Snopes Declares Codex An Urban Legend

[Guest guest]

It is good to have the real low down on this- and to see how we need

to educate people that this is NOT A HOAX at all- and not be be taken

in by hopefully these well meaning people that did not have the full

story...

Best Wishes,

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

SNOPES DECLARES CODEX AN " URBAN LEGEND "

" IAHF.COM " <jham

 

 

 

SNOPES DECLARES CODEX AN " URBAN LEGEND " --- IAHF SHREDS SNOPES

SPIN- CHALLENGES BARBARA MIKKELSON OF SNOPES TO RADIO DEBATE

 

IAHF Webmaster: Breaking News, Whats New, What to Do, Codex, EU FSD,

All Countries

 

IAHF List: See my detailed response below to Barbara Mikkelson of

SNOPES (erstwhile debunkers of Urban Legends, aka Internet Hoaxes.

Lynn Miller called this to my attention and I have responded in

detail, below. I emailed Mikkelson challenging her to a radio debate

on this issue and demanding she remove her inane pro FDA drivel from

the Snopes website since Codex is most definitely NOT a " hoax. " If

Snopes annoys you as they did me, kindly send them an email via the

form on their website to give Mikkelson a piece of your mind.....

 

Good Morning John,

 

I have posted one of your most recent letters on one of my

websites that I am a member of, and this is the link that one of the

ladies posted. What are your thoughts on this John? I need to post

them back to the thread I started. Thank you John:) Lynn Miller

 

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/vitamins.asp

 

See comments below in [square brackets]. Barbara Mikkelson of Snopes

was way too quick on the trigger. Ironically, while terming Codex an

" urban legend " , Mikkelson is perpetuating FDA's own spin against my

message.

 

In addition to reading my detailed response (below) she should call

me to get her facts straight because she is in way over her head when

it comes to assessing this complex issue. I emailed her directly via

a form on Snopes website asking for her email address and urging her

to call me. I challenged her to a radio debate on this issue which

she knows nothing about.

 

There WERE some inaccuracies in what Wallace Heath said in his widely

circulated alert. Its too bad he didn't run that past me for

editorial input before he sent it out, but his CONCERNS weren't

unjustified, he just didn't have a solid enough understanding of the

issue to be able to distribute an unassailable alert. Mikkelson, on

the other hand, is clearly an apologist for the Pharma Cartel- she is

openly calling for the Repealment of the Dietary Supplement Health &

Education Act & her whole orientation is to obfuscate this all too

VALID issue: (IAHF response to Snopes comments below [square brackets]

 

Snopes website said:

 

Vitamin See

 

Claim: American consumers risk losing their right to purchase and

use vitamins, minerals, and dietary supplements.

 

IAHF Comment: [This is true. The SNOPES analysis below is grossly

simplistic. To assert that Codex is a " non issue " just because S.722

and HR 3377 have not yet been reintroduced in the new congress is

patently absurd, especially given that quick phonecalls to both

Durbin's and Davis's offices indicates that they fully intend to

reintroduce both bills, with slight changes, under new bill numbers,

sometime in this new congress. We go through this EVERY Congress, and

the REST of Mikkelson's simplistic analysis totally falls apart

especially because she merely echoes the FDA's spin. (complete

details below) Anyone can believe FDA(and Snopes) spin on this issue

if they want to- but they'd be totally ignoring a slew of

unassailable FACTS presented below.]

 

[i am not the originator of Wallace Heath's information, either. He

never ran his alert past me for editorial input before he circulated

it. I never even KNEW the guy til after he circulated it. He lives in

Bellingham, Washington (one hour south of me) and his was an honest

attempt to try to fight back, but he wasn't up to speed on the issue

before he circulated his alert and he unwittingly played right into

the spin doctor's hands.]

 

[He is a lot more up to speed now because he drove to my house and

has met with me twice since he ciruclated his alert. We live in the

same county. Wally Heath is a retired professor from Western

Washington University, and he's a really good man who is using dietary

supplements to treat BPH- Benign Prostate Hypertrophy.]

 

[His concerns on this issue were motivated by a very REAL threat

which he lacked thorough understanding of before he sounded his

heavily circulated alarm. While some of his specifics were inaccurate

and misleading, the basic THREAT he was trying to alert people to is

all too REAL, and Snopes has just done us all a serious disservice

with their misinformation, because it has created even MORE

confusion. See below.... this whole thing is a classic example of the

trouble I have when well intentioned, but not thoroughly informed

people circulate alerts thatthey haven't run past me first for

editorial input and scrutiny: See my responses to Snopes spin in

[square brackets] below....]

 

Snopes said:

 

Status: Multiple ­ see below:

 

In June 2005 the USA will be forced to accept Codex regulation of

vitamins, minerals, and dietary supplements: False.

 

 

IAHF: [This IS false, but I never said vitamins would be banned in

the USA in June of 2005, Wallace Heath said that due to not having

all his facts straight, What I have been telling people is that

between July 4th and 9th 1995 the 28th General Session of the UN's

Codex Alimentarius Commission will be held in Rome, Italy and a

highly draconian global trade standard for vitamins and minerals will

be ratified at that time unless a last ditch global campaign to stop

this criminal agenda succeeds.]

 

[unless we succeed in stopping this, the USA would be set up to lose

in a future WTO trade dispute as a result of which Congress would be

forced via the threat of cross sector sanctioning to harmonize our

supplement laws to the Codex standard or huge sanctions could be

levied against broad sectors of our economy. At the same time this is

happening, huge domestic attacks are occurring against the Dietary

Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, with the Institute of

Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences being joined by the

National Center for Complementary and Alternative MEdicine in calling

for the Repealment of DSHEA.]

