What Does Free Trade Agreements Have To Do WIth Supplements ? (Was RE:Latest on vitamins-oils next?)

[Guest guest]

Hi Bonnie,

 

What I posted does not attribute the passing of the EU legislation to

the CAFTA. Sorry for any misunderstanding there. Also, the much

opposition I've heard for this is from a lot of " lefties " and some

" righties " too. Also, it was the " lefties " of Europe who passed the

vitamin legislation we read about the other day, so I wouldn't jump to a

" right wing conspiracy " conclusion

 

There is a LOT of opposition to CAFTA, for a variety of reasons. Here

is another big opposition campaign to CAFTA in its current form:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/starbucks/cafta_fair_trade.cfm

http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/cafta051605.cfm

 

I personally think its in the interest of all Americans to look into

this further. Trade and cooperation are good things, but not all the

legislation associated with them are done right and in a beneficial way.

 

I've put together, in a nutshell, how CAFTA it is related to any

international vitamin legislation and supplements ...

 

The Free Trade agreements that have come before us (NAFTA) and the free

trade agreements that are coming before us have in them a goal of

" harmonizing " food safety standards. For example - when we got into

NAFTA pesticides that were banned from use in American crops and on our

grocery shelves were allowed back into the picture cause Mexico uses

them, and since they are a poorer nation, and had a free trade agreement

set up, we aren't allowed to be prejudiced against their produce, even

if it was full of poisons that were deemed inedible for years

 

" The Codex Commission was established by the UN in 1961 and it

" establishes guidelines to harmonize trade in food " . With the WTO in

place, the Commission now has the means to enforce its rulings that used

to put out as useless bureaucratic announcements. Through the targeted

use of trade sanctions, the WTO has the means to compel nations to obey

its rulings. The Codex Commission has made it known that it expects all

nations to " harmonize " their regulations governing dietary supplements

with its new regulatory framework.

 

CAFTA requires all signatory nations to " harmonize " their domestic food

safety standards to those issued by the Codex Commission. John C.

Hammell of International Advocates for Health Freedom points out that

the " safety standards " imposed by the Commission in essence treat

vitamins as potentially dangerous drugs, imposing " Maximum Safe

Permitted Levels " of potency that would make them practically useless. "

 

In 1994 the people of the US persuaded their legislators to enact the

Dietary Supplement, Health and Education Act " because of some BS that

went down with the FDA trying to ban vitamins and supplements and " in

1992 had armed FDA agents conduct a raid on the office of " vitamin

doctor " Jonathan Wright MD, trashing his office, seizing records, and

harassing his patients all over the use of an injectable vitamin B

supplement from Germany that is free of additives for his many allergic

patients, and using a natural adrenal cortical extract called ACE to

treat immune disorders. ACE was sold by Eli Lilly for over 30 years

before being dropped in favor of the more expensive, less effective

synthetic cortisone. The FDA then declared that ACE was a " new drug " ;

overnight, it became illegal. That was only one of dozens of

commando-style assaults that had taken place all over the country on

health food stores, holistic clinics, and nutrient distributors.

 

Bad enough we've got our own beurocracies involved in our health

choices, don't need the UN's there too ;-p We the people already made

our choices known on this subject!

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

http://www.alittleolfactory.com

 

 

 

 

 

On Behalf Of Bonnie Walker

 

 

I think some clarification is needed here b/c it was my understanding

from

the original post that it was the EU that passed the " anti-vitamin C "

laws

and this petition Chris just posted is attributing it to the UN and

Central

American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)??

 

I think this is a bait and switch of the extreme right to get more

people to

side with their " end of American Independence and way of life " hogwash

regarding international cooperation.

 

While I do not want to see Vitamin C becoming illegal this seems like

there

is a bit of smoke and mirrors going on here.

 

How exactly does the Central American Free Trade Agreemtn CAFTA have

anything to do with the EU?

 

At the very least, I would be careful about actually sending the below

message to your congressional representatives as it seems to be

incorrect in

attributing the EU's new laws to the UN (and then trying to pass that

off

onto the upcoming CAFTA vote ... which seems to be a confusing stretch)

 

.... unless I missed something and the UN actually did pass a new

guideline

.... is that what the EU's ruling was based on?? I guess I need to go

find

more articles related to this ... I don't have time right now, but I'll

share anything I uncover. If anyone has any further information

 

The whole world has gone mad. It IS something in the water, isn't it???

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

I'm really impressed with your summary of the information. I've been

hearing about CAFTA and been unable to find sources of information

worth slogging through... that stopcafta.com site, for example, is so

up in arms about other issues (perhaps related, perhaps not) that it

gets in my way of learning more about CAFTA itself.

 

Thanks for doing some of the legwork for us ;-)

 

Best,

Josh

[Guest guest]

Yes, thank you Chris and Liz for the rational summary and additional links that

contained more palatable information than STOPCAFTA.com's " ...a synod of sickly

Euro-socialists deciding which [supplements] you can take, or whether you'll be

able to take any of them at all " . They really are not going to get as many

people involved using that type of hype as they might think they are. The

Organic Consumers site's rationale of " Fair Trade Not Free Trade " made a heck of

a lot more sense without making broad generalizations or taking pot shots at

anyone.

 

 

-

" Joshua Alexander " <listservs

 

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 5:50 PM

Re: What Does Free Trade Agreements Have To Do WIth

Supplements ? (Was RE:Latest on vitamins-oils next?)

 

 

I'm really impressed with your summary of the information. I've been

hearing about CAFTA and been unable to find sources of information

worth slogging through... that stopcafta.com site, for example, is so

up in arms about other issues (perhaps related, perhaps not) that it

gets in my way of learning more about CAFTA itself.

 

Thanks for doing some of the legwork for us ;-)

 

Best,

Josh

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Thank you for this site: http://www.healthfreedomusa.org

 

It makes it really easy to take action against CODEX, etc, with an

'easy 6 steps' page ( http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/action/ )

 

There's also a blog at http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/codexblog/ to

stay updated

 

-Josh