Pharmacies take control - small co.s out

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IAHF Webmaster: Breaking News, Whats New, ANH Lawsuit, All Countries,

What to do

 

IAHF List: What follows are two press releases announcing the ANH

lawsuit to overturn the EU Food Supplement Directive. While we have

succeeded in generating sufficient donations to get the lawsuit

introduced, its going to take a sustained effort over the next two

years to generate additional donations necessary to sustain it and to

see it through to a successful completion.

 

We're by no means out of the woods yet! Please forward these press

releases widely, and encourage more people to make donations on a

regular basis to ANH via their secure server at http://www.alliance-

natural-health.org Especially tell American health food stores

they're being lied tby NNFA which is actively keeping them in the

dark on this issue, not explaining the global implications of the ANH

lawsuit. For more info see http://www.iahf.com/anh_lawsuit.html and

see info by the American flag at http://www.alliance-natural-

health.org The American dietary supplement industry is being

controlled from the top-down by pharma interests which are actively

steering the industry to the cliff via IADSA and Dennin who is about

as much " retired " from Pfizer as Cheney is from Halliburton.

 

 

The Institute of Science in Society

 

 

Science Society Sustainability http://www.i-sis.org.uk

 

General Enquiries sam Website/Mailing List press-

release ISIS Director m.w.ho

UNSUBSCRIPTION INSTRUCTIONS ARE AT THE FOOT OF THIS MESSAGE

 

First 300 key vitamins and minerals axed, now 5 000 supplements

banned by " insane " EU Directive. Sam Burcher reports on the right to

freedom for the £1.6 billion alternative health industry.

 

The Alliance of Natural Health (ANH) is set to legally challenge the

contentious EU Directive on Food Supplements (FSD). The FSD passed

into European law in July 2002 and effectively brings about a ban on

300 nutrients included in 5 000 health products, most of which are in

dietary supplements closest to food forms.

 

In July this year, the House of Commons Standing Committee for FSD

Regulations met and voted the Food Supplement Directive through into

English, Scottish and Welsh law. Dr Robert Verkerk, executive

director of London-based ANH hopes a successful challenge would

result in the FSD being overturned by all EU states.

 

The ANH represent the interests of a number of organisations

including the British Association of Complimentary Medicine and the

British Society for Allergy Environmental and Nutritional Medicine as

well as a number of independent manufactures, suppliers and

distributors of vitamins and minerals. Together they suggest the

existing Directive be replaced with a revised FSD that allows for

high quality, effective supplements across the whole of Europe. This

would effectively harmonise to good standards, not bad ones.

 

Three other Directives concerning Herbal Medicine, Novel Foods and EU

Medicines are under consideration, but have not yet been ratified

into UK law. The appropriation of traditional products is likely to

increase with food supplements, food substances and food/beverages

(health drinks and fruit juices) suppressed by EU Directives

repackaged as " Nutraceuticals " and sold by pharmaceutical companies.

(See box 1)

 

Two Labour MPs have voiced concerns about the way the Regulations

were voted through by the Standing Committee. Kate Hoey MP (Vauxhall)

revealed what happened: " I was a member of this committee until I

said, very honestly, that I would vote against the regulations. " She

was, together with five other MPs, " unceremoniously removed " from the

committee the night before the vote took place and replaced with MPs

who voted in favour of the FSD.

 

According to Kate Hoey, this gives a clear message that the

government cares more for the pharmaceutical industry that it does

about ordinary people. Her views are shared by Jeremy Corbyn MP

(Islington), he said: " The FSD is a product of ruthless lobbying

tactics by the pharmaceutical industry which is not keen on the

diversity of supply of vitamin supplements available in health food

shops. " He backs the ANH move to legally challenge the Directive.

 

Legal challenges are seldom made to the 40 000 EU Directives

implemented since the UK joined the Common Market in 1972, ostensibly

to share in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). But Conservative MP

Daniel Hannan complained to the Daily Telegraph last September 3,

that, " whenever you see an apparently insane Brussels Directive,

someone, somewhere stands to gain. " And in his view, the Directives

affecting natural remedies resulted because of lobbying by the large

pharmaceutical companies. (See box 2)

 

MEP, Nigel Farrage said that on one occasion, MEPs were required to

vote on Directives 450 times in one 80-minute session. He freely

admitted that it was a farce and he voted as he was told.

