Life in 2007...Please protect our freedom to take food supplements and vitamins

[Guest guest]

Actions to take are at the bottom!

 

Featured Article in his latest Newsletter.

 

Written by Jonathan V. Wright

 

You've taken supplements for years. You're out of vitamins C and E. You go to

your natural food store, but you can't find the kind you want on the shelf.

You ask a clerk to find them for you. She says you can't get your vitamin E as

mixed tocopherols (the best natural form) anymore, and asks if you like your

vitamin C in the 100 or 200 milligram size. The 1,000 milligram size, you say.

 

" Where have you been? " she asks. " Asleep since 2004? It's 2007 now! The types

and sizes of vitamins you just asked for have been declared illegal by the

Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization! "

 

" Wait! " you reply. " This is America! Our President says we're fighting for

American freedom--and you're telling me that the World Trade Organization can

dictate what size vitamin C I can take, and forbid me from taking mixed

tocopherols? "

 

The sales clerk sighs, and reaches for a piece of paper. " It's a little

complicated, " she says. " A few years back, the European Commission passed the

European Food Supplements Directive... "

 

You feel your blood pressure rising. " What does the European Commission and

its Directive have to do with me? If Europeans want bureaucrats to tell them

what to do, that's their business. I'm a free citizen of these United States! "

 

" Now, now, dear, your blood pressure will go up, and you can't get calcium

citrate, magnesium aspartate, CoQ10 or L-arginine or anything else natural to

help regulate it anymore. "

 

" What? This goes beyond the FDA's wildest dreams! "

 

" That's not a tenth of it, dear. While you were distracted by the war

overseas for American freedom, here at home we lost our right to buy any amino

acids

at all-no arginine, no carnitine, no tryptophan, nothing. I can't sell you any

essential fatty acids either-no DHA or EPA. And no beta-carotene, no mixed

carotenoids, no MSM, no boron...The list goes on and on. "

 

" So what can I buy? " you ask.

 

" Let's see...those 100 and 200 milligram vitamin Cs. Vitamin B6 maximum 4.2

milligrams, vitamin B1, 2.4 milligrams. Oh, here's a better one: You can get

niacin at 32 milligrams. "

 

" Enough! I'm getting sick! How did this ever happen in these United States? "

 

" As I was saying, the European Directive... "

 

" I heard you. But what about America's Congress, America's President?

 

" Oh, they signed us up for this in the 1990s, when they made us members of

the World Trade Organization. According to the Congressional Research Service:

'As a member of the World Trade Organization, the United States does commit to

act in accordance with the rules of the multilateral body. The United States

is legally obligated to ensure national laws do not conflict with World Trade

Organization rules.' "

 

" Our President and Congress send troops overseas to fight for freedom, but

let the WTO tell us what to do with our vitamins? There must be something we can

do. "

 

" Actually, we did have a chance or two to reverse this in 2004, but it's

going to be incredibly difficult now. "

 

" But I really need my mixed tocopherol vitamin E. And my mother with

congestive heart failure depends on CoQ10. "

 

" I'm not unsympathetic, especially to your poor mother, dear. " She looks all

around, then lowers her voice. " I can give you some sources downtown. " She

whispers a few names.

 

" But those people deal dangerous drugs! Now they're selling vitamins, too? "

 

" That's freedom in America in 2007, dear. "

 

Think it can't happen? Think again

 

The FDA's wildest dream-and our worst nightmare-is about to come true. Two

years ago, I told you about the passage of the European Union (EU) Directive on

Dietary Supplements. This directive, which is part of a larger form of

legislation called Codex Alimentarius, severely restricts access to natural

health

products in Europe. At the time, it probably seemed a long way off: After all,

the law wasn't to go into effect for several years following the initial

passage.

 

Unfortunately, that several years is up, and the EU Directive is on track to

take full effect in August 2005-less than a year from now--and by 2007, the

scene described above will certainly be a reality for many, many people.

