Here are just a few highlights during our first year of alliance:

2/23/92: NHA organized.

3/92 - 4/92: Initial NHA discussions with congressional staff on FDA issues. (Contact with congressional staff is a major, ongoing component of our lobbying program)

4/10/92 - 4/13/92: NHA presents campaign to unify industry at Natural Products Expo in Anaheim.

5/5/92: NHA meets with NIH Unconventional Treatment Office director to discuss the future of the new office.

5/6/92: NHA meets with aides to Waxman, Dingell, and Kennedy.

5/6/92: Flack-jacketed FDA agents and armed county sheriffs storm the office of Dr. Jonathon Wright in Kent, Washington in search of misbranded vitamin B12, an event that galvanizes opposition to the FDA and the pending FDA enforcement legislation in Congress.

5/7/92: NHA briefs senior White House officials on the Jonathon Wright raid.

5/15/92: NHA raises $50,000 for Jonathon Wright at the Dallas meeting of the American College of Advancement Medicine.

5/19/92: NHA monitors the Kennedy hearing on FDA enforcement legislation. FDA's witness echoes the White House position that the bill was not needed.

6/11/92: Sen. Hatch introduces Health Freedom Bill. This proposes a new definition for supplements that is more inclusive than NLEA and explicitly separates supplements from drugs and good additives. The bill required that claims be truthful, not misleading, and be supported by "scientific evidence, whether published or unpublished, that provides a reasonable basis for such a claim."

6/17/92: NHA meets with Hatch and senior FDA officials.

7/6/92: Energy committee passes HR 3642, the FDA enforcement bill, with the Richardson amendment clarifying that the bill was not directed at the supplement industry. (The bill was never scheduled for a vote by the House or Senate because of grassroots opposition.)

7/9/92: NHA and other industry representatives meet with FDA officials to begin ongoing dialogue.

7/13/92 - 7/16/92: NHA secures Rep. Richardson's support for Health Freedom bill.

7/13/92: NHA installs a toll-free hotline with the latest political information.

7/23/92 - 7/27/92: National Nutritional Foods Association show in Nashville with video presentation by FDA's Gary Dykstra. He suggests that some supplements, such as amino acids or mega-dose vitamins, should be available by prescription only.

7/31/92: Richardson version of Health Freedom bill introduced.

8/9/92: Front-page Sunday New York Times story on the FDA and the regulation of dietary supplements features NHA.

9/11/92 - 9/13/92: NHA makes legislative presentation with Rep. Richardson at Natural Foods Expo East in Baltimore.

9/14/92 - 9/15/92: NHA conducts intensive lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill.

9/15/92: NHA meets with White House officials.

9/17/92: NHA transmits video news release via satellite to every major TV market in America.

9/18/92: Hatch NLEA moratorium amendment to an appropriations bill is approved by a Senate vote of 94-1. (The amendment is discarded in a House-Senate conference a few days later.)

9/23/92: NHA releases public opinion poll on supplements. The survey shows that nearly half of all Americans take supplements and more than 8 out of 10 believe that responsible health claims should be allowed.

9/24/92: NHA meets with Speaker Foley and begins discussions with Clinton-Gore campaign.

10/1/92 - 10/7/92: Intensive lobbying campaign in Washington and at grass roots.

10/6/92: Moratorium bill passed by the House shortly before adjournment.

10/7/92: NHA receives Clinton-Gore letter of support for supplements.

10/7/92: Moratorium bill passes Senate as part of a user fee prescription drug bill.

10/30/92: President Bush signs moratorium into law. NLEA regulations applicable to dietary supplements must be re-proposed no later than June 15, 1993. Final regs will be issued by Dec. 31, 1993. The law also stops the replacement of Recommended Daily Allowances with references to Daily Intakes.