VACCINE LEGISLATION

Amid the flurry of activity and controversy surrounding the recent measles outbreak in the US, many states have pushed through some fast legislation that makes it harder, or impossible, to decline vaccination. Naturally, Texas is among the most extreme of these states with no fewer than 9 new vaccine bills on the docket this legislative session. The most distressing bill, HB 2006, would repeal the right for conscientious and religious exemption from vaccines – meaning no matter what your belief or philosophy, your kids would have to follow the suggested vaccine schedule.

Other distressing bills include SB 538, which would allow the police to forcibly detain individuals suspected of having come in contact with communicable disease, eliminating the need for a warrant.  SB 29/HB 465 would make it mandatory that your personal information be included in the vaccine tracking program (currently this is optional). Other bills force public schools to report the numbers of unvaccinated students in their educational system, which may foster discriminatory environments against unvaccinated children.

It is important to advocate for your rights and the rights of your family. Even if your children are beyond vaccination age, they may choose to also have children one day. Whatever your opinion, it is a good idea to educate yourself about these issues. The National Vaccine Information Center has a complete lists of state actions as well as suggestions for ways for you to help influence policy-makers. Texas is one of the most active states in this discussion so make sure your voice is heard!

 

SUPPLEMENT SCANDAL

Dear Peoples Rx Family and Friends,

Peoples would like to take a moment to respond to the scandalous New York Attorney General’s investigation of herbal supplements sold at major retailers including GNC, Target, Wal-Mart and Walgreens. The supplement industry is full of sad cases like this in which customers are buying products in good faith to help themselves based on their own research and investigation, but not getting what they pay for, and in some cases getting dangerous substitutes.

At Peoples, we have done the research thoroughly. The problems within the industry are readily apparent. Complex regulations that are hugely expensive to follow, coupled with the fact that there’s little to no enforcement of these regulations, leads to a lot of companies bending the rules. This is especially the case with herbal and supplement companies aiming to be the cheapest on the market – which is mostly what large retailers carry.

This is why you see different brands on our shelves. We don’t carry the cheapest because they don’t meet our quality standards. We make sure that all of the companies we sell are:

GMP-certified – All of the product lines we sell meet the Good Manufacturing Practice guidelines set out by the FDA and are inspected regularly to make sure they are still in compliance.

Professional-only – Most supplement companies sell to anyone, anywhere. But not the companies we carry. We stock professional lines; these are companies that only sell through health professionals because their products are strong and effective enough that it is important for customer safety that they are used correctly. We are able to do this because our wellness staff is comprised of highly trained health professionals who meet the requirements to safely suggest products of this caliber.

Independently tested – Professional lines are all independently tested to verify that the ingredients listed on the label are actually in the bottle, and to ensure that there isn’t anything extra in there that shouldn’t be. This is a big deal because the products tested by the Attorney General’s office largely didn’t have any of the herb they claimed to have – meaning those capsules were filled with something else. At Peoples, we are not willing to risk your health on “something else.”

Peoples Rx Approved – Not only do our companies have to meet all of these high standards; they have to meet ours too. If we get customer complaints, bad reactions or excessive returns on any product, we stop selling it. No matter what. Austin and our customers are our life-blood and it matters to us that we’re all taken care of. After all, we use our products too.

At Peoples, we know the industry is both under-regulated and easy to misuse. We just choose to do things differently – and we have since the start of our Wellness department. We value our customers more than anything else and we aren’t willing to risk your health, even if it would make far more money to cut corners.

 

Was DNA testing misused in the Attorney General’s investigation of herbal supplements? Click here to read the American Botanical Society’s response to this question.

Several of our professional lines have made their own public statements on the scandal. For Xymogen’s response, click here. For Thorne Research’s response, click here. For Integrative Therapeutics’ response, click here.