WHO puts the spanner in CODEX works.

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

As reported from Rome, this seems to be a breather. However I'll say it is too

early to judge or lower our guard.

Regards,

Jagannath.

________

A possible MIRACLE in Rome in the CODEX battle¡­

 

At the very end of today¡¯s deliberations, the WHO, one of the

parent bodies of CODEX, made it clear that CODEX had done little to

advance health during its 42 years of existence and that was about

to end. The WHO Global strategy for diet, exercise, nutrition and

health WOULD be implemented by CODEX and, in order to do that, the

two committees of CODEX which could deal with nutrition WOULD deal

with nutrition. The focus and mandate of the CODEX Committee on Food

Labeling (which prohibits claims of any health benefit) and the

CODEX COMMITTEE on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (Dr.

Grossklaus¡¯ committee) are going to change their Terms of Reference

(focus and mandate) to include nutrition and CODEX will make a

yearly report to the World Health Assembly about its progress in

implementing the WHO Strategy!

 

No choice, no way out for CODEX out of this one. Unless, of course,

the Bigs (Big Pharma, Big Agra Biz, Big Chema, Big Biotechna and Big

Medica) get to twist some arms and fill some pockets.

 

The battle is not over, by any means, and the war is not won BUT we

have some heavies, who, by the way, hold the purse strings for

CODEX, on the side of health freedom. Now we need to lobby, support

Congressional pressure on the process, become strongly useful to the

WHO and FAO in shaping their policies and help the US CODEX Office

turn into a bunch of heroes who help CODEX change direction and

adopt DSHEA as the international standard.

It can be done. Let¡¯s do it together!

 

We are already working on strategies domestically and

internationally to make sure we do not lose this golden (and totally

surprising) gift to our side.

 

Have you ever heard of anything in the health and health freedom

arena which is such sudden, surprising and unexpected good news? I

haven¡¯t. This is unprecedented! Let¡¯s make sure we don¡¯t let this

wonderful opportunity slip away either through complacency or

inaction.

 

How do we make sure this is made the most of?

Tell everyone you know and, if you have not already done so, follow

the six easy steps to protecting America from CODEX and turn up the

volume. It seems the WHO and FAO are playing our tune, the tune of

health freedom! Let¡¯s all dance!

 

Yours in Health and Freedom,

 

Dr. Laibow, in sveltering Rome

[Guest guest]

Forwarded:

 

This is not an accurate summary of what happened.

 

What did happen was that a representative from WHO talked about the

Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health

http://www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA57/A57_R17-en.pdf and pointed

out that the World Health Assembly Resolution 57.17 had called upon the

Codex Alimentarius Commission "to continue to give full consideration,

within the framework of its operational mandate, to evidence-based

action it might take to improve the health standards of foods consistent

with the aims and objectives of the strategy." He also referred to

potential work to be taken by the Codex Committee on Food Labelling

(CCFL) and the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special

Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) and emphasized that coordinated work was needed

to implement the Strategy.

 

The UK delegate stated that general consideration should be given to the

integration of nutrition issues into Codex work, and the United States

stated that several recommendations of the Global Strategy were not

within the mandate of Codex, adding that Codex work on nutrition and

labelling issues should proceed within its terms of reference. I

(speaking on behalf of NHF) expressed the view that there is scope

within the mandate of Codex for the nutritional issues raised by the

Global Strategy to be intergrated into Codex work, and along with

several other NGOs (including Consumers International) requested that

NHF be given input into any document that results from this process.

 

In closing this section of the debate, the WHO representative confirmed

that stakeholders would be involved in the follow-up to the Global

Strategy and in the development of a revised WHO submission to be

presented to the next session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The

Codex Alimentations Commission agreed to ask the WHO to produce a more

focussed document for consideration by CECIL and CONFIDE, including

proposals for new work, and that its next session would give further

consideration to the implementation of the Global Strategy.

 

At no point in the discussion was it said that either CCFL or CCNFSDU

would be changing their terms of reference.

 

Kind regards

 

Paul Anthony Taylor, National Health Federation, USA (Codex NGO delegate)

 

 

Jagannath Chatterjee <jagchat01 wrote:

Dear Friends,

As reported from Rome, this seems to be a breather. However I'll say it is too

early to judge or lower our guard.

Regards,

Jagannath.

________

A possible MIRACLE in Rome in the CODEX battle¡­

 

At the very end of today¡¯s deliberations, the WHO, one of the

parent bodies of CODEX, made it clear that CODEX had done little to

advance health during its 42 years of existence and that was about

to end. The WHO Global strategy for diet, exercise, nutrition and

health WOULD be implemented by CODEX and, in order to do that, the