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# Sign Our Petition Against FDA! - newsletter from Vitamin D Council
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/vitamin_d_council_0628110730/
- Published: 2011-06-28T20:26:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:12:02.000Z
- Description: The Vitamin D Council is asking readers to sign a petition backing its planned complaint against the FDA, arguing that delivering dietary vitamin D chiefly through fortified milk fails African Americans, who drink less milk and need far more sun exposure to make the same vitamin D.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Politics, Vitamin D, #vivvo-import

Dear Vitamin D Council Member,

**We need your help!** This summer, the Vitamin D Council is set to file a 17-page complaint against Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, M.D. and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding their vitamin D food fortification policies and how they disparately afflict African Americans.

Through a combination of mandated and encouraged practices, the FDA depends upon milk to deliver virtually all supplemental dietary vitamin D to Americans. The FDA knows African Americans consume little milk, particularly relative to Caucasian Americans. The FDA, in effect, chooses to fortify a food that does not target a population who most need vitamin D.

Vitamin D is a hormone activated by sunlight. Due to their darker skin, African Americans require six to ten times the amount of sun exposure Caucasian Americans do to activate the same amount of vitamin D. In consequence, African Americans are much more likely to be deficient in vitamin D.

In effort to strengthen the complaint, the Vitamin D Council launched a petition today, seeking backing from citizens all across the country. **Please sign our petition** at [http://www.change.org/petitions/back-health-equality-complaint-against-fda-2](http://www.change.org/petitions/back-health-equality-complaint-against-fda-2?ref=foodconsumer.org). **Please email your friends and share this petition on your facebook. Help spread the word!**

Hold the FDA accountable for their responsibility to set policies that encourage health equality for all Americans of all racial backgrounds. **Please join us to call upon the FDA to mandate and encourage fortifying foods that African Americans are more likely and able to consume.**

Sincerely,

**Vitamin D Council**

**Contact:**

For questions or to request a copy of our 17-page complaint, contact Brant Cebulla at[bcebulla@vitamindcouncil.org](mailto:bcebulla@vitamindcouncil.org).

**Links:**

Petition: [www.change.org/petitions/back-health-equality-complaint-against-fda-2](http://www.change.org/petitions/back-health-equality-complaint-against-fda-2?ref=foodconsumer.org)

Press Release: [www.vitamindcouncil.org/press-release-vitamin-d-council-set-to-file-complaint-against-fda/](http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/press-release-vitamin-d-council-set-to-file-complaint-against-fda/?ref=foodconsumer.org)