UN CODEX Attempts to Outlaw Access to
Vitamins, and Other Nutritional Supplements
Although written by a prominent Canadian M.D., the article below, one of the BEST we have read on the topic, was distributed by a U.S. group seeking to stop the CODEX in the U.S. The CODEX affects the U.S., Canada, and all member nations of the U.N. We URGE you to read it and decide if maybe, just maybe, it's finally time for you to use the democractic process TODAY to preserve the future of you and your family TOMORROW.
Some of you may be too cynical -- or perhaps too healthy..? -- to care. But that may change. You have to appreciate how close to collapse our current medical paradigm is. New "bugs" are appearing every day, many of which are resistant to conventional medicine. In fact, as of last week, there is only one true broad-spectrum antibiotic left in the entire arsenal of modern medicine, and new bugs which it cannot kill are already appearing! [Have doubts? Check with your own doctor!] A study JUST released in Canada last week tested hundreds of pre-schoolers (children in day-care centers) and found that 1 in every 3 (33.3%) were on some form of antibiotic at any given point in time! Further research found that 1 in 4 had at least ONE FORM OF BACTERIA PRESENT IN NASAL TISSUE that was 100% drug-resistant. [Source: CBC TV]. This data can safely (there's a misnomer!!...) be extrapolated to ANY COUNTRY in the western world. And hostpitals in the US and Canada are now routinely enforcing VOLUNTARY QUARANTINES to deal with outbreaks of drug resistant bugs that thrive ONLY IN HOSPITALS. One top US virologist recently suggested that MORE DRUG RESISTANT BUGS HAVE APPEARED IN THE LAST 24 MONTHS THAN IN THE LAST TWO DECADES. Taking this as a mathematical progression, it doesn't look good for us. Or our children. What does this have to do with the UN CODEX -- which, BY THE WAY, IS ALREADY IN FORCE IN GERMANY AND NORWAY? Simply this -- as medical paradigms collapse (and they ARE collapsing), the greatest defence you have against these bugs is a HEIGHTENED IMMUNE SYSTEM. A good trick in these "toxic times." Many of the vitamins that the Codex wants to ban are the ONLY way we see to keep your immune system up in the times ahead. And, another reminder, the OLDER you get, the MORE problems you are likely to have...
Attempted Implementation of the U.N. CODEX (Ban on Vitamins) in the U.S. and Canada
by Zoltan P. Rona, M.D., M.Sc.
If you value freedom of choice in health care, it may still not be too late for you to help stop the pending world wide suppression of Complementary Medicine. If the Codex Alimentarius (Nutrition Code) Commission has its way, then herbs, vitamins, minerals, homeopathic remedies, amino acids and other natural remedies you have taken for granted most of your life will be gone. The name of the game for Codex is to shift all remedies under the prescription category that would be controlled exclusively by the medical monopoly and its bosses, the major pharmaceutical firms. This scenario, predictably, has been denied by both the Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA) and the Health Protection Branch (HPB or Hocus Pocus Bunch). Do not for one second believe these people. Let me explain.
WHAT IS CODEX? No, Codex is not a new sanitary napkin. Nor is it a benign group of boring bureaucrats. It is officially known as the United Nations/World Health Organization (WHO) Codex Alimentarius (Nutrition Code) Commission. It meets every 2 years, usually in Rome, and very little has appeared about it in the media. Nevertheless, documentation supports the possibility that Codex is the greatest threat to health freedom in the world today. Most of the information we have on this secretive group can be found on the Internet. Codex is empowered by governments to set standards of operation for the health industry. Over 90% of the international organizations "allowed" to send delegates to the meetings represent giant multinational pharmaceutical corporations. The only "consumer" organization is the "International Organization of Consumer Unions". Neither the natural health care industry nor the general public has any representation at Codex meetings.
THE CODEX PLAN OF ACTION In October, 1996, Codex met in Bonn, Germany to make radical changes in the rules governing dietary supplements for member nations. The proposals of greatest concern were those made by the German delegation ("Proposed Draft Guidelines for Dietary Supplements") and is being sponsored by Hoechst, Bayer and BASF. These are the three drug companies formed when the Nurenberg War Trials disbanded IG Farben, manufacturer of the poison gas used in Nazi concentration camps. This is not the first time that the U.N. has been linked closely with Nazi war criminals. Ostensibly, their purpose is "....create a set of international standards to guide the world's growing food industry and to protect the health of consumers." If you really believe that, I have some ocean front property for you at half price in Saskatoon.
