The Vitamin Mafia

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The Vitamin Mafia

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 03:35:36 +0100

(A look back at history...Zeus)

 

 

 

 

steven zakrzewski

 

In addition to the well-known Pharma- mafia, otherwise known as " Big

Pharma, " some folks will point out that there may be a

" Vitamin-Mafia " , dedicated to the growth of the multi-billion dollar

food-supplement industry. Here are 2 articles.

 

Steve

 

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The Vitamin Mafia

 

Monday, 19th Feb. 03 -

 

Businessworld

 

Leading manufacturers of the world - Roche, BASF and Aventis have been

involved in fixing prices of bulk vitamins and their shares over a

decade. The executives of these colluding companies acted as if they

were working for one single corporation, `Vitamin Inc.' The cartel

controlled the production and sale of the most popular vitamins,

including vitamin A, C and Betacarotene. So, if you have had a glass

of milk, eaten a bowl of cereal or popped a vitamin pill, you have

probably been a consumer of products manufactured by Vitamin Inc.

 

When the U.S anti-trust department conducted investigation in to the

cartel, French pharmaceuticals giant Rhone-Poulenc turned approver and

helped them crack the evil combine. A $1.18- billion fine was imposed

on the companies in 1999. Since then, Australia, Canada, Japan and

European Union have levied heavy fines on the guilty firms. The

conspiracy led to an artificial increase in prices of hundreds of

foods and beverage makers, inflating the cost of, well, everything.

This cartel is estimated to have overcharged consumers in developing

nations by around $3 billion. But no competition authority from any

developing country except Brazil, has investigated or handled this case.

 

Jaipur- based Consumer unity & Trust Society (CUTS) has taken the onus

of finding out whether this cartel operated in India. It has compiled

details of investigations in other countries and sought written

undertaking from CEOs of the Indian subsidiaries of the MNCs that they

did not engage in any such anti-competitive practice in India. Hoffman

La Roche and BASF India said that they had not, but no response came

from Rhone- Poulenc, which had turned approver in US. CUTS then passed

on information to the director general (investigation and

registration), who, in turn, informed the Monopolies and Restrictive

Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC). The MRTPC held that no case had

been made out and that was the end of the vitamin cartel

investigations in India as we knew it.

 

But a judgement in an US appeals court last week could change all

that. Food growers from Ukraine and South America had pressed anti-

trust charges against these MNCs in the US. The court in a 2:1

decision, ruled that foreign customers have the right to press charges

against these vitamins giants even if they bought their vitamins

abroad. The court felt that shielding the cartel's overseas profits

could leave them with an incentive to collude, even if sued

successfully in the US. CUTS is now talking to legal experts about

litigation possibilities. Stay tuned.

http://www.cuts-international.org/cutsinmedia2001.htm#mafia

 

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An Anthropological View

by Kirk W Huffman

 

Thinking About Kava - Part Seven

 

http://liveibiza.com/theelectronicliveibiza/weeklyeditions/064/?art=5

 

 

 

As outlined in the previous six articles in this seemingly endless

series, recent concerns starting in Switzerland and Germany have

effectively stopped the export of roots of the Kava plant (Piper

Methysticum spp) from the South Pacific to medicinal kava extract and

kava tablet producing companies in Europe, the US and Canada and

Australia. In spite of the fact that kava, and the modern kava

extracts are thought by many to be possibly the most effective and

safe natural medication to relieve stress, anxiety and tension (at

least the milder, more common type) - possibly the most widespread

'disease' (except for cancer) of the 'modern ' world, the 'modern'

world has seemingly rejected it. We have gone through some of the

reasons for this and also had a look at the very shaky (and minuscule

amount of) medical information upon which a 'de facto' ban seems to

have been based. There have been certain suggestions that if some of

the major pharmaceutical companies had been able to patent various

elements of the complex chemistry of kava then this might never have

happened. Since particularly the late 1990s, the booming sales of kava

tablets and medicinal kava extract was actually beginning to cut into

sales of more expensive (and often less effective) patented synthetic

medicines for stress relief produced by some of the bigger drug

companies (kava tablets and kava extract medicines are produced mainly

by smaller, less well-known companies of the 'natural remedies' type).

However, I wouldn't necessarily want readers to leap to the conclusion

that there exists an 'axis of evil' type of conspiracy on behalf of

some of these large companies to just get rid of kava. It is slightly

subtler than that. As a rather distinguished Swiss friend and

colleague - well-versed in the machinations of the botanical and

medicinal world - told me on 31st January this year regarding the

situation in general, this " may not necessarily be the big

pharmaceuticals trying to block kava, it may just be the medical

profession in general against 'alternative medicine' " .