 

[This attack is not happening in a vaccuum, its part of a broader

global pattern of pharma attack against the natural supplements

industry which I've been documenting since I created IAHF in '96 to

catalyse awareness of this complex issue.]

 

[An example of the WTO forcing our Congress to change a law happened

just prior to the recent US Presidential election when the WTO ruled

that US Tariffs protecting our steel industry were illegal under

international law. We lost in a trade dispute over this, and the WTO's

Dispute Settlement Body told Bush that unless Congress scrapped the

tariff that they'd begin imposing trade sanctions beginning with

Florida Citrus Growers...... (Gee- guess where Bush needed

votes?)http://americaneconomicalert.org/view_art.asp?Prod_ID=925

http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wto/800.html We're up against

a mechanized system of international coersion. If we can't protect an

industry as important as our STEEL INDUSTRY what makes people think we

can protect ANY of our industries including our dietary supplement

industry?]

 

[The fact is, WE CAN'T protect our supplement laws in the USA unless

we can kill ratification of the global trade standard for vitamins

and minerals which stands to be ratified at the Codex meeting in Rome

between July 4-9th 2005 or else get this country out of the WTO.

(Last time anyone tried that was Ron Paul in 2000 via House Joint

Resolution 90 (see legislative history here

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?

& db_id=cp106 & r_n=hr672.106 & sel=TOC_7355 &

 

HJRes 90 was slammed.)]

 

[The fact is that Pharma interests controlling the vitamin trade

associations have been effectively pulling the wool over their members

eyes on this issue since 1996 when they first began echoing the FDA's

spin against IAHF's message, but none of them can explain away

anything I'm saying, especially not this statement made by former

acting FDA Commissioner Friedman who very CLEARLY stated what FDA's

intentions were regarding Codex back in 1997 and his speech before

the Senate Labor Committee is right on the FDA's own web site:

 

On March 17, 1997 acting FDA Commissioner Michael A. Friedman stated

the following in a speech before the Senate Labor Committee " FDA

plans to amend its regulations and procedures for consideration of

standards adopted by Codex. This action is being taken to provide for

the systematic review of Codex standards in order to enhance consumer

protection, promote international harmonization, and fulfill the

United States obligations under international agreements. " FDA/CFSAN

Federal Register 62 FR 36243 July 7, 1997

http://www.fda.gov/ola/1997/319.html ]

 

[A draconian Codex vitamin standard was finalized last November, 2004

at the meeting of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for

Special Dietary Uses in Bonn, Germany- see this article by Scott

Tips, JD, Legal Director of the National Health Federation

http://ahha.org/codextips2004.htm and see this link to the website of

the Codex Alimentarius Commission which shows their schedule

http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/current.jsp?lang=en The FDA is

setting the USA up for harmonization to a grossly restrictive

international standard. Snopes analysis is grossly simplistic. Too

bad]

 

Snopes:

 

Bills proposing the regulation of dietary supplements are currently

before Congress: Not any more. (Says Snopes)- but look at this:

 

[s.722 and HR 3377 have not yet been reintroduced, but they will be.

I know this from communications with Senator Durbin's office (sponsor

last congress of S.722) and Congresswoman Susan Davis' office (HR

3377). Talk with Patricia Zabala in Davis' office. They are in a

process now of rewriting these bills, but they'll be back, and we

must remain vigilant regarding them. If you'd like to verify what I'm

saying, contact Durbin's and Davis's offices via 202-225-3121

(Congressional Switchboard to reach any congressional office) and

talk with April Fulton in Durbin's office, and Patricia Zabala in

Davis' office. In any case, anyone who understands the Codex issue

realizes that the larger threat has always come from offshore via our

membership in the WTO and the process of globalization which no one

can deny is real. More on this below....]

 

Snopes says:

 

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2005]

 

Your right to choose your vitamin, mineral and other supplements may

end in June of this year (2005). After that U.S. supplements will be

defined and controlled by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the

World Health Organization (WHO).

 

The CODEX ALIMENTARIUS (Food Code) is setting the supplement

standards for all countries in the WTO. They will be enforced by the

WTO and will over ride U.S. laws. The U.S. President and Congress

agreed to this take-over when the WTO Treaty was signed. Violations

are punished by WTO trade sanctions.

 

CODEX drastically restricts vitamins, minerals, herbs and other

supplements. CODEX met secretly in November, 2004 and finalized " Step

8 (the final stage) " to begin implementation in June, 2005.

 

IAHF: [They did not " meet secretly " . That is a slight over

dramatization by Wallace Heath in his efforts to condense this issue

to just one page, but it is none the less true that there is a gross

lack of transparency in the Codex process. I know. I videotaped part

of the CCNFSDU meeting in Berlin Germany in '98 but was stopped by

the Chair of the meeting and was forced to turn my cam corder off.]

 

[if I had not, at the very least they would have confiscated my

videotape, and if I had gone beyond what I had already done to disrupt

the meeting, I would have found myself in a German jail cell on

trumped up charges. I digitized a portion of the videotape and it was

up on the web for a few years on a tripod site (a free hosting site)

but tripod later shut that site down. I still have the footage, but

its not in cyberspace at the current time. I was, however, thrown off

the US Delegation prior to the meeting in Berlin in 2000 by US Codex

Manager Dr.Ed Scarborough at the US Department of Agriculture who is

US Codex Manager at the US Codex Office- see details:

http://www.iahf.com/codex/20000603.html]

 

[i was thrown off the US Delegation just prior to the CCNFSDU meeting

in Berlin in 2000 due to efforts to be a whistleblower against Yetley-

 

US Delegate to the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods For Special

Dietary Uses. The German government has permanently banned my

participation in Codex meetings even though I am a licensed,

credentialled member of the press because of what happened after

the '98 meeting when I put my video footage on the web showing them

force me to shut my camcorder down. See my additional Comments to

Snopes in square brackets below: scroll down:

 

SNOPES SAID:(Providing Wallace Heath's Widely Forwarded Alert):

 

The CODE includes:

(1) No supplement can be sold for preventive or therapeutic use.