 

To simply question the validity of food supplementation is no longer

enough when it is generally acknowledged that modern food production

methods and deterioration of soil due to intensive farming are

affecting vitamins and mineral content in food. For example, levels

of the mineral selenium (Se) declined 50% between 1974-1991 and the

UK population selenium levels are lower than many other European

countries. Scientific studies show selenium is an essential nutrient

associated with the function of major metabolic pathways, and taken

up rapidly by the body when given as a dietary supplement. Also well

established is the fact that dietary selenium is important for a

healthy immune response, and the effects of its deficiency can

include decreased T-cell counts and impaired lymphocyte

proliferation. Fourteen forms of selenium, including the organic

forms, selenium yeast and selenomethionine are forbidden on `The

Positive List'

 

In fact vulnerable groups such as the elderly, pregnant and those

coping with chronic diseases such as arthritis can all benefit from

food supplements. But, in essence, the FSD is another blow to the

individual's freedom to choose how to look after their health, be it

in conjunction with a good diet, or simply as a preventative against

developing a chronic disease. Increasing visits to GPs to obtain the

correct supplements, as the Directive would have us do will not suit

the overburdened Health Service at all, but it might just serve the

big corporations.

Box 1

Some of the 300 vitamins and mineral excluded from the FSD positive

list

Substance

Benefit

Boron (All forms)

Required for absorption of calcium

Vitamin E (naturally occurring tocopherols and toctotrienols)

Antioxidants, which protect against damage by free radicals,

associated with cancer and other degenerative diseases.

Calcium (23 food forms)

For bones, teeth and cell function

Chromium (17 forms)

For balancing blood sugar levels, widely used by diabetics

Magnesium (30 forms)

Healthy bones and teeth

Potassium (21 forms)

Maintains blood pressure and heart beat rhythm

Silica (All forms)

Works in conjunction with boron, calcium, and other minerals to

support bones, arteries, connective tissue, hair, skin and nails

Selenium (14 forms)

Antioxidant, important for heart function. Contributes to healthy

immune response.

 

The dietary supplement Glucosamine, a combination of

minerals,vitamins and fatty acids bought by millions of arthritis

suffers to ease their painful symptoms has been banned as a food

supplement by the Medicines Agency in Denmark and Sweden. Instead it

is has been allowed on to the shelves as an over the counter medicine

produced by Recip Glucosine and Pharma Nord - two pharmaceutical

companies.

 

Box 2

The Food Supplements Directive covers two fundamental areas:

1. The types of vitamins and minerals that may be legally sold from

mid-2005.

2. The maximum doses at which they may be supplied from 2006.

 

The EU Commission has designated a list of permissible nutrients

called 'The Positive List.' Specialist vitamin manufactures have

expressed concern that their products containing organic ingredients,

excluded from the 'List', are being compromised by synthetic or

inorganic equivalents that are on the 'List.' All attempts to include

a number of organic vitamins and minerals have been refused. Not only

that, but to register their high quality products for sale could cost

up to £250,00 per nutrient plus evidence of their safety. All

nutrients must be paid for and registered by August 2005, putting

small, large and medium suppliers of food supplements under intense

pressure.

 

Maximum doses or Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for vitamins and

minerals will be negotiated over the next 18 months. Levels are to be

set by the EU Scientific Committee to Food (SCF), who are not

accountable to any government or parliament and have banned 300

nutrients so far (See box 1). Two commonly occurring vitamins, which

have a wealth of scientific study to support their validity, are

vitamin C and vitamin B6. The ANH fear RDA doses will be rendered so

low that consumers will have to buy much more of the product to

receive their current nutritional dose or that they might disappear

from the shelves altogether.

 

Sources:

 

Legal Bid Challenges EU Food Directive. Health Matters vol 5 No.6

July/August 2003.

Wright O. Johnston C. Bennett R. Clampdown on Alternative Medicines.

The Times. 20th September 2003.

Watts. M. Right to Buy Essential Supplements. The Argus. July 19th

2003

Brown KM. Pickard K. Nicol F. Beckett G.J. Duthie G.G. Arthur J.R.

Effects of organic and inorganic selenium supplementation on

selenoenzyme activity in blood lymphocytes, granulocytes, platelets

and erythrocytes. The Rowett Research Institute Clinical Science 98,

593-599. 2000

Burcher S. Hands off Vitamins and Herbs. Science in Society Issue 17.

p19-20 Winter 2003. © Institute of Science in Society

What's the Future? Linking Bioscience with Nature. © BioCare 2003

Food Supplements Directive 2003. Alliance for Natural Health

www.alliance-natural-health.org

 

 

This article can be found on the I-SIS website at http://www.i-

sis.org.uk/vitamins2.php

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General Enquiries sam - Website/Mailing List press-

release - ISIS Director m.w.ho

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Press Release

 

ALLIANCE FOR NATURAL HEALTH MOUNTS LEGAL CHALLENGE

 

TO THE FOOD SUPPLEMENTS DIRECTIVE BAN

ON THE SALE AND MANUFACTURE OF VITAMINS AND MINERALS

 

 

WHO IS THE ALLIANCE FOR NATURAL HEALTH?

