s Web site advocacy center to send an e-mail message. You can also go to the CBS Evening News Web site and send your comments directly by going to Katie Couric’s blog.

What’s a widget?

In the past, a “widget” was a word representing a fictional product with no “artistic or spiritual” value. They have been used educationally as examples in business and marketing, and originated in the Broadway comedy Beggar on Horseback in 1942.

Today, widgets are real - they are computer applications downloadable to your desktop, and can work independent of the Internet.

Enzymes, Inc. is perfecting a Product Viewer Widget, and hope to have it available for our customers very soon. It will let you peruse our product information much more quickly than by navigating the website or thumbing through catalogs. A Product Comparison Widget is also in the works – this will let you compare our products to each other, as well as to products from other companies - stay tuned for more information!

What would you want in a widget? Have some ideas? Let us know, e-mail: info@enzymesinc.com.

Hello again.

Well, 2007 is officially underway - thanks again to everyone for making 2006 a stellar year for Enzymes, Inc. We’re currently working on our 2007 convention schedule - we hope to see you at an event in the new future. Stay tuned to our blog - and www.enzymeexperts.com - for more information.