(2) Any potency higher than RDA (minimal strength) is a " drug "

requiring a prescription and must be produced by drug companies. Over

5000 safe items now in health stores will be banned, terminating

health stores as we now know them.

(3) CODEX regulations become binding internationally.

(4) New supplements are banned unless given very expensive CODEX

testing and approval.

 

CODEX now applies to Norway and Germany, among others, where zinc

tablets rose from $4 per bottle to $52. Echinacea (an ancient

immune-enhancement herb) rose from $14 to $153 (both examples are now

allowed by prescription only). They are now " drugs " . Vitamin C above

200 mg, niacin above 32 mg, vitamin B6 above 4 mg ­ all are banned

over-the-counter as drugs. No amino acids (arginine, lysine,

carnitine, etc. = essential amino acids!), essential fatty acids

(omegas 3, 6, 9, etc.), or other essential supplements such as DMEA,

DHEA, CoQ10, MSM, beta-carotene, etc. are allowed.

 

The CODEX rules are not based on real science. They are made by a few

people meeting in secret (see web sites below), not necessarily

scientists. In 1993 the FDA and drug corporations tried to put all

supplements under restriction and prescription. But over 4 million

Americans told Congress and the President to protect their freedom of

choice on health supplements. The DSHEA Law was passed in 1994, which

does so. But this will be over ruled by CODEX and the World Trade

Organization.

 

Virtually nothing about it has been in the media. What the drug

corporations have failed to do through Congress they have gotten by

sneak attack through CODEX with the help of a silent media. What can

be done at this late hour?

 

(1) Spread the word as much as possible. Inform yourselves fully at

http://www.ahha.org, www.iahf.com and www.alliance-natural-health.org.

(2) Oppose bills S. 722 and H.R. 3377. These support the CODEX

restrictions with U.S. laws, changing the DSHEA law.

(3) Support H.R. 1146 which would restore the sovereignty of the U.S.

Constitution over CODEX, etc.

(4) Express your wishes to the President, Senators and

Representatives

(They got us into this!) ASAP.

(5) Contact multi-level health marketing groups that can get their

members to inform the government.

(6) Send donations, however small, to the British Alliance for

Natural Health (see web site above). It has succeeded in challenging

the CODEX directives in World Court later this month or next. They

need help financially, having carried the fight effectively for

everyone. CODEX and the FDA wish to protect us by controlling

supplements in the same way they do prescription drugs.

 

A study of the latter by three medical scientists was reported in the

Journal of the American Medical Association, April 15, 1998 ­ Vol.

279, No. 15, p. 1200 " Incidence of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR's) was

found to be extremely high. " Covering 30 years (1966 to 1996) it was

found that in the U.S. an average of 106,000 hospitalized patients

per year (290 per day) die from ADR's and 2,200,000 need more

hospitalization for recovery.

 

These were FDA approved drugs, properly administered by competent

professionals in hospitals ­ none were considered malpractice. This is

the number four cause of death in the U.S. When combined, these

account for 7% of all hospitalized patients. This is equivalent to a

9-11 attack every ten days.

 

There are very few fatalities from supplements or the news would be

on every front page. There is no need for more FDA control of

supplements than is already in place, which is substantial. Instead

of drastically restricting supplements, why doesn't the FDA better

control and restrict the extremely dangerous pharmaceutical drugs

which are now killing us at the rate of a major airline crash per

day?

 

Wallace G. Heath, Ph.D.

1145 Marine Drive Bellingham, WA 98225

www.pulseplus@...

 

SNOPES GOES ON TO COMMENT:

 

Origins: This e-mailed alert began circulating on the Internet in

January 2005. Although the call to arms is worded in such a way as to

convince those who receive that their right to purchase vitamins,

minerals, and dietary supplements in the U.S. is about to be lost to

them unless they act decisively in defense of it, it is outdated and

the facts of what is being considered by American lawmakers and why

are radically dissimilar from the red cape being waved.

 

IAHF RESPONSE:

 

[Not true. The first Codex alert ever circulated was my article in

Life Extension Magazine in 1996. I was first educated on the issue by

an American named Ron Birckhead who had moved to Norway where he was

running a vitamin distribution company. His business was great til

Norway began harmonizing their laws to a mindlessly restrictive World

Health Organization guideline that is being paralleled today by what

is coming out of Codex. Norway was a New World Order test country to

see how they could foist these regulations off on people, and what

they've learned there they're now attempting to implement globally

via Codex and the WTO. In '96 I was an observer on the US Delegation

to the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary

Uses, and again in '98 where I observed Dr.Beth Yetley of the US FDA

violate US law in a naked effort to set us up for harmonization to an

international Codex standard.]

 

SNOPES SAYS:

 

First of all, this is another case of an issue that is now largely

moot due to outdated information. Back in 2003, two versions of a

bill that proposed the regulation of dietary supplements (S. 722,

the " Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2003, " and H.R. 3377,

the " Dietary Supplement Access and Awareness Act " ) were introduced to

Congress. Neither of these bills was ever voted upon, much less

passed. They both expired with the end of the 108th Congress in 2004

and have not been reintroduced to the currently sitting 109th

Congress.

