Guest guest Posted January 8, 2005 Report Share Posted January 8, 2005 Dear Christine, Happy New Year to all ANH partners, members and supporters! Our thoughts are especially with those who are suffering as a result of the tsunami. I am writing primarily to provide you with an update on ANH activities. 2005 is set to become probably the most crucial year for health freedom the world has yet seen. There is everything to play for – and much to lose if we don't do everything we can to make the campaign successful. ANH case in the European Court of Justice set for 25 January – Court Register on ANH website We would like to remind you that our landmark Hearing in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg is now only 17 days away. As with our first phase hearing in the High Court in London, we are running a register from the homepage of our website (www.alliance- natural-health.org, see top green bar) for those wanting to attend the Hearing on 25 January in Luxembourg. This register will allow us to gauge the seating capacity to give those of you who wish to attend this key event the best chance of being able to get a seat on the day. The case is seminal to how food (dietary) supplements will be considered by regulators in Europe and a victory on the 25th will dramatically improve the prospects of effective nutrients remaining in the marketplace. It will also set a precedent that is likely to have considerable beneficial knock-on effects on other EU legislation affecting natural healthcare products. Those requiring more detail of the case can download the Written Observations for the ANH case in the ECJ at: http://www.alliance-natural- health.org/_docs/ANHwebsiteDoc_107.pdf Since other countries, even the USA, are contemplating new regulatory systems that are modelled closely on the system proposed by the EU, a successful challenge will also be of great benefit to consumers of innovative food (dietary) supplements outside Europe. We will be providing additional materials summarising the case in separate emails shortly. FAO/WHO nutrient risk assessment project ANH has also submitted a ground-breaking report to the FAO/WHO which has been tasked by Codex Alimentarius with responsibility for developing a nutrient-appropriate risk assessment system that will largely be responsible for setting `upper safe levels' of nutrients globally. Just as our legal challenge will primarily affect ingredients that can be used in supplements, this risk assessment project will ultimately affect what maximum dosages are allowable. Doses above the `safe' levels developed following the risk assessment will potentially, in most countries, only be allowable if products are registered as medicines, which would be, in most cases, prohibitively expensive. The ANH submission calls for a complete re-appraisal of the systems that have been under development for several years in the USA, through the Institute of Medicine, and in Europe by organizations such as the EU's Scientific Committee on Food (now absorbed into the newly formed European Safety Authority) and the UK's Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals. For background information on the importance of risk assessments and the ECJ court case worldwide, please download the paper I gave at the American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM) meeting in San Diego in November 2004 (http://www.alliance-natural- health.org/_docs/ANHwebsiteDoc_112.doc). To download the risk assessment submission itself, please go to the following link: http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/_docs/ANHwebsiteDoc_125.pdf. You will note that this report has now been endorsed by a wide range of top US and European doctors and scientists, including Drs Abram Hoffer, Jeff Bland, Jonathan Wright, Julian Whitaker, Steve Levine and Alan Gaby. These doctors fully appreciate the scale of the problem and the need to establish a new paradigm for nutrients in order to stop many of the most effective forms being re-classified as drugs. The FAO/WHO's Call for Experts closed today, and the FAO/WHO will now consider applicants (including several of the endorsees of the ANH report and myself) and it is expected that the risk assessment will be thrashed out at a 5-day workshop tentatively set for May 2005. Fluoride in drinking water Many of you are likely to be concerned about chemicals in drinking water. You are right to be. The WHO recently held a consultation about proposed drinking water guidelines. What really stood out to us was the level of fluoride that the WHO considered to be acceptable: 1.5 mg/l. This is more than twice the level known to cause dental fluorosis (discolouration, mottling and weakening of the teeth) in children. We submitted a report to the WHO, which has been widely acclaimed by anti-fluoride groups around the world. We show why a level of 1.5 mg fluoride / litre is not sustainable scientifically. You can download the report from the following link: http://www.alliance-natural- health.org/_docs/ANHwebsiteDoc_113.pdf. Media ANH has appointed the UK-based PR firm IKON Associates (www.ikonassociates.com) as of January 2005 to help promote the ANH campaign and defend this sector from negative media reports that are becoming increasingly common, which are seemingly intent on damaging consumer confidence in natural healthcare approaches. It is time for us to not only respond to these reports (see ANH rebuttals to the antioxidants and Vitamin E meta-analyses on the ANH Latest News items dated 1 October 2004 and 11 November 2004 respectively) but also to go to the media proactively. We must now demonstrate the huge and ever growing body of evidence that shows that natural healthcare can justifiably be used as the primary healthcare system for most people, and at lower cost than through reliance on contemporary drugs. That crucial freedom of choice must be guarded. Ridiculous Arbitrary Allowance: free online book until 15 January! Drs Steve Hickey (ANH Expert Committee) and Hilary Roberts, authors of the book Ascorbate: The Science of Vitamin C have just published a fascinating book called Ridiculous Dietary Allowance: An Open Challenge to the RDA for Vitamin C. It's essential reading for anyone with an interest in nutrition, and readers who have yet to heed the advice of the great Linus Pauling, will have great difficulty not doing so after reading the book. Download it free of charge up until 15 January 2005 by clicking on the following the link: http://www.lulu.com/content/92249. Thanks to Steve Hickey for making this available to ANH supporters. Finally, we'd like to thank you for all the support you've offered to-date. Since ANH is funded entirely by voluntary donations, we'd like to ask you to maintain your support. This is vital for the continuing operations of ANH especially now that we approach the ECJ Court Hearing where we are incurring very heavy legal costs and are needing to fund the PR campaign to offset negative media. Please donate whatever you are able, details can be found at the following link: http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/index.cfm? action=donate.default. Thank you. We greatly look forward to seeing some of you in Luxembourg on the 25th January. Our passion is to protect natural healthcare and traditional medicinal cultures so that they can be available for future generations. In health, Dr Robert Verkerk Executive Director Alliance for Natural Health Tel +44 1252 371275 info www.alliance-natural-health.org PS. Please forward this mailshot widely to your contact lists to help communicate these vital issues. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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