The drug company backed proposals call for the following:
- No vitamin, mineral, herb, etc., can be sold for prophylactic (preventative) or therapeutic reasons.
- Natural remedies can be sold as food but they must not exceed the potency (dosage) levels set by the commission. This means that consumer access to dietary supplements will be limited to the RDA dosage as a maximum limit for vitamins (vitamin C - 60 mg, vitamin E - 15 mg, etc.). Supplements without an RDA (e.g. coenzyme Q10) would be illegal to sell because they would all become drugs.
- Codex regulations for dietary supplements would become binding, eliminating the escape clause within the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that allows a nation to set its own standards. This applies to all member countries of the U.N. Any nation that does not accept and apply these new standards will be heavily fined by the World Trade Organization (WTO) creating the potential of crippling entire sectors of that nation's economy.
- All new supplements would be banned unless they go through the Codex approval process. Five steps have already been taken in the Codex process over the past few years. Remember Canadian Bill C-7 which was passed eventually in Canada as C-8? The similarity of the process, the secrecy and the wording between the Codex proposals and the Canadian laws is uncanny. Voting in favour of adopting the German proposal has been overwhelming (16 for and 2 against in the most recent vote). The Codex process is now at "Step Five"- formalization and debate concerning the specific features. In two years, Codex could jump from step 5 to step 8 to finalize these restrictions.
The Codex proposals already exist as law in Norway and Germany where the entire health food industry has literally been taken over by the drug companies. In these countries, vitamin C above 200 mg is illegal as is vitamin E above 45 IU, Vitamin B1 over 2.4 mg and so on. Shering-Plough, the Norway pharmaceutical giant, now controls an echinacea tincture which is being sold there as an OTC drug at grossly inflated prices. The same is true of ginkgo and many other herbs and only one government controlled pharmacy has the right to import supplements as medicines which they can sell to health food stores, convenience stores, or pharmacies. According to Dr. Matthias Rath, researcher and author who discovered a correlation between vitamin C deficiency and heart disease, the three Nazi-linked drug companies pushing so hard for the German proposal, Hoechst, Bayer and BASF, are also manufacturers of heart drugs. Obviously, with the vitamin competition gone, nothing will stop their profits.
IS CANADA INVOLVED? Yes, very much so. According to John C. Hammell, legal advocate for the U.S. based Life Extension Foundation, the Nazi-linked proposals have the backing of Canadian and French Codex commission representatives. In June of 1996, the Codex Executive committee will be creating an "expert panel" on herbs which is likely to generate a "negative list" to prevent public access to certain herbs internationally (see the list below). The formation of this "expert panel" was advocated by none other than the Canadian representatives. Why then are the HPB and the CHFA denying that the Codex proposals will have no impact on the availability of nutritional supplements in Canada? Either spokespersons for these two groups are ignorant about the proposals or they are lying to the public in order to protect drug company profits. After all, several voting members of the CHFA are owned by or are subsidiaries of major drug manufacturers or pharmaceutical chains. Neither group can be trusted to give the public straight answers about the Codex scam. They are in a clear conflict of interest since they stand to gain financially when the supplement prices are boosted out the roof. Further evidence of Canadian involvement is the HPB (Hocus Pocus Bunch) position on what is or is not a food or a drug. This bunch is either cleverly devious about their support of pharmaceutical concerns or just plain dumb. For example, garlic, ginger, licorice and peppermint are considered to be foods when sold as spices. If a grocery store manager makes claims for their therapeutic effects, they then become drugs via a hocus pocus mechanism which remains to be defined. As it now stands in Canada (and this changes on a regular basis given the current mood, blood sugar level or whims of officials at the HPB) the following list of currently available health food store nutritional supplements are considered nebulously to be either "a drug", "a drug even in the absence of claims" or "a new drug with claims":
Will this be just a memory
This list is likely to expand over the next two years.