 

IAHF RESPONSE:

 

[barbara Mikkelson of Snopes never bothered to communicate with

either Durbin or Davis offices (sponsors of S.722, and HR 3377)

before making this mindless statement. She appears to be ignorant of

the fact that whenever a new congress begins, it takes a while for

old legislation to be reintroduced, often under new bill numbers.]

 

[if she had taken the trouble (as I have) to call Durbin and Davis's

offices, she'd have learned that both members of Congress are

currently re-writing these bills with the FULL INTENTION of

reintroducing them under new numbers. When they ARE reintroduced, we

will not be able to take either one lightly. Both dovetail with a

recent 300 page report issued by the Institute of Medicine at the

National Academy of Sciences which is openly calling for the

REPEALMENT of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of

1994. The American Herbal Products Assn has issued a recent press

release about the IOM report calling it inaccurate- and you can see

what they have to say about it here:

http://www.npicenter.com/anm/templates/newsATemp.aspx?

articleid=11446 & zoneid=2

 

]

 

[Not only is the National Academy of Sciences calling for the

repealment of DSHEA, but their call for repealment is being ECHOED by

the Director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative

Medicine (NCCAM). As a former member of the ad hoc advisory board

that created the Office of Alternative Medicine from which NCCAM was

spawned, it frustrates me greatly the way pharma was able to get

control of the entity which I helped create and to turn it against

us, but that is what has happened, and its due to that that former

Congressman Berkley Bedell (who was one of the prime movers behind

creation of the Office of Alternative Medicine at NIH was forced to

form his own private foundation, The National Foundation For

Alternative Medicine http://www.nfam.org/ See additional responses

to Snopes inane drivel below in blue, followingtheir bad

information....]

 

SNOPES SAYS:

 

Moreover, neither of these items of potential legislation was forced

on the U.S. by an outside regulatory body, nor did they say anything

about restricting the American public's access to vitamins and

minerals. Their sole target was dietary supplements, a class of

products that has been unregulated since 1994, when Congress passed

legislation that exempted them from federal regulation. Claims that

your right to take vitamins and minerals is about to be impaired or

that you will require doctors' prescriptions to obtain such products

should be regarded as attempts at rabble-rousing, deliberate moves to

spur you into action against one thing by convincing you that

something very different and far closer to your heart is at stake.

 

Vitamins and minerals are not under the gun. Dietary supplements are.

And no outside regulatory body is behind this move: the proposed

legislation is the work of American lawmakers looking to safeguard the

public from the unscrupulous and the hazardous. If you take nothing

else from this article, take the preceding three sentences.

 

IAHF: [Where should I BEGIN with these two outrageous statements?

First of all, it is NOT TRUE that dietary supplements

are " unregulated " . Barbara Mikkelson of Snopes has clearly bought the

PARTY LINE of people who seek to REPEAL the Dietary supplement Health

and Education Act of 1994. As a professional lobbyist, I have been

defending consumer access to dietary supplements since 1989, but my

encyclopedic knowledge of the legislative history as pertains to the

Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act goes back to the early 1900s- and I can

cite chapter and verse when it comes to the regulation of dietary

supplements not only in America, but globally since I'm now an

International Lobbyist.]

 

[in 1976 the Proxmire Vitamin Act was passed in the face of a

mindless FDA rulemaking effort which threatened to curtail consumer

access to high potency vitamins, but the FDA attacked us again in

1989 when they got the Nutrition Labelling and Education Act fast

tracked through the House of Representatives. It was on its way to

the Senate like a guided missile aimed straight for the heart of the

supplement industry when many of us jumped in with both feet and we

were able to curb some of its worst excesses, but they were STILL in

position to SEVERELY IMPEDE consumer access to dietary supplements

which forced us to scramble and to pass the Dietary Supplement Health

and Education Act of 1994 to protect our access.]

 

[Far from tying the FDA's hands, DSHEA actually gave the FDA many

enforcement powers over dietary supplements that they did not

previously have. For example, DSHEA gave the FDA the right to

generate new Good Manufacturing Practice regulations to govern the

manufacturing of dietary supplements, and FDA will be coming out with

those new regulations within the coming year. FDA will no doubt

violate the law with the new GMP regs they're about to come out with,

and that will force small vitamin companies especially to file

lawsuits against them, but anyone saying that dietary supplements are

presently " unregulated " in this country is not telling you the truth

because the fact is they are OVER REGULATED.]

 

[Despite their presence on store shelves, not all dietary supplements

are safe for consumers to use, let alone are beneficial to their

health. Products can be 100% natural yet deliver a deadly payload, as

have some in the past. Lacking regulation of such ingestibles, there

is no protection afforded consumers, and authoritative-looking labels

are no guarantee that what is being vended in those bottles they

envelope is not harmful. Under current law, dangerous supplements get

onto the market and stay there, with serious physical harm resulting

among those who use them, as was the case with ephedra, which caused

strokes, heart attacks, and upwards of 150 deaths before the Food and

Drug Administration was finally able to get it out of the stores.]

 

[These statements are outrageous and aren't backed up by any solid

evidence. See this accurate assessment of the supposed " risks " posed

by ingestion of dietary supplements graphically compared in a table

with the risk of ingesting prescription drugs, the risk of dying from

a bee sting, the risk of being hit by lightening, the risk of dying

from ingestion of food in common form, etc

http://www.laleva.cc/supplements/medical_injury_law.pdf In the early

90s the FDA went on a witch hunt against the safe amino acid

l-tryptophan.]