 

There does, however, seem to be some sort of 'botanical hit list' that

certain groups envisage. When my wife and I were in Germany in

January, one contact in the pharmaceutical industry world told me that

" once kava is gotten out of the way then the next one to be restricted

will be St. John's Wort (Hypericum Perforatum spp) " - a very effective

and popular natural treatment for depression. Of course, much more

expensive, patented, medicines exist for depression as well. Whether

there is a 'conspiracy' or not is actually almost irrelevant - if the

end results are the same as if there were a conspiracy. What seems to

be happening, at least in Europe, is that 'alternative remedies' in

general, in spite of widespread use, are under threat from a number of

sources and most members of the public are not even aware of it.

Unfortunately, the media available easily to the public in Europe and

the US is not usually of a type that will leap to alert people about

threats to general liberty, freedom of action and freedom of choice.

This does not sell newspapers, and as most citizens seem to be rather

apathetic about certain things that are actually very important in

life, the media can concentrate on other items that catch the

attention and, although often trivial, can be given enough 'spin' to

make them seem important. In the UK, for example, it is quite common

for citizens to assume that the government is taking care of

everything in the best possible way and is looking after the interests

of 'the common man' (and woman, of course).

 

Well, governments are only human and those that have worked in

governments around the world (I am not necessarily pinpointing the UK

here), when pressed, would probably admit that 'life at the top' is

rather like life anywhere else - with money, business, status,

prestige and normal petty jealousies, disorganization and well-meant

incompetence being sort of the order of play. Maybe an aside is

merited here, nothing to do with our theme, but just something to keep

the reader awake. When the CIA, from the early 1960s, began a major

project of bugging the offices of national leaders worldwide in the

hope of gleaning relevant security information, it was rather

surprised at the general paucity of results. What surprised them even

more, though, was the significant amount of 'sexual activity

encounters' that ended up being recorded. I assume, of course, that

this type of activity is/was more a sort of 'after hours' hobby, and

not something that normally takes place during governmental

representatives meetings in the leaders offices. Although the

governments of most modern 'democracies' would say that they are

actually in power to help the public and to develop the country, the

net result of almost any government's stay in power over an extended

period of time seems to be the more human one of attempting to squeeze

more money for itself out of that public at the same time as imposing

more restrictions on choice of behaviour. It does not need a

'conspiracy' to do that; it is just the way things go. But it is not

really a good idea to let the public know what is really going on

(particularly as some politicians may not even realize it themselves).

 

And so it is in the medical world. The general public often seems to

miss important connections, or even react as if news developments

actually exist in another parallel world and don't really have any

effect on them. It has been known for some time that the 'accepted

medical profession' is not really happy with the relatively rapid

recent development of 'alternative medicines/remedies' and vitamin and

mineral supplements (at least those that seem to be produced by

smaller 'alternative' companies). Media reports - and many medical

professionals - often play down the supposed benefits of these

remedies, forgetting that most of 'alternative medicines/remedies'

have been around a lot longer than modern medicines. Most modern

medicines are, in reality, the 'alternatives' for much older remedies.

This is not to say that modern medicines are not good, they have saved

countless lives around the world, but little is said about the 'down

side' of these. 'Alternative remedies'; traditional medicines and

vitamin/mineral supplements are sometimes derided by certain of the

medical profession as being a 'harmless' waste of money, etc. Well,

those medical practitioners who mouth those platitudes have obviously

not read the official medical (hospital) study done in the US in the

late 1990s that stated that the known side-effects of modern medicines

and pharmaceutical drugs in the US have become the fourth leading

cause of death in that nation, surpassed only heart attacks, strokes

and cancer. And yet alternatives to many of these potentially

life-saving but also potentially harmful stronger medicines actually

exist. Take for example, the case of the Saw Palmetto (Sabal serrulata

spp) tree, extracts of which have been used for years to protect males

from prostrate problems. Strongly derided by the medical profession,

it was only a couple of years ago that the American Medical

Association officially announced that it had found that it was

actually more effective than existing (more expensive) modern

medicines. But it is still only sold mainly through 'alternative' outlets.

 

What seems to have happened to kava may only be part of a general

trend. In autumn 2001 a major meeting of politicians and

pharmaceutical company representatives was held in Berlin under the

auspices of the UN's 'Codex Alimentarius' Commission. One of the

purposes of this meeting was the discussion of preparation of global

legislation regarding control of 'alternative' health remedies and

nutritional supplements (vitamins/minerals). It seems, according to

some present at that meeting, that there has been a subtle sort of

'misinformation' campaign by certain elements of the pharmaceutical

industry alleging negative side effects of nutritional supplements,

etc. I am not sure if the 'alleged effects' of kava fall within this

'campaign', but at least one can see that this is part of a pattern.

The meeting raised a storm of protest, and the Commission received

millions of protest messages, half of them from the US. This has

allegedly halted UN moves to introduce legal stricter controls, and

there was thought to be a respite.