- Aloe vera
- Astragalus
- Bilberry
- Capsicum
- Cascara sagrada
- Cat's claw
- Chamomile
- Dong Quai
- Echinacea augustifolia
- Echinacea purpurea
- Ephedra (Ma huang)
- Feverfew
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Ginkgo biloba
- Ginseng
- Golden Seal
- Gotu Kola
- Hawthorne
- Kava Kava
- Licorice
- Milk Thistle
- Pau D'arco (Taheebo)
- Peppermint
- Psyllium
- Sarsaparilla
- Saw palmetto
- Yohimbe
If the Codex and the HPB have their way, your favorite supplements will be replaced by expensive, patented, over-the-counter or prescription drugs. Just look what has already happened to amino acids like tryptophan. Once available for under $20 for a bottle of 100 tablets of 500 mgs. at your local health food store, the same tablet is now only available by prescription at a cost of over $120 at your pharmacy. On top of that, in order to get a prescription for tryptophan, you will have to convince your doctor to give you one. This is easier said than done simply because most medical doctors have no clue what tryptophan does or believe it to be toxic. Project this shallow thinking on to the herbs listed above and it becomes quite clear that public access to natural remedies will be a thing of the past.
Important Links
Nature Heals -- Miracle Tree -- Colloidal Silver -- Herbs -- Genetically Engineered Food
An important letter to the Commission on Dietary Supplement Labels
CODEX: INTERNATIONAL THREAT TO HEALTH FREEDOM
EU Rules Threatening To
Sweep Away Vitamin Pills
By Gaby Hinsliff
Political Editor
The Observer - UK
12-25-4
Vitamin supplements used by thousands of Britons, from pregnant women to people warding off winter colds, are to be swept from shop shelves from the new year under controversial European Union safety regulations.
Carole Caplin, former style adviser to Cherie Blair, will front a last-ditch campaign next month to get the directive on food supplements overturned.
It would affect up to 5,000 products, including best-sellers such as Solgar's Pre-Natal Nutrients tablets, taken by pregnant and breastfeeding women; and VM-2000 multi-nutrient pills, a compound of antioxidants. Megadose vitamins, such as the high-strength vitamin C tablets taken by many to stave off coughs and sniffles, are also under threat, with new safety standards to be issued separately early next year.
Campaigners will take their fight to the European courts in January. However, they say some manufacturers have begun withdrawing from the legal challenge or started reformulating supplements to ensure they comply by August, when the directive will become law.
'We have got to do everything we can to put pressure on the British government, otherwise British consumers who have used these products for 40 or 50 years will lose out,' said Sue Croft of the pressure group, Consumers for Health Choice.
'People are using supplements as an insurance policy to keep themselves well. I'm not saying vitamins are a cure-all, but as a measure to keep somebody in good health, they work.
'If it's safe, you should be allowed to use it; therefore I cannot understand why the British government is not fighting our corner.'
She said campaigners were also worried about the threat to megadose vitamins. 'We have a vitamin culture here, and we do take these high-strength nutrients where good science supports them. That could be 3g of vitamin C for example, where on the continent the highest dose you can get in some countries is 200mg.'
One in three women takes some form of health food supplement, particularly during pregnancy or menopause, as does one in four men.
Caplin, who regularly recommends alternative remedies to clients, is understood to have lobbied the Prime Minister personally.
She has also publicly accused the Health Minister, Melanie Johnson, of showing a 'distinct lack of care and interest' in the issue. Peter Hain, the Leader of the Commons, who has a longstanding interest in alternative therapies, is also understood to have raised objections to the directive, which he has described as 'heavy-handed'. Some 180 MPs have signed a Commons motion expressing 'grave concern' that pills and powders in common use are to become illegal.
The Food Supplements Directive in effect outlaws health food preparations containing ingredients not on its 'positive list' of permitted substances. Manufacturers prepared to draw up a detailed scientific dossier arguing that their ingredients are proven to be safe are allowed an extension until 2008.
Campaigners say the 'agreed' list was simply borrowed from one drawn up for baby foods, and there is no evidence any of the ingredients are unsafe for adults. They argue Britain is suffering from a culture-clash with continental countries, which traditionally treat vitamins as akin to medicines. In Greece they are usually obtained through pharmacists, while a 'megadose' of vitamin C in Italy can be only one-tenth as strong as one in Britain.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: 'We want to protect public health while keeping wide consumer choice.'
Many doctors are sceptical about megadose vitamins, arguing that a healthy diet meets most people's needs.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1379780,00.html
