Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute on Codex

[Guest guest]

I found this in some old files and don't know who the original sender was,

but I think it's still pertinent today.

 

 

 

-

 

Sunday, April 24, 2005 3:53 PM

 

 

 

This is an article I am privately copying

from the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute (out of Berkeley, CA)

newsletter, on Codex. It has some valuable references, and frames the

case objectively.

 

Goodbye to Vitamins?

 

 

The low-level " warfare " between alternative and mainstream (or

establishment) medicine has heated up considerable in Europe.

Unfortunately it is a David vs. Goliath battle, where the Goliath is the

giant pharmaceutical companies - seeking a monopoly for their products -

and supported by part of the medical establishment and various government

bodies. The control of medical practice seems to be as , or more,

authoritarian in European countries than it is here.

 

 

A recent book by Sylvie Simone on medical practice in France, as yet

untranslated, is entitled - " Healing: An Illegal Practice. " As if to

validate her book, the French Government had Dr. Ryke Hamer - who has

discovered a fascinating connection between psychosocial traumas, brain

lesions, and cancer - extradited from Spain in October, and jailed for

" inciting against traditional medicine and instigating for the New

Medicine with the goal of practicing it "

(charges brought by a French

court in Chambery) (www.newmedicine.ca)

 

 

In 2002 the European Union's Food Supplement Directive became law,

severely limiting the form and quantities of vitamins and minerals that

can legally be sold and representing a blow against alternative medicine.

The issue here is not whether there should or should not be regulation

of the food supplement industry; it is regulation by whom, and for what

purposes?

 

 

In the United States the question was temporarily settled by the Dietary

Supplements, Health, and Education Act of 1994, which removed food

supplements from the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration; a

subsequent court case forced the FDA to obey the law (Pearson vs.

Shalala, 154 F 3rd 650, DC Cir. 1999)

 

 

Now, however, the EU's Food Supplement Directive is being considered as

the touchstone for the development of international standards for food

supplements. The work is being done by Codex Alimentarius, an agency

administered jointly by WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization; it

leans strongly toward the drug industry view that supplements are

dangerous and need to be controlled, if not made available only by

prescription.

 

 

The strongest opposition has come from South Africa, which has filed

complaints that the process is not proceeding on the basis of scientific

evidence and analysis. South Africa has recently been joined in its

opposition by three other African nations and India.

 

 

Should the Codex end up with very restrictive standards, a case could be

filed with the World Trade Organization to force member countries,

including the United States, into conformity. This is the danger and it

has prompted the British organization, Alliance for Natural Health, to

file a lawsuit in the European Court of Justice. (Website:

www.alliance-natural-health.com

 

 

Another organization, International Advocates for Health Freedom, is

helping to organize support for the suit. (www.iahf.com)

 

 

Meanwhile, Mathias Rath, M.D., noting - for example - that over 100,000

persons die annually from the effects of pharmaceutical drugs (Journal of

the American Medical Association, April 15, 1998) has filed a complaint

against the pharmaceutical companies in the International Criminal Court

in the Hague, charging them with genocidal practices. (

www.dr-rath-foundation.org )

 

 

- J.S.

 

 

 

 

PS. The Meiklejohn web site is: http://mcli.org