CODEX: EU court backs health supplements ban

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Wed, 13 Jul 2005 10:56:35 -0000

[sSRI-Research] CODEX: EU court backs health supplements ban

 

 

 

-- the USA is next - don't think it can't happen here because the

seeds are already planted... to get involved, please go to:

http://garynull.com/issues/codex/aboutcodex.htm --

 

 

EU court backs health supplements ban

 

http://society.guardian.co.uk/health/news/0,8363,1526891,00.html

 

Staff and agencies

Tuesday July 12, 2005

 

A European court today backed controversial legislation that will

outlaw the sale of thousands of vitamin and mineral supplements

across the EU.

The European court of justice decided to uphold the controversial

food supplements directive, which will restrict the sale of natural

remedies, vitamin supplements and mineral plant extracts.

 

British health food industry campaigners had expected that the judges

in Luxembourg would block the directive, due to come into force in

August, after an advocate general at the European court declared it

would infringe basic EU principles of " legal protection, legal

certainty and sound administration " .

 

The advocate, Leendert Geelhoed, said the directive lacked clearly

defined rules for the European Commission to follow when deciding

whether a product would be added to a " positive list " of substances

permitted for use in health foods and supplements.

 

But the judges disagreed, ruling today that the directive

was " properly founded " in EU law. They added that the restrictions

were justified by the need to protect public health.

 

The judges said the directive would get rid of differing national

rules liable to impede the free trade of supplements and the

functioning of the internal European market.

 

The ruling is a big blow for the Alliance For Natural Health, which,

with the British Health Food Manufacturers Association, and the

National Association of Health Stores, had mounted a legal challenge

against the directive.

 

The directive was approved by EU governments in 2002, and health food

manufactures were given until today to submit detailed scientific

dossiers proving their ingredients were safe. But supplements failing

to qualify by August 1 this year will be banned.

 

The plans prompted a petition of more than one million signatures in

Britain, a letter of protest to the prime minister, Tony Blair,

signed by more than 300 doctors and scientists, and motions opposing

the directive in both houses of parliament.

 

Around 20 million people in Britain - one-third of all women and one-

quarter of men - take vitamins and other supplements, spending more

than £300m on them a year.

 

Some manufacturers have already " reformulated " certain multivitamins

in anticipation of changes in the law - replacing nutrients not on

the EU positive list with those that are.

 

But the European judges also acknowledged the advocate general's

concerns, stating that there must be clear procedures to allow

substances to be added to the positive list based on scientific

evidence. They said that any refusal to add a product to the list

must be open to challenge in the courts. Such conditions might help

to mollify British health food campaigners.

 

The public health minister, Caroline Flint, said: " We understand the

difficulties that industry and small businesses, in particular, have

faced and we will continue to work closely with them to resolve the

problems.

 

" We have provided resources to help industry and small businesses

supply the evidence necessary to allow their products to continue to

stay on the market for the time being. "