Your dietary supplements: Under attack again
June 11, 2005
The Codex Alimentarius Commission sounds like one of those shadowy,
sinister organizations conjured up by one-world-government nuts to
scare people.
Truth: It is!
The Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health
Organization created this commission in the early 1960s to set
standards for food safety and to "harmonize" the laws of member
nations. The commission was endorsed by U.N. Resolution 39/248, which
says:
"When formulating national policies and plans with regard to food,
governments should take into account the need of all consumers for
food security and should support and, as far as possible, adopt
standards from the ... Codex Alimentarius. ..."
The Codex Alimentarius Commission consists of delegates from 163
member nations representing 97 percent of the world's population. It
meets every two years, either in Rome or Geneva. Between meetings, the
commission is governed by an executive committee that directs the
activities of its many committees.
Of immediate concern is the ongoing effort to bring dietary
supplements in America under the control of standards set by this
commission. Dietary supplements generate a $17 billion industry in the
United States, which affects more than 150 million consumers,
according to Congressional findings (H.R. 2485). Proposed procedures
and standards could virtually destroy this market and deprive millions
of Americans of the supplements they want to use.
The European Union Directive on Dietary Supplements, which becomes law
in August, severely restricts the types and quantities of supplements
that may be legally sold. Most forms of vitamins C and E, for example,
are not available, or are available only in extremely small doses. If
current plans proceed on course, American consumers are in for a
shock.
How can this little-known international commission control what
consumers buy in the United States?
An even less-known agency, deep within the bowels of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture is responsible for U.S. participation in the
Codex Commission and designates delegates to each of the commission's
committees. Barbara O. Schneeman is the delegate to the Codex
Committee on Nutrition and Food for Special Dietary Uses.
The effort to regulate dietary supplements has been under way for more
than a decade. In 1994, Congress adopted the Dietary Supplement Health
and Education Act, which kept supplements beyond the reach of the drug
police. In the past, Codex recommendations have been non-binding. Now,
however, the Codex Alimentarius Commission is teaming up with the
World Trade Organization to bring international enforcement to the
dietary-supplement battle.
Ironically, it was primarily the U.S. that brought the WTO into
existence in 1994, as the successor to GATT, the General Agreement on
Tarriffs and Trade. The WTO agreement specifically requires that the
member nations – including the U.S. – conform its laws to meet the
requirements of WTO decisions. Failure to conform results in stiff
financial penalties. The Codex Commission and the European Union want
the WTO to enforce Codex standards, which fly directly in the face of
the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act.
Pascal Lamy of France was just selected as director general of the
WTO. Lamy served as a member of the French Socialist Party's steering
committee and was chief of staff and representative of the European
Commission for President Jacques Delors. Since 1995, he has served as
a member of the Central Office of the Mouvement Européen (France) and
as a member of the European Commission, responsible for trade.
The Codex Commission will be meeting in Rome July 4-9 to adopt the
final rules on dietary supplement use. Dr. Carolyn Dean, president of
Friends of Freedom International, will attend this meeting and return
to the U.S. just in time to present her report to the Sixth Annual
Freedom 21 Conference in Reno, July 14-16.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission's reach is much broader than dietary
supplements. Its committees are also working on standards for
pesticide residue, labeling of all kinds of foods, food additives and
nutrients, veterinary medicine and drugs, as well as standards and
methods for analysis. The function of this organization is to
establish standards for all food worldwide and to enforce those
standards through the power of the World Trade Organization.
Few people know that there is such a thing as the Codex Alimentarius
Commission. It was created to promote food safety in international
trade. It is on the brink of becoming an Orwellian bureaucracy – far
worse than the worst fantasies of the one-world conspiracy theories.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission is neither fantasy nor theory; it is
real.
Henry Lamb is the executive vice president of the Environmental
Conservation Organization and chairman of Sovereignty International.
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| User: "Woodswun" |
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| Title: Re: The Government wasnt to take your supplements away |
11 Jun 2005 09:15:57 AM |
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wrote:
Your dietary supplements: Under attack again
June 11, 2005
The Codex Alimentarius Commission sounds like one of those shadowy,
sinister organizations conjured up by one-world-government nuts to
scare people.
Truth: It is!
The Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health
Organization created this commission in the early 1960s to set
standards for food safety and to "harmonize" the laws of member
nations. The commission was endorsed by U.N. Resolution 39/248, which
says:
While I think that any product intended for ingestion should be required
to follow standards, I don't think it's the government's business to
tell us what consumable products we can or cannot take. I'm opposed to
the government acting as the parent of adults.
Woods
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