Update from Alliance for Natural Health - EU Vits

[Guest guest]

Update on the EU and suppliments recieved an hour or so ago..

 

Liz

 

Dear Liz,

 

*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:

 

1. 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.

2. There must be a greater degree of clarity on what information

companies need to submit to admit an ingredient to the positive list.

3. 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: click

here<http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/_docs/ANHwebsiteDoc_190.doc>

..*

 

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