Update from Alliance for Natural Health

[Guest guest]

Here's some more data on the EU possible ban

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Lisa

 

- Alliance for Natural Health

lisadehaas

Thursday, December 09, 2004 5:36 PM

Update from Alliance for Natural Health

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Lisa,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ALLIANCE FOR NATURAL HEALTH

 

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9 December 2004

 

LANDMARK CASE IN EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE

CHALLENGING FOOD SUPPLEMENTS BAN SET FOR HEARING ON 25 JANUARY 2005

 

The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) and Nutri-Link Ltd announce that their case in the European Court of Justice seeking to overturn the Food Supplements Directive ban on many natural food-form vitamin and mineral supplements has now been listed for hearing on 25 January 2005.

The ANH is seeking to challenge the ban in the EU Food Supplements Directive (FSD) on many advanced, natural high potency food supplements.

From 1 August 2005, the FSD will only allow products containing nutrients which are included on a specific “positive list” to be sold in EU countries, despite the fact that many products containing off-list ingredients were previously being sold without any problems in a number of EU member states prior to the proposed ban.

 

For many years, countries such as the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden and Ireland have followed a flexible regime whereby food supplements have been regarded as “food” and can be put on the market provided they are safe and correctly labelled. It is left up to the consumer to choose which products are bought.

 

Without these products consumers will be deprived of access to the most effective supplements of their choice and practitioners will lose many of their most useful sources of key nutrients and many supplier companies will be driven out of business.

 

On this news, Dr Robert Verkerk, ANH Executive Director, commented:

“We are delighted that an early hearing date has now been set and are hopeful that the European Court in Luxembourg will invalidate the quite unnecessary ban on the wide range of perfectly safe natural, food-derived ingredients which comprise most of the advanced food supplements.”

David Hinde, Solicitor, ANH Legal Director, added:

“We are looking forward to the hearing in January 2005 for this landmark case which has far reaching implications for health as well as freedom of choice for consumers across the European Union.”

The Alliance for Natural Health and Nutri-link Ltd are being represented by barristers Paul Lasok QC, Michael Patchett-Joyce and Anneli Howard of Monckton Chambers and Jonathan Coad, Solicitor, at the Simkins Partnership.

 

Further announcements will be made in due course.

 

For details of the ECJ case (Case C-154/04 “Alliance for Natural Health and Others”) please go to ANH’s website at the following link:

www.alliance-natural-health.org/index.cfm?Action=archive & categoryID=7

 

ENDS

Enquiries:

 

David C. Hinde, Solicitor Legal DirectorTel: 020 7 738 1640 (direct Tel: 07958 548 186 (mobile)E-mail: davidh

 

Dr Robert Verkerk Executive Director Tel: 01252 371 275 (general enquiries) Tel: 0771 484 7225 (mobile) E-mail: robv

 

IKON Associates (PR for the Alliance for Natural Health)Adrian ShawTel: 01483 535102Mobile: 0797 9900733E-mail: adrian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To , please go to www.alliance-natural-health.org/index.cfm?action=unsub

[Guest guest]

Alliance for Natural Health

 

Sunday, January 16, 2005 6:53 PM

Update from Alliance for Natural Health

 

 

 

 

 

 

The USA is widely regarded as the research and development centre for

the natural products industry worldwide. Dietary supplement sales in

the US currently comprise around 8.5% the volume of pharmaceutical

sales in the US, in contrast with only around 1.5% of total

pharmaceutical sales in Europe.

 

The Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994 has

provided the environment to catapult the natural products industry in

the US to its present state. But DSHEA, which was only won after a

massive campaign targeting Congress, is now seriously under attack.

 

Two key reports from the Natural Acadamies of Science Institute of

Medicine (IOM) provide the writing on the wall.

 

One is the CAM report, released 12 January 2005, the other is the

proposed dietary supplement evaluation framework, released 1 April 2004.

http://www.iom.edu/report.asp?id=19578

 

See ANH news item for our take on the CAM report:

http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/index.cfm?action=news & ID=131

 

The proposed dietary supplement evaluation scheme switches the burden

of proof and puts it squarely on industry - as for pharmaceutical

products. The framework places considerable onus on industry to supply

data on safety which will be prohibitively expensive for all but the

largest manufacturers. It considers safety issues in isolation i.e.

there is no concomitant consideration of safety and beneficial

effects, the FDA arguing, like the European Commission, that this

comparison is valid only for drugs. The IOM framework, as per the EU

equivalent, comes into effect gradually, the `compliance period'

supposedly giving industry sufficient time to adjust - or expire?