 

Really? No. The major players just shifted their playing field whilst

most people's attention was low and have managed to get what they

wanted by going through the EU. Remember that there are literally

billions of dollars worldwide potentially involved here, and this

really has more to do with money than with people's health. There have

been rumours in Europe for a number of years that some of the really

big pharmaceutical companies have been wanting to corner the

vitamin/mineral supplement market, put their 'healthfood shop' rivals

out of competition, and try and find out a way to get legislation

enacted so that only their products can be bought by the public.

Rumours indicated that the big companies wanted to get the EU to pass

legislation in their favour. Remember that these companies are amongst

some of the same ones that produce the 'modern' medicines that can

save your life or, e.g., 'get your prescribing doctor a free trip on

the Orient Express' (see 'Thinking about Kava' Part Six in Weekly

Edition 062 Saturday 4th May 2002). But big, smart, companies realize

that there is good money in vitamin/mineral supplements too. It is all

part of the same game - which unfortunately so often seems to boil

down to money rather than medical care. Have you ever heard about a

'Vitamin Mafia' or 'Vitamin Cartel'? Sounds far-fetched? Well, it's

not. The big companies (i.e., not the ones whose products are sold in

your neighbourhood Healthfood shop), it seems, were actually doing

that, getting together as a 'Vitamin Cartel' to artificially increase

bulk vitamin prices. How mean can you get? Sounds like a plot from a

grade-B 1950s movie or something from Monty Python. It all got too

obvious, even for the European Commission, which finally fined eight

of these big manufacturers a total of 543 million UK pounds in a

landmark court case in November 2001. The fine was for operating a

bulk vitamin price-fixing cartel in mainland Europe and Britain. More

than 50% of the fine was reserved for the well-known company

Hoffmann-La Roche (the friendly makers of Redoxon and Sanatogen

vitamins) considered the 'prime mover' in the 'cartel'.

 

This has obviously not stopped the major players from trying to

control the market. Rumour had it that one of the bigger companies had

already set aside enough funds earmarked to pay their estimated fine.

Sounds a bit like a game. Well, the game continues. In spite of

intense opposition, the European Parliament voted on the 13th March

this year to strongly control the vitamin and mineral industry. It is

said the new legislation will result in the banning of 300 popular

health supplements sold in the UK and eventually drive British health

stores out of business. Visitors in Strasbourg at this time could have

seen 'alternative remedies' activists handing out videos to Euro-MPs

involved in the voting. The video allegedly accuses five of the

'European commissioners of corruptly colluding with big pharmaceutical

firms in an attempt to destroy the alternative network of homeopathic

and natural medicines'. Sound far-fetched? Remember that in early 1999

the European Commissioners (and leader Jacques Santer) were forced to

resign after the exposure of 'rampant mismanagement, nepotism and

fraud ' within the European Commission. It was this scandal that led

to Professor Anthony O'Hear (Director of the Royal Institute of

Philosophy), to describe it as " a European bureaucracy, now shown

beyond doubt and for all its protestations and charters, to be

hopelessly and probably irredeemably inefficient, wasteful and

corrupt " . We are supposed to assume that now everything is fine in the

European Commission. But wait a minute. Why then, in February this

year, did the brave Dutch official, Paul van Buitenen, whose

information was responsible for the 1999 resignations, have to

threaten to speak out more strongly regarding the lack of change and

reform in Brussels since 1999? Rumours circulate that many of the

officials linked to the report that resulted in the 1999 scandal in

Brussels have just been switched to new jobs within the labyrinth,

without loss of pay or privileges. Van Buitenen had submitted a

further report (235pp with 5000 pages of supporting documents) of

corruption allegations in August 2001 and by the time of his February

2002 statement had received no serious reply. So we should really, I

suppose, not be surprised by anything that happens in Brussels, it

does seem to be a 'can of worms'. We should, though, if even a small

amount of the stories coming out of Brussels are true, be extremely

concerned by German attempts in December 2001 to further discussion in

Brussels on the introduction of a single Euro Tax throughout the EU.

Supporting this move, the German finance minister said " It strengthens

spending discipline in Brussels if responsibility for expenditure and

income is put together " . I refer you back to Professor O'Hear's

statement above. Scaringly ominous.

 

So what can kava do against all the massive forces arrayed against it?

For the Pacific, its export assists a number of small island nations

to become more economically self-reliant. For Europe, certain

well-connected interests may see it as a threat, not realizing that to

combat stress - an ailment that modern life has made into possibly one

of the defining characteristics of the 'developed world' - there may

be no other safe, cheap, alternative. But maybe they do realize, and

that is why they reject it.

 

Kirk W Huffman

kirkwhuffman

 

 

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http://www.ariplex.com/ama/ama_amp.htm

 

www.healthcareforums.org/viewtopic.php?t=14260

 

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