Obviously, this is devastating news for Europe. But thanks to some pre-existing

international agreements made by the U.S., the EU Directive will be just as

devastating for the natural health community here. The main difference is that

while

the Directive has been big news in Europe for some time, it's been virtually

ignored by U.S. media, which means that the severe restrictions it calls for

will sneak up on most people and rob us all of our freedom to choose natural

alternatives before we even know what's happening. That's why I and many of my

colleagues in the health publishing world have done our best to keep you

informed of the Directive's developments-and their consequences for the

U.S.-over the

years. And why we've decided to make a big push in our September newsletters

by covering it in-depth.

 

Simply put, we're down to the wire, and if we don't act immediately, we will

be facing the same fate as Europeans. There are steps you can take to get the

word out and, hopefully, to diffuse this ticking time bomb. But first, let's

take a few minutes and recount some of the specifics included in the Directive

so that you know exactly what it is we're fighting against.

 

5,000 products set to disappear

 

The EU Directive classifies vitamins and minerals in Europe as " medical

drugs " rather than dietary supplements, which means that they're subject to

government regulation in terms of dosage and availability. It gets worse: There

are

many nutrients known to be vital to optimal health that are not on the

government's RDA nutrient list including chromium picolinate, lysine, and

selenium.

Under the Directive, these types of supplements are banned from over-the-counter

sale. Put simply, it will be illegal to buy them without a prescription.

 

The supplements that will be available will be restricted to multi-vitamins

containing no more than 100 percent of the established RDA amounts, which are

usually useless, trivial quantities--and they'll be far more expensive than

what we have now.

 

This Directive, for all intents and purposes, makes it illegal for people to

keep themselves healthy by supplementing with essential nutrients.

 

Plus, the Directive only allows supplements to be made from a list of 15

minerals and 13 vitamins. That leaves out at least 40 minerals important in

human

metabolism and forbids the use of the most bio-available forms of vitamin

complexes. In essence, it means that all nutritional supplements will be

virtually

the same-the specific combinations might vary, but the types and amounts of

nutrients will be identical-no matter what product they're formulated into.

 

So, for instance, a middle-aged woman in Liverpool, England, who has a

dangerously elevated homocysteine level will no longer have the option of

reducing

her risk of heart disease with a vitamin B dosage of her own choosing. If she's

currently taking 5 mg of folic acid daily, under the new Directive she will

be legally restricted to a prescription of 1 mg per day. If she's taking a 100

mg dose of B6, she'll be restricted to 10 mg. And her pantothenic acid (B5)

intake of 500 mg will drop to 200 mg. These maximum dosage levels have been

chosen to " protect " her (so we're told), when in fact the protection she needs

the

most will be unavailable.

 

In addition to these essential B vitamins, low maximum dosage levels have

also been set for vitamin C, niacin, and vitamin E. But at least they made it on

the list of allowed nutrients.

 

Approximately 350 supplement ingredients are missing from the list. If they

are not added to the list by June 2005, they will be deemed illegal throughout

the European Union. Supplement manufacturers may submit " technical dossiers "

to support applications for the inclusion of individual elements or

formulations on the so-called " positive list. " But the EU has made this process

so

expensive and time consuming that many manufacturers simply can't afford the

costs

involved. As a result, around 5,000 safe formulas and nutrients that have been

on the market for decades will soon be banned.

 

Saving us from ourselves

 

Of course, these regulations were all passed under the guise of " protecting

the public. " According to the World Health Organization, popular alternative

medicines are often " misused " and may " harm patients. " They point out that the

" incorrect use " of alternative therapies has caused deaths in wealthy countries

where more and more patients rely on them.

 

You could also argue that the incorrect use of kitchen knives, water skis,

and even plastic bags have all caused deaths! Not to mention the use of

AMA-sanctioned medical procedures and FDA-approved drugs. The key phrase here is

" incorrect use. "

 

The WHO could do everyone a service by first addressing the incorrect use of

accepted mainstream therapies that have caused far more widespread death and

adverse reactions than natural medicine therapies ever have or ever will.

