Codex Alimentarius - The Death of natural therapies as we know it.
Published: December 01, 2009
http://www.insidershealth.com/article_print/codex_alimentarius_and_non_european_countries_part_one/3870
A storm is brewing... The future of
each nation's natural health industry, nutritional innovation and each
individual's personal freedom of choice regarding access to a wide range
of vitamin supplements, amino acids, herbs and ancient and modern
traditional medicines, appears with little doubt to be at genuine risk
in the not-too-distant future. One can later speculate and even try to
reason the intentions and motivations that have brought about this
situation; however, it is certain that the situation exists and is no
accident of circumstances.
This article will attempt to explain,
document, and clarify the actual situation by separating the facts from
numerous assertions, biased interpretations, and short-sighted
solutions being attempted. The situation we face is primarily
the result of a series of apparently unrelated, but in fact,
well-coordinated and complex events; executed slowly over time in
incremental steps. It is a situation driven by vested interests,
implemented by cooperating foreign and national governmental
representatives, agencies, and legislative bodies, and fully upheld by a
number of international trade agreements signed by heads of state.
While much confusion, conflicting opinion, and even heated argument
exist as to the legal relevance and potential influence of "Codex
Alimentarius" (Codex) to the future of vitamin supplements, herbs, amino
acids, and many widely accepted forms of traditional medicines, the
story does not begin in the Americas. It began in the European
Union In Europe, the European Food Supplement's Directive was
legislated and brought into law in 2002. The EU Food Supplements
Directive was then upheld in the European Court of Justice despite
fierce legal challenges by watchdog organizations within the natural
health community in 2005.
These unnecessary and severely
restrictive pieces of European legislation are now in various stages of
clarification, finalization, and implementation throughout the European
Union.
In summary, the EU Food Supplements Directive will: (a)
Eliminate (completely ban) almost two-in-every-three currently
available vitamin substances, amino acids, herbs; and traditional
medicines; (b) Dramatically reduce dosage levels to newly
established Maximum Permitted Levels (MPLs), based on a severely flawed
procedure for assessing risk (no consideration is even given to existing
benefits) and directly influenced by pharmaceutical industry
participants; (c) Reclassify the remaining "allowable" vitamin
substances as medicine; (d) Severely censor what the industry
itself or any practitioner can promote, publish, or say about their
mental or physiological influence.
Amino acids, herbs, Ayurvedic
and other long-accepted, traditional health remedies are also under the
EU Food Supplements Directive's legislative control. Natural
products and vitamin substances that have not been approved, or those of
manufacturers who fail to provide adequate and fully documented
dossiers to the authorized governing bodies, will begin to be removed
from the shelves in shops and websites throughout Europe in the months
to come. It is important to note that we are not reporting on a
few "snake oil" or "miracle water" bottles. This is really not a massive
attempt to protect consumers against the few undesirable "con artists"
in this industry. No, we're actually reporting on the fact that nearly
2/3rds of currently available and perfectly valid natural products have
been unequivocally banned by the EU Food Supplements Directive and will
soon be pulled from the shelves throughout Europe.
Products
like: · Nearly the entire spectrum of natural vitamin E,
including gamma tocopherols and tocotrienols · Mixed, natural
spectrum of carotenoids · All forms of Boron · 14
different forms of Selenium, including selenium yeast products ·
23 different food forms of Calcium · Colloidal or ionic trace
elements derived from natural sources · 21 food forms of Iron
including iron-based yeast · 30 different forms of Magnesium · 21 different forms of Potassium · Molybdenum - 15 forms
of amino acid chelate ... and many other natural substances
already proven to be effective.
In fact, a detailed list of the
remaining allowable vitamin substances, known as the Approved List"
should leave many food supplement manufacturers, health practitioners
and consumers quite distressed over the obvious and severe limitations
and impact it will have on viable and beneficial existing products - let
alone its impact on continued research and innovation.
High
Dose Supplements While food-based (normally low-dose) products
appear to have been spared from outright banning by the EU Food
Supplements Directive, there are three important points to think about;
1. The EU Food Supplements Directive will eliminate High-dose
supplements through the establishment of (upper safe) Maximum Permitted
Levels (MPLs). Based on faulty risk-assessment evaluation, the "MPLs"
will dramatically reduce legal dosage levels to nearly placebo levels.
2. Even the low-dose, food-based supplementation, herbs, and other
(natural) nutritional substances are targeted to be re-classified as
medicine by the EU FOOD SUPPLEMENTS DIRECTIVE's Human Medicinal Products
Directive. This Directive asserts that any product, even a food
or food supplement, which has a physiological effect on the body, can
be classified as a drug by the regulators.
3. The Nutrition and
Health Claims Regulation, an integral part of the EU Food Supplement's
Directive, will severely censor what can actually be said, promoted or
advertised about mental or physiological benefits of nutritional
supplements.
What about "Sovereign" nations? The EU FOOD
SUPPLEMENTS DIRECTIVE may very well be the law now, but it certainly
will only affect Europe. And while other countries might sympathize with
the fate of the European natural health industry, it doesn't really
have anything to do with the U.S. or other countries outside of Europe.
...or does it?
