A.N.H

[Guest guest]

Launch of new fund-raising site

 

The return from the holiday season sees the ANH ramping up our fund-

raising activities on the run-up to the final stage of the legal

challenge to the Food Supplements Directive (FSD) in the High Court

in London. To make it even easier to donate, and for those of you

who wish your funds be dedicated to this aspect of our campaign in

particular, we have launched www.anhfund.org. Follow the link and

get a sneak preview of the new look and feel of the new ANH website

to be launched later this year.

 

In future you will find all our campaigns listed here so that you

can direct your donations to specific areas of interest and see the

result of our combined fund-raising efforts as the `barometers' fill

up. Don't forget that you've already helped us to raise a quarter

of a million pounds Sterling for the campaign to date – and we have

now received the first £6,000 of the £40,000 (US$76,200; €59,400)

required for the final stage of the legal action. On our own, the

ANH comprises a small group of experts, passionate and committed,

but with no financial means to act – with your help, we become an

unstoppable force!

 

European plans to outlaw therapeutic nutrients

 

This month's hot topic, as consultation with the European Commission

and the UK Food Standards Agency nears its completion, is the issue

of maximum permitted levels in food/dietary supplements. This can

also be seen as a very clever way of using a misplaced safety

argument to ban any nutrient that could be used in place of a drug –

without side-effects! Industry has been invited by the European

Commission, via each Member State's competent authority, to comment

on this crucial issue by 30th September 2006. We summarise below:

 

The ANH has been at the forefront of demonstrating the flawed

science behind the risk assessment methods being contemplated by

European regulators for use on nutrients. These flawed methods are

in our view the single biggest threat to our continued ability to

use nutrients therapeutically. If we don't change things now, we

will effectively be forcing future generations to limit their

healthcare options to drugs over nutrients and herbs.

 

Few people seem to have their heads firmly around this

intricate issue and admittedly, apart from being a lot less emotive

than many of the current campaign issues, it is a deeply complex

scientific conundrum.

 

Putting this issue in the `too hard basket' is not an

option. In a nutshell, the current risk assessment models are based

around the precautionary principle and they massively overestimate

risk for many nutrient forms. They use arbitrary uncertainty

factors, and over-emphasise sensitivity. They also cluster diverse

nutrient forms into nutrient groups (such as vitamin A, D and E, or

zinc, selenium, chromium or iron) so that the maximum level of the

most toxic form is imposed on all other forms in the same group.

 

o eg, vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is rapidly being recognised as

a powerful anticancer pre-hormone when used daily in doses of 2000

IU (50 mcg) and above. Bear in mind your body will synthesise 20,000

IU naturally when exposed to an hour or so of summer sunshine

assuming you're in your swimming kit or less. Under the current

model of risk assessment, the more toxic form of the group, vitamin

D2 (ergocalciferol), found in most high street supplements, is used

to set the upper safe limit according to the adverse effects related

to D2. To the lay person this might seem reasonable, but in

practice it means that the proposed maximum permitted level for

vitamin D3 might end up around 200 IU, the level as set by the

German Risk Assessment Institute (BfR), one of the leading European

bodies driving risk assessment in Europe. This will seriously reduce

the therapeutic range of D3 – and the same problem can be

demonstrated for a host of other nutrients.

 

We will be continuing our work in this area via the submission to

the European Commission at the end of September and through Dr

Verkerk's contribution to the Electronic Working Group on Risk

Assessment for the Codex Alimentarius Commission. We have some key

developments in this field in the pipe-line and in future eBlasts we

will be able to communicate developments from the coal face – watch

this space!

 

Your urgent ACTION is needed

 

The ANH needs to raise £40,000 (US$76,200; €59,400) to return to the

High Court in London, to finalise our lawsuit against the EU Food

Supplements Directive. We also still need your support to help fund

the 14 other projects we are running concurrently.

 

A reminder of the ways in which you can make sure your continued

support can make the difference:

 

DONATE MONEY – please consider doing this on a regular

monthly basis through a standing order (UK) or Worldpay (worldwide)

or sending a cheque (details below).

 

DONATE NOW

 

Thank you again to those of you who give of your invaluable

donations and support on a regular and/or spontaneous basis. Your

donations don't have to be large to make a difference.

 

Cheques can be sent (in GB pounds, US dollars or Euros) payable to

the `Alliance for Natural Health' to the Alliance for Natural

Health, The Atrium, Curtis Road, Dorking, Surrey RH4 1XA, United

Kingdom, or, alternatively, please donate using our secure server

via our website.

 

In health,

 

The ANH Team

 

CONTACT

Meleni Aldridge

Development Manager

ALLIANCE FOR NATURAL HEALTH

The Atrium, Curtis Road

Dorking, Surrey RH4 1XA

tel +44 (0)1306 646600

dir +44 (0)1306 646550

fax +44 (0)1306 646552

mob +44 (0)7771 750230

email mel

web www.alliance-natural-health.org