AHF Webmaster: Codex Emergency, Breaking News, Whats New, What to Do

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AHF Webmaster: Codex Emergency, Breaking News, Whats New, What to Do

 

IAHF List:

 

They're going to bring CAFTA to the floor of the House just prior to

the July

4th recess. The Washington Post and the Food and Drug Law Institute

are telling

us (see below) that it could pass by a margin as tight as a _SINGLE

VOTE_ (!!!)

All day I've been calling key people and organizations so that our

movement can

FLOOD Congress with phonecalls, emails and faxes ALL WEEK- next week and

everyone is pitching in, so please do YOUR part!

 

When you call your Congressmen via 202-225-3121 (Capital Switchboard),

ask to

speak with your Congressman (give your zipcode if you don't know their

names)

and tell them you oppose CAFTA due to harmonization language contained

in the

trade agreement which would adversely impact your access to dietary

supplements.

 

If they want to know more, you can read off the form letter on either

of the

websites below which you can send in with just one mouseclick. Please

FORWARD

THIS and read on for more details including todays Washington Post

article which

shows you just how CLOSE this vote is going to be! Our movement could

make a

REAL DIFFERENCE in KILLING this horrible trade agreement which not

only threatens

to kill your access to supplements- it also threatens to continue the

failed

economic policy of NAFTA which has caused our $617 Billion dollar

trade deficit

which threatens to destroy the dollar and our country with it....

 

Please help IAHF, and the Coalition for Health Freedom to sound an

alarm about

this. see http://capwiz.com/lef/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7739691

see http://www.coalitionforhealthfreedom.org/action.html

 

If Codex is set back to step 5 in Rome, it will only be because China,

Venezuela, and Australia want language changes- see

http://www.nutraingredients.com/news/printNewsBis.asp?id=60764

 

Our movement doesn't have any leverage to set things back because our

political

reality is that we have no leverage over Scarbrough, or over any other

national

delegate. Only South Africa firmly opposes ratification.

 

We can't assume they won't ratify the standard, and if they do, and

CAFTA goes

thru, we'll be set up like bowling pins via Article 3 of the SPS Agreement

which is in CAFTA and FTAA and which states: " To harmonize sanitary and

phytosanitary measures on as wide a basis as possible, Members SHALL

base their food

safety measures on international standards, guidelines or

recommendations. "

 

Even if they don't ratify Codex in July, its only a matter of time

before they

do and we have no leverage to stop them- but we DO have leverage to

stop CAFTA/

FTAA- but only if we act NOW in large enough numbers- our movment can

actually

make a DIFFERENCE here, but only if enough people help sound the alarm!!!

 

 

 

FOOD AND DRUG LAW INSTITUTE SMART BRIEF

CAFTA-DR politicking may sway wavering legislators

Congressional Democrats are almost universal in their opposition to

the Central

American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, but some concede the

Bush

administration may be able to cut deals with enough wavering

Republicans to eke

out a victory, possibly by a single vote. Representatives from

sugar-producing

states have presented a list of demands to protect the U.S. sugar

industry,

including government promises to purchase excess sugar and exclude

sugar from future

free trade agreements. Washington Post, The (6/22)

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/21/AR2005062101446.\

html?nav=rss_business

 

For CAFTA, Party Pressure and Pork

 

By Jonathan Weisman

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, June 22, 2005; Page D01

 

Earlier this month, at a closed-door meeting of Democrats, House Minority

Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) was blunt: Any Democrat who votes for the

Central

American Free Trade Agreement will allow an embattled Republican to

squirm off the

hook and vote no. A vote for CAFTA, she said, was a vote