 

[A contaminated batch manufactured by Showa Denko in Japan contained

a contaminant which the Centers for Disease Control later identified

as " Peake E " , but FDA ignored the fact that this contaminant had been

identified and rather than just ban l-tryptophan coming from Showa

Denko til the company rectified the problem that had caused the

contaminated batch, the FDA banned ALL l-tryptophan while seeking to

try to DEMONIZE the entire supplement industry thru the slick use of

spin against this totally safe substance which is contained in

bananas and milk.]

 

[The real reason FDA attacked l-tryptophan was that at that time Eli

Lilly introduced Prozac to the market and FDA fraudulently approved

it even though its a very dangerous drug. Prozac acts on the reuptake

mechanism for serotonin in unpredictable ways, causing some people to

commit suicide, others to commit homicide, and it is nowhere NEAR as

safe to use as l-tryptophan is (which is a NATURAL serotonin

precursor.)]

 

[A person using l-tryptophan will only manufacture as much serotonin

as their body needs and can handle, but Prozac is different- its much

less safe, yet FDA demonized it and got it banned, while protecting

the business interests of Eli Lilly by blocking this natural,

unpatentable substance from interfering with the sale of Prozac, a

patented prescription drug.]

 

[The FDA attack on Ephedra was similarly motivated. See this review

of ephedra by the American Botanical Council

http://www.supplementquality.com/news/ABC_ephedra_monograph.html

Ephedra is a safe substance, certainly far safer than Ephedrine is

which is found in a slew of OTC cold preparations. Any honest

examination of data gathered by the National Association of Poison

Control Centers will indicate that there is a very SERIOUS problem

with deaths caused by Ephedrine, but there have been very FEW

problems caused by Ephedra. The attack on Ephedra was nothing more

than the latest witch hunt against the supplement industry.]

 

[The FDA has a limited budget, and they are squandering precious

resources, committing a disproportionate amount of their budget to

attack largely SAFE dietary supplements while they FRAUDULENTLY

APPROVE a slew of toxic, ineffective pharmaceutical drugs such as

VIOXX and many others that have been in the news lately. FDA acts

like a trade association for the drug companies because there is a

revolving door between their employees and these drugs companies such

that a " good ol' boy network " is very much in place between them.

Additional response to Snopes inane drivel follows below....]

 

SNOPES SAID:

 

In 2004, according to the National Center for Complementary and

Alternative Medicine, almost one in five Americans (19%) reported

using a supplement, which means the pool of folks at risk is great.

Yet the incentives are there for the dietary supplement industry to

keep on doing what it has been doing: in 2002, it reported $18.7

billion in sales. With so much profit at stake, there is little

desire on the part of manufacturers to police themselves or their

products all that carefully.

 

IAHF: [This sort of spin is outrageous. This table shows the relative

risk of ingesting dietary supplements compared with using

prescription drugs, getting hit by lightening, and numerous other

objectively measured risks

uttp://www.laleva.cc/supplements/medical_injury_law.pdf

]

 

[As you can see from these statistics, the risk of injury from

consuming foods in common form is FAR greater than the risk of

consuming dietary supplements, but we don't see FDA engaging in a

witch hunt against foods in common form. (Gee, I WONDER why? ha ha)

So WHAT if supplement sales totalled $18.7 billion in sales in 2002?]

 

[Thats just a drop in the BUCKET compared with PHARMACEUTICAL SALES,

and statements like this are merely an indicator of how scared the

drug companies are as they see consumers fleeing from their midst in

droves as more and more people turn to using supplements as they take

charge of their own health and STAY CLEAR of hospitals and doctors

completely. The vast majority of supplement companies are very

responsible when it comes to following good manufacturing standards,

and the assertion that these products are putting large numbers of

people at risk is outrageous and unsubstantiated.]

 

[NCCAM has been hijacked by the pharma elements that control NIH such

that its original purpose as envisioned by Senator Tom Harkin and

Congressman Berkley Bedell has been subverted, which forced Bedell to

create his own private Foundation http://www.nfam.org to do the work

which the Office of Alternative Medicine (later NCCAM) was supposed

to do, but now ISN'T DOING. Additional response to Snopes inane

drivel follows below....]

 

SNOPES SAID:

 

It's not just about inherently dangerous substances being sold to the

unwary as the latest miracle answer for what ails them ­ even when

dietary supplements contain nothing obviously harmful, the current

lack of regulation results in improperly manufactured or contaminated

products reaching the public. Quality control is missing.

 

IAHF: [More disinformation. The fact is that the FDA has had the

power under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act since

1994 to draft new Good Manufacturing Practice Regulations for dietary

supplements but they have dragged their feet in doing so because they

like being able to make this sort of unfounded accusation, and if

they come out with new GMP regs, this finger could no longer be

pointed.]

 

[in any case, most manufacturers already DO follow very rigourous GMP

protocols and FDA does inspect manufacturing facilities on a regular

basis and they have the power RIGHT NOW to shut down any

manufacturing plant that is not doing what must be done to safeguard

consumers. I am a consultant to many dietary supplement companies

that have had FDA inspections of their manufacturing facilities since

passage of DSHEA in '94. Right on FDA's own website you will find

reports of successful FDA legal action against misbranded products

proving FDA's hands aren't tied as Durbin, Davis AND SNOPES would

have you believe. http://www.fda.gov Additional response to Snopes

inane drive follows below...]