 

These reports should be the ultimate wake up call for all Americans

and other citizens of the world who value their freedom to choose

natural products.

 

Perhaps it is now easier to see how global harmonisation works. The

IOM proposals are very similar in effect to the EU Directives which

provide such a major threat to the leading-edge of the natural health

sector in Europe. It is just that the EU Directives are further down

the track and the first of several directives, the Food Supplements

Directive, is set to ban some 75% of vitamin and mineral forms as of 1

August 2005 - unless the ANH legal challenge in the European Court of

Justice (Luxembourg) succeeds on 25 January.

http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/index.cfm?action=news & ID=125

 

Please help us by donating now - how much is your health worth?

http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/index.cfm?action=donate.default

 

Thank you.

 

Alliance for Natural Health

info

www.alliance-natural-health.org

[Guest guest]

WOW!!!!

 

- Alliance for Natural Health

info

Tuesday, July 12, 2005 8:22 PM

Update from Alliance for Natural Health

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Lisa,

The European Courts of Justice today handed down its judgment and the ruling is far from doom and gloom! See ANH's preliminary interpretation below...

The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg today announced that it is upholding most aspects of the controversial EU Food Supplements Directive, after a landmark legal challenge by the Alliance for Natural Health.

The initial reaction amongst many commentators was that this was disappointing news, as it contradicted the EU Advocate General’s recommendation that the directive should be invalidated in its entirety and allowed a positive list system for nutrients.

But on closer analysis there is a silver lining to the judgment. There appear to be very significant and positive details within the verdict which vindicate the arguments presented to the Court by ANH and which may be beneficial to the millions who use vitamin and mineral supplements and key to everything that ANH has been campaigning for all along.

At the heart of the Food Supplements Directive (FSD) is the ‘positive list’ of vitamin and mineral ingredients allowed for use under the Directive. To get an ingredient onto the positive list, manufacturers have to go through an onerous process to prove that each natural ingredient is safe. With this process costing up to or even more than £250,000 per ingredient, and vitamin and mineral supplement manufacturers typically being small companies, that would effectively lead to an ingredient being excluded, even if it came from natural sources that had been part of the human diet for thousands of years.

With the ruling from the European Court, coupled with the Industry’s response in submitting large numbers of ‘simplified dossiers’, the wide-reaching bans that were anticipated on 1 August, will now not occur.

In summary, the preliminary analysis of the European Court’s judgment by ANH’s legal and scientific team indicates:

 

Bans of natural vitamins and minerals not on the positive list that are “normally found in or consumed as part of the diet” will now not occur.

There must be a greater degree of clarity on what information companies need to submit to admit an ingredient to the positive list.

Once an ingredient is submitted for consideration the positive list, it cannot be refused unless a full safety assessment, based on “the most reliable scientific data available and the most recent results of international research” proves the ingredient (or dosage) is unsafe. This returns considerable burden of proof to the Regulator, rather than it being placed only on Industry. Also, any refusal can still be challenged in the courts.

ANH will release much more detailed information on the interpretation of the European Court’s judgement in due course, and will be making submissions directly to the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority, competent authorities in EU Member States, and other relevant organisations.

ANH remains committed to the Food Supplements Directive, where it is doing its job properly as it provides a ‘safe harbour’ for natural food sources of vitamins and minerals, that can prevent them being considered as medicines. ANH is also ready and willing to work closely with the European Commission institutions, providing its professional expertise to ensure that the processes in the Food Supplement Directive are indeed based on good law and good, leading-edge science, which have been central to ANH’s approach from the outset.

If this interpretation of today’s ruling is correct, it may be that the ‘David and Goliath’ challenge brought by the Alliance for Natural Health may have a positive outcome for the millions who choose the leading edge in natural healthcare.

See ANH Press Release:

 

 

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