 

Although they are few and far between, there are mistakes and fatalities

associated with alternate therapies, supplements, and herbal remedies. It's

always

important to keep in mind that many of the compounds and herbs used in

natural medicine treatments are very powerful. They have risks and potential

side

effects, which is why I always recommend that you work closely with skilled

natural medicine practitioners whenever you use these therapies. But even with

their cautions, natural remedies are far, far safer than prescription drugs, and

one reason might be the users themselves. An article published in the journal

Psychologist noted that people who seek out natural and alternative treatments

are generally more health conscious than non-users, and believe that by

making sound lifestyle choices they can influence their own health. But not if

the

EU has anything to say about it.

 

Where's the " fight for freedom " when you need it?

 

You'd think that such blatant abuse of power to restrict people's personal

liberty would have our own self-proclaimed freedom-loving government up in arms

(literally). But there's an even darker side to all this, and it has

little--if anything-- to do with health or looking out for people's best

interests.

 

Even if the American government didn't want to go along with the regulations

imposed by the EU Directive, we really wouldn't have a choice. In fact, the

United States never has acknowledged or stated any form of acceptance for the EU

Directive. But hard as it is to believe, this " Directive " can actually

over-ride United States law if it isn't stopped in Europe.

 

As a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the U.S. will be bound by

any finalized standards put forth in the Directive.

 

If we choose to ignore the regulations our WTO-affiliation binds us to, we

would face severe trade sanctions with other WTO countries, which could

potentially cripple part of our economy. And there's no way that our already

anti-natural-medicine government is going to let that happen over access to

vitamins

and minerals. So the best way to ensure it doesn't get to that point is to do

everything we can to stop it now--before it happens.

 

Protect your rights with these 3 steps

 

There are three actions to take. The most urgent is to support a case brought

by the British Alliance for Natural Health to overturn the European Food

Supplements Directive. In January 2004, the Alliance's attorneys (a firm which

has

successfully had another European Directive overturned) won the first round

in the High Court of Justice in London; the appeal was referred to the European

Court of Justice. Please visit the Alliance's website,

www.alliance-natural-health.org, read about their case, and most importantly,

make a donation to

support their efforts to protect everyone's supplements, including yours. Even a

few dollars will help; a few dollars from each of us will add up. If we can

help them overturn this food supplement dictatorship in Europe, it won't ever

come here.

 

The second action I urge you to take is to write, call, and e-mail your

state's Senators and Congressmen. Tell your Senators to oppose S.722, the

Dietary

Supplement Safety Act, and tell your Congressmen to oppose H.R. 3377, the

Dietary Supplement Access and Awareness Act. These two bills put the wheels in

motion for restrictions similar to those outlined in the EU Directive to become

U.S. law, which would be even more threatening to us than just an inter-

national code of standards. These extremely dangerous and misnamed proposals

would

allow the FDA to " roll back " most of the small amount of health care freedom you

and I re-gained with the 1994 " DSHEA " law we all fought so hard for. Even if

we're successful in helping the Alliance for Natural Health defeat the

European Food Supplements Directive, if these bills are passed into law, our

supplement choices will shrink dramatically anyway.

 

The final step to take is to tell your U.S. Senators and Congressmen to

support U.S. Representative Ron Paul's H.R. 1146, the American Sovereignty

Restoration Act. This accurately named (for once) legislation would make the

Constitution of the United States the supreme law of the land again, and restore

law-making and judging power to our elected representatives and American courts,

respectively. Please don't leave this off your list; in the long run, it's the

most important action of the three.

 

Please make a donation-of any size-to the Alliance for Natural Health as soon

as you can. Then, please write, call, fax, and e-mail your U.S. Senators and

Representative as often as you can, telling them to oppose S. 722 and H.R.

3377, and to support American freedom by voting for H.R. 1146.

 

For further information on the European Union Directive on Dietary

Supplements and on the Codex Alimentarius legislation, contact the American

Holistic

Health Association (www.ahha.org), the Alliance for Natural Health

(www.alliance-natural-health.org), or the International Advocates for Health

Freedom

(www.iahf.com).

 

Don't wake up next August to find your supplements gone for good. Join me in

taking action now, and recruit everyone you can to join the battle. While our

troops are fighting for your freedom and mine overseas, you and I can

literally fight for American freedom right here at home. JVW