 

SNOPES SAID:

 

Absent regulation, consumers have little reason to trust they are

getting the dosage they believe they are taking. ConsumerLab.com, an

independent laboratory that tests dietary supplements, found that

some name-brand products contain only small quantities of the active

ingredient on their label. " Some have none, some have 80 percent,

some have 20 percent, " Dr. Tod Cooperman, president of the lab, told

ABC News. Also, some contaminated supplements reach the market and

thus fall into the hands of unknowing consumers. In December 2004,

pesticide was found in ginseng being vended on the East Coast, and

heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic were discovered in herbal

supplements.

 

IAHF: [ConsumerLab would have you believe that they are doing their

own independent laboratory analysis, but they are not. They are

sending samples off to outside labs, many of which are caught in

conflicts of interest, such that their results are suspect- and their

whole way of doing things INSURES a gross lack of objectivity, here

is why:]

 

[Consumer Lab has highly unethical business practices: they won't

publish negative findings of companies that pay them to keep them

from publishing the lab results, only of companies that don't, so this

calls into question the objectivity of the labs that test products

Consumer Labs wants tested. Their credability would be a lot higher

if they published ALL lab results of ALL companies whose products

they test, transparently list which labs they use to do this testing

(since they don't reveal that at all, and that makes it impossible to

assess any possible conflicts of interest. Many testing labs have

strong pharma ties and FDA often farms work out to private labs which

know what side their bread is buttered on.)]

 

SNOPES SAID:

 

Two bills put before Congress in 2003 looked to regulate dietary

nostrums by imposing quality and safety standards on them, and giving

the FDA the ability to take them off the market before a great number

of folks have been harmed by them. In March 2003, Senator Richard

Durbin introduced bill S. 722, the " Dietary Supplement Safety Act of

2003 " in the U.S. Senate.

 

The purpose of this legislation was to " protect consumers from

dangerous dietary supplements such as ephedra and other stimulants by

requiring manufacturers to submit proof that their product is safe

prior to bringing it to market. " The bill would require manufacturers

of the most dangerous types of dietary supplements (stimulants) to

submit proof of their products' safety prior to bringing them to

market.

 

The bill also expands the FDA's authority to require from any dietary

supplement maker proof of its product's safety if that agency has

received information suggesting the product is causing death or other

serious adverse health effects. It would also require manufacturers

to report serious adverse health events (e.g.; heart attack, seizure,

stroke, death), to the FDA no later than 15 calendar days after they

learn of them. The bill also looks to close a loophole in current law

that, according to Senator Durbin, " has been exploited by many

dietary supplement manufacturers, allowing anabolic steroids to be

sold widely as dietary supplements " by clarifying that anabolic

steroids are not dietary supplements and are subject to regulation

that restricts their availability under the Controlled Substances

Act.

 

IAHF:

 

[This is the spin Durbin has used to try to push S.722, and the

reason he got nowhere with his efforts to push the bill in the last

congress are that there is no NEED for this legislation and it flies

totally in the face of the will of the people and the will of

congress as expressed via passage of DSHEA in 1994 which it seeks to

repeal. There are no dangerous dietary supplements, only dangerous

pharmaceutical drugs.Durbin is a Senator from Illinois where AMA

Headquarters is.]

 

[He is doing the bidding of the AMA and the major drug companies

which want S.722 to be passed in order to be able to put the burden

of proof on supplement manufacturers to proove the efficacy of

unpatentable products where there is no incentive for manufacturers

to spend the sums of money which drug manufacturers have to spend to

get their toxic substances through FDA's approval process. The drug

companies don't like the competition provided by supplements so

they're pushing for a level playing field that is not warranted on a

basis of safety as they claim.]

 

SNOPES SAID:

 

In October 2003, Representatives Susan Davis (D-CA), Henry Waxman

(D-CA) and John Dingell (DMI) introduced bill H.R. 3377, the " Dietary

Supplement Access and Awareness Act " in the U.S. House of

Representatives. This legislation would increase the FDA's authority

over dietary supplements, enabling that agency to monitor the health

risks of dietary supplements and take appropriate action if problems

develop. The proposed law was not intended to have any impact on the

regulation of vitamins and minerals, which are specifically excluded

from the bill. In addition, for dietary supplements that contain

herbs, amino acids, and other botanicals, the bill will ensure that

FDA has basic information about who makes them and the products'

ingredients. It would also require dietary supplement manufacturers

to provide FDA with information about all adverse events, so that the

agency could spot warning signs and investigate if necessary. It

further allows the FDA to prohibit sales to minors of supplements

that may cause significant harm to children. Finally, it allows the

FDA to demand safety information from a manufacturer if the FDA

has evidence that a particular supplement may pose serious risks.

 

IAHF:

 

[More spin. S.722 and HR 3377 constitute an effort to bury supplement

manufacturers in totally superfluous and unecessary red tape. Dietary

Supplements aren't injuring and killing people, pharmaceutical drugs

are and in very large numbers. These bills are being pushed by pharma

which doesn't want people being healthy because it interferes with

their " business with disease " . FDA has all the power they need right

now to regulate dietary supplements. The people of America spoke

in '94 when we passed DSHEA in the direct face of an FDA rulemaking

effort that would have crushed consumer access to supplements, and

now pharma is trying to once again subvert the will of the people and

the will of Congress. They're coming at us domestically, and via

maneuvering offshore at CODEX. Currently, the Codex threat is far

greater than any domestic threat, especially since S.722 and HR 3377

have yet to be reintroduced. When they are reintroduced, they still

won't move for the same reasons they didn't move in the last

congress. Codex still remains the far greater threat. See ADDITIONAL

RESPONSES to Snopes Inane Drive Below:]

 

SNOPES:

 

Getting back to the e-mail's claim that a foreign regulatory body is

behind all this, we address the claim that: Your right to choose your

vitamin, mineral and other supplements may end in June of this year

(2005). After that U.S. supplements will be defined and controlled by

the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Health Organization

(WHO). The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1962 by two

United Nations organizations, the Food and Agriculture Organization

and the World Health Organization.