 

The ANH is a pan-European and International organisation of

supplement manufacturers, retailers, practitioners and consumers very

concerned about the negative effects of the European Food Supplements

Directive, which come into effect in this country on 1 August 2005.

 

WHAT WILL BE THE EFFECT OF THE DIRECTIVE?

 

The Directive will ban about 300 of the 420 or so forms of vitamins

and minerals present in around 5000 products on the UK market, many

of which are sold in high street health food stores. The ban will

have a similar effect on products in such countries as Sweden, the

Netherlands and Ireland which have advanced markets for food

supplements.

 

WHY WILL THE BAN HAVE CATASTROPHIC EFFECTS ON THE FOOD SUPPLEMENTS

INDUSTRY?

 

There is a growing deterioration in the UK diet bought about by the

economic pressure of big business and the advertising of fast food.

The decreasing nutritional quality of the average diet along with the

increasing exposure to toxins make the role of nutrition, including

use of supplements, of paramount importance in healthcare in order to

address the growing incidence of degenerative diseases like heart

disease, cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis to mention but a few. The

ban will have the effect of making it much more difficult for anyone

concerned about their health and diet to supplement it with a range

of products which have been consumed and sold for years without any

health risk.

 

The second impact of the ban is that many small companies who

research into, produce and market these safe and effective food

supplements will be unable to sell them without investing huge sums

of money in proving their safety – despite the fact that we have been

consuming many of the food-forms of nutrients to be banned in many

cases for hundreds of years with no known health risk.

 

THE ANH CHALLENGE

 

The ANH has begun the legal process for a declaration that the

Directive is invalid under European law. Aided by lawyers from Brick

Court Chambers and The Simkins Partnership in London, the ANH has set

out to prove that this potentially catastrophic ban is not only

unnecessary, but unlawful.

 

Dr Rob Verkerk PhD, Executive Director of the ANH says:

" This is a groundbreaking challenge to another intrusive and unwanted

EU Directive ban which we aim to demonstrate has been passed

unlawfully from the EU into UK law. We believe that it will rob the

consumer of the right to buy important nutritional supplements to

improve their diet and health and that of their children, as well as

putting hundreds of small businesses and the livelihoods of thousands

at risk. There is absolutely no justification for this ban and we aim

to get it removed. "

 

SMALL BUSINESSES SUFFER MOST FROM THE DIRECTIVE

 

Mike Ash, Managing Director of Nutri-Link Limited, a West Country

based manufacturer and supplier of supplements to practitioners and

health stores, is a co-claimant with the ANH. He represents many of

the small businesses, which will be hit by the ban, and says:

 

" The Directive bans many of our most popular products and forces us

and many other manufacturers needlessly to reformulate other key

products. The cost to us to reformulate tried and tested products to

comply with the directive is enormous. To develop a single product

can take months of careful assessment and analysis. If we have to

spend our time until August 2005 reformulating existing products to

comply with the directive we cannot develop new products. In many

instance, reformulation will not be possible at all as the most

important ingredients of the product will be banned by the directive.

The ban is a catastrophe for our business and customers. "

 

WHAT WILL BE BANNED BY THE DIRECTIVE?

 

Among the 300 ingredients to be banned by the Directive will be

natural forms of Vitamin E, found in food wheatgerm and organic bound

minerals like selenocysteine, found in brazil nuts. In addition the

directive aims to ban nearly all important trace elements used in

supplements, including boron and vanadium.

 

Demand for products nutrients sourced from natural ingredients is

increasing rapidly among consumers simply because such products work

very effectively. An increasing number of scientific reports are

supporting their use in place of older-style synthetic nutrients that

have been the mainstay of the supplement industry for several decades.

 

Synthetic vitamins and inorganic minerals, typical ingredients in

multivitamin and mineral products found in supermarkets and

pharmacies will not be affected by the ban.

 

In summary, advanced natural and well absorbed vitamin and mineral

nutrients will be banned and what will be allowed will be the old-

fashioned, synthetic versions, which tend to be much less effective.

 

The Foods Supplements Directive ban on advanced nutrients thus

destroys innovation and deprives consumers of the best food

supplements now available.

Contacts:

 

Robert Verkerk BSc, MSc, DIC, PhD

Executive Director

Tel. (general): 01252 371 275

Tel. (direct): 0771 484 7225

e-mail:robv

 

David Hinde LLb Solicitor

Legal Director

Tel. (direct):0207738 1640

Mobile:07958 548 186

E-mail:davidh

 

Refer to website www.alliance-natural-health.orgfor further details.

International Advocates for Health Freedom

POB 10632 Blacksburg VA 24062 USA

http://www.iahf.com; http://iadsa-exposed.tripod.com

800-333-2553 N.America

540-961-0476 World