Codex in July 4 Declaration of No U.S. Independence

ONLY ONE WEEK TO ACT ON CAFTA as Codex Full Commission adopts
Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements in final form.

by Fintan Dunne,
Editor, BreakForNews.com

Meeting on July 4, 2005, in Rome Italy, the full Commission of Codex Alimentarius adopted in final form, the Codex Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements. This adoption is the final stage and the guidelines are now official and no longer in draft form.

The endorsed guidelines call for upper intake limits based on toxic chemical risk assessment, prohibit health claims for foods, and urge consumers to restrict their intake of nutrients to the foods they eat. The endorsement of the guidelines by the Executive Committee virtually ensures their adoption by the full Commission at its July 4 meeting.

Commenting on the outcome, the UK's Alliance for Natural Health[ANH] wryly noted:

"On America's Day of Independence, it appears as if the US government delegation did little to protect its the independence of its own people - at least in the area of health choices."

The Commission, attended by over 85 of the 171 Codex countries, adopted the guidelines by consensus. Canada argued that “given the differences in diets, food supplies, attitudes, and consumption patterns around the world, such guidelines were best left to national governments.” China stated that governments should be able to select vitamins and minerals according to the customs and habits of their country. Egypt commented that vitamin and minerals should be considered if daily needs are not being met.

Attorney Scott Tipps of National Health Federation, a consumer group with NGO status at Codex, requested the guidelines not be adopted but rather be sent back to committee. He said the guidelines did not define vitamin and mineral and therefore it is unclear as to what is being regulated. Also the Chinese comments were substantive and according to Codex rules should be addressed at the committee level.

Supporting the ratification of the guidelines was IADSA, an NGO which is little more that a lobby group for the pharmaceutical industry. The Chair recommended the guidelines be adopted and that China submit their substantive amendment requests at the next meeting. There was no further comment or dissent from any country and the guidelines were adopted.

Following a legal case taken by the UK ANH, on 5th April 2005 an EU Court Advocate General, Leendert Geelhoed, declared in preliminary advice to the court that the proposed EU Supplements Directive was fundamentally flawed, and contravened EU law. He concluded:

"...that the Directive infringes the principle of proportionality, because basic principles of Community law, such as the requirements of legal protection, of legal certainty and of sound administration have not been properly taken into account. The Directive is, therefore, invalid."

The European Court of Justice has declared that their final judgment, made by the thirteen Judges presiding over the case, will be handed down on 12 July 2005. The Codex Commission have now passed into law the new international standards without regards to the European court or its future ruling on the issue.

SLEEPWALKING INTO UNFREE TRADE

According to Kazuaki Miyagishima, Secretary of the Codex Alimentarius Commission: the guidelines are merely "meant to help national authorities when they are considering what standards to adopt for their countries." [source]

But, in truth, recent Codex/WHO/WTO moves are part of a stealth pincer movement designed to ensnare consumers in international agreements -which individual governents will later glumly advise are now beyond their control.

For example, the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) Treaty will require the U.S., a member of the World Trade Organization, to revise our food laws and regulations based on Codex decisions. Thus CAFTA will force harmonization of U.S. dietary supplements and regulations to international standards, and therby override the hard-fought U.S. DSHEA Act of 1994, which current protects their health freedom.

CAFTA and related FTAA and NAFTA are bureaucratic monstrosities of “managed” trade whose agreements encompass thousands of pages of bureaucratic textual garbage sprinkled liberally with rules, regulations, and special-interest benefits.

Buried in the language of CAFTA is Section 6 that requires members form a committee for the purpose of insuring ongoing harmonization under the terms of the World Trade Organization (WTO) : "Members shall base their food safety measures on international standards, guidelines or recommendations."

And as you all know by now, Codex sets the international standards for food safety including vitamins & minerals.

So, CAFTA, [Senate Bill 1307 PDF] which is set for a vote in the House of Representatives when they reconvene July 11th, 2005, is the way the vested corporate interests will effectively tear up the U.S. Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, and bind the U.S. and Canada by treaty to the harshly restrictive Codex vitamin-and-mineral standards.

That would put a knife in the back of all our health freedoms. The Codex decision in Rome has moved us one step closer to this outcome. The majority of people are being carefully sleepwalked towards the end of health choice. Don't expect the corporate media to disturb that sleep with reports like this one. Spread the word.

Final Reminder: ONLY ONE WEEK TO ACT ON CAFTA.

See Also:
BreakForNews.com Audio Interviews on this Topic

New Documentary: 'We Become Silent
The Last Days of Health Freedom'

Kiss your vitamins goodbye by Dr. Carolyn Dean
Natural health campaigners to design new methods for regulating supplements
U.N. Food Policy Dumbs Down World Health Standards

Groups:
alliance-natural-health.org thenhf.com friendsoffreedominternational.org
ahf-au.org citizens.org nationalhealthfreedom.org WellTV.com