 

It is the body of government representatives and non-governmental

organizations charged by the United Nations with establishing

international guidelines on food law. This commission is empowered to

set standards of operation for the health industry and is working to

control such things as the sale of dietary supplements for

preventative or therapeutic reasons and the potency of natural

remedies. It also seeks to convert definitions of many supplements to

drugs and to make its rules binding on every U.N. member nation.

 

However, what it seeks and what it can do are very different things.

It has no power to force its will on any nation. Codex standards are

voluntary, which means if the U.S. doesn't adopt them, they will not

govern the regulation of vitamins, minerals, or dietary supplements

in the USA.

 

IAHF:

 

[bull. The USA has agreed to enter into a constant process of

harmonization via membership in the WTO. We signed the SPS and TBT

Agreements which are subsections of GATT. Codex standards and

guidelines WERE VOLUNTARY up until the Uruguay Round of GATT which

created the WTO which has ENFORCEMENT POWER via a new international

court that doesn't follow our rules of evidence- the Dispute

Settlement Body. ]

 

[Every ruling this entity has made has gone against the environment,

against the public health, against human rights, against labor

rights, against every intangible that goes into the make up of any

democratic nations laws. This is why there was a huge demonstration

in Seattle in '99 and why there have been other huge demonstrations

against the WTO in other countries. The FTAA is an effort to create a

carbon copy of the EU dictatorship in our hemisphere to harmonize all

the laws between the Artic Circle and Tierra del Fuego (Argentina)

See http://www.citizen.org/trade/index.cfm see

http://www.stoptheftaa.com

see article Do Three Interlocking Events in November Signal the End

of Health Freedom?

http://www.thelawloft.com/Freedom/THREE_INTERLOCKING_EVENTS.mht See

Additional Response to Snopes Inane Drivel Below:]

 

SNOPES:

 

In November 2004, the Codex Alimentarius Committee on Nutrition and

Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) reached agreement on the

definitions and regulatory guidelines for the worldwide use of

vitamins and minerals in food supplements and will present

its " Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements " to the

Codex annual meeting in Rome in July 2005 for formal approval. Once

approved, countries are expected to consider these new guidelines in

developing or modifying their national food laws.

 

The Codex guidelines form a key reference point in case of

international trade disputes in the area of food supplements. That, in

a nutshell, is the extent of its teeth.

 

The e-mailed exhortation to rise up against Codex claims that

commission's guidelines regarding dietary supplements " will over ride

U.S. law. " That's just plain wrong.

 

United States law governs trade within the United States. Codex

standards come into play only when American manufacturers of dietary

supplements look to vend them on the international market, and even

then only when the other nations involved have incorporated Codex

guidelines into their food laws.

 

Claims that in various European countries vitamins are now selling

for a horrendous amount or are available only by prescription are

strawmen, because the U.S. (as does every other nation) makes its own

laws, and the new laws it is proposing in S. 722 and H.R. 3377

specifically and deliberately omit mention of vitamins or minerals,

both of which are already adequately regulated.

 

Barbara " vitaminimized " Mikkelson

 

IAHF Response:

 

[barbara Mikkelson is clueless. Numerous WTO rulings have gone

against US law, forcing Congress to change our law under threat of

cross sector trade sanctions against broad sectors of our economy.

See the example cited previously about what happened to our Steel

Tarrifs just before the last US Election. The US lost a trade

dispute.

 

The WTO's Dispute Settlement Body ruled that our Steel Tarrifs were

illegal. Just before the last election WTO told Bush they'd begin

imposing cross sector sanctions unless he got Congress to change our

law by removing the tarrif. They DID remove the tarrif, because no

nation can withstand this sort of economic coersion.

 

The WTO has put the mechanisms in place to override ANY national law

that interferes with multinational corporate profits, and THAT is why

Congressman Ron Paul tried to REMOVE us from the WTO in 2000 via

House Joint Resolution 90 (cited above). For similar reasons he's been

trying to remove us from the UN which the Codex Commission is part

of. HR 1146 The American Sovereignty Restoration Act would do that.

It will be reintroduced, but like efforts to remove us from the WTO

has little chance of going anywhere given our Congress of Whores.

 

It is due to these concerns that IAHF, ANH and allied health freedom

organizations world wide have been calling attention to the Codex

International Threat to Health Freedom, a very REAL threat which is

hardly a " hoax. " Read this article Do Three Interlocking Events in

November Signal the End of Health Freedom?

http://www.thelawloft.com/Freedom/THREE_INTERLOCKING_EVENTS.mht

 

Examine this information on the website of the American Holistic

Health Association's website http://ahha.org/codex.htm

 

Read this information on Gary Null's website:

http://www.garynull.com/Article.aspx?

article=Issues/Index.aspx & Head=Issues

 

 

Read this alert from the Alliance for Natural Health (UK) to the US

Supplement Industry: http://www.alliance-natural-

health.org/_docs/ANHwebsiteDoc_129.doc

 

Watch the DVD of the Emergency Health Freedom Meeting held at ACAM in

San Diego on November 18th, 2004 http://www.glycommunity.com/iahf

Grasp that this Emergency Meeting was emceed by Jonathan V. Wright,

MD a Harvard Graduate, and Director of the world famous Tahoma Clinic

near Seattle WA.

 

Wright is an icon in the health freedom movement. FDA did a Gestapo

like raid on his clinic in '92 which he survived, and in the process

became a cause celebre. He was on Larry King Live and helped catalyze

the movement to pass DSHEA which he realizes we are now attempting to

defend on the world stage in the face of Codex. He published an

article about the Codex threat last September.

 

He wouldn't be staking his reputation on his concern about this if it

were a " non issue. " Dr.Rob Verkerk, exec dir of the UK based Alliance

for Natural Health would not have flown to California from England to

speak at our meeting if it were a " non issue " , and I wouldn't have

gone to the trouble of organizing this meeting if it were a " non

issue. "

 

Aside from poorly informed pro pharma spin doctors such as Barbara

Mikkelson of Snopes who obviously didn't take the time to do a

thorough research job, people are being led to the cliff on this

issue by the pharma dominated vitamin trade associations including

IADSA- exposed here

http://www.iahf.com/iadsa/index.html , CRN and NNFA.

 

CRN's membership is riddled with pharma interests including Wyeth,

BASF, Bayer, Monsanto, Cargill and many others

http://www.crnusa.org/who_omc.html This is a gross conflict of

interest. NNFA members are being advised on Codex by NNFA's legal

counsel: Sidley, Austin, Brown and Wood LLP. This multinational law

firm has 1500 attorneys and offices on 3 continents- and they have a

slew of pharma clients- it is a gross conflict of interest that NNFA

has retained them:

http://www.sidley.com/practice/group.asp?groupid=25

 

WHAT CAN WE DO?:

 

What can be done to STOP the Codex threat? We outlined that in our

Emergency Health Freedom Mtg in San Diego at ACAM in November and you

can watch it here http://www.glycommunity.com/iahf A core group of

us are refining our battle plan and are reaching out to a rapidly

awakening industry which is reading articles such as this one of mine

http://www.lef.org/featured-articles/emergency_update_020705.htm and

they're getting behind our plan.

 

Consumers wanting to help can sign on to the IAHF email distribution

list at http://www.iahf.com and can help get copies of our DVD " Push

Back

from Codex Cliff " http://www.glycommunity.com/iahf out to health food

stores and vitamin companies. We need donations for ongoing public

speaking on this issue, and we hope to launch a lawsuit against the

FDA to get an injunction to block ratification of the Codex vitamin

standard, as well as donations for a global PR campaign against

ratification and against the WTO.

 

So much for the Codex vitamin issue being an " urban legend " . It is

not. We're up against a deliberately incremental agenda that has been

moving with intentional slowness so as to not arouse a public

backlash, but that sure doesn't make it any less real. Please forward

this massively.Urge everyone you know to sign on to the IAHF email

distribution list at http://www.iahf.com Please contribute to help me

get to Expo West in a month in California and to do additional public

speaking as the fuse burns closer to the bomb.

 

---

For Health Freedom,

John C. Hammell, President

International Advocates for Health Freedom

556 Boundary Bay Road

Point Roberts, WA 98281-8702 USA

http://www.iahf.com

jham

800-333-2553 N.America

360-945-0352 World

[Guest guest]

Lynn

 

I'm at a loss knowing where to start. The complexity, imminence and range

of the CODEX threat, combined with the deliberate lack of clarity and

refusal to properly and thoroughly inform the public that CODEX supporters

engage in, leave us all in the worst position. There " must " first be

clarity and full disclosure. It's absence is, by itself the most terrible

indictment of the CODEX agenda. There " must " be ample time for the public

to respond to this threat. Nearly everyone I encounter, even the most

nutritionally well-informed, haven't the faintest idea that this is going

on. This cannot be a coincidence, and reveals that the intention is to

bamboozle the public, and force CODEX on us all, as swiftly as possible.

The whole thing borders on the criminal, and I wonder if it helps us to be

armed with substantive information concerning the nature, efficacy and

safety of nutritional supplements vis-a-vis pharmaceuticals, if there is not

first a spirit of openness and full disclousure exhibited on all sides of

the issue?

 

I'm greatly saddened that this has reached this point. I remember speaking

to Dr.Rath, years ago, at a lecture series he gave in the Los Angeles area.

At that time, the problem seemed serious but not hopeless. Now it seems all

but unstoppable. Please keep me informed, and, beyond financial

contributions, if there's anything more I can do to help our cause.

 

JP

 

 

-

" califpacific " <califpacific

 

Thursday, February 17, 2005 8:02 PM

SNOPES DECLARES CODEX AN " URBAN

LEGEND "

 

 

 

 

 

Fri, 18 Feb 2005 01:54:11 +0100

 

" IAHF.COM " <jham

 

 

 

SNOPES DECLARES CODEX AN " URBAN LEGEND " --- IAHF SHREDS SNOPES

SPIN- CHALLENGES BARBARA MIKKELSON OF SNOPES TO RADIO DEBATE

 

 

 

 

IAHF Webmaster: Breaking News, Whats New, What to Do, Codex, EU FSD,

All Countries

 

IAHF List: See my detailed response below to Barbara Mikkelson of

SNOPES (erstwhile debunkers of Urban Legends, aka Internet Hoaxes. Lynn

Miller called this to my attention and I have responded in detail,

below. I

emailed Mikkelson challenging her to a radio debate on this issue and

demanding she remove her inane pro FDA drivel from the Snopes website

since Codex is most definitely NOT a " hoax. " If Snopes annoys you as they

did me, kindly send them an email via the form on their website to give

Mikkelson a piece of your mind.....

 

Good Morning John,

I have posted one of your most recent letters on one of my

websites that I am a member of, and this is the link that one of the

ladies

posted. What are your thoughts on this John? I need to post them back

to the thread I started. Thank you John:) Lynn Miller

 

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/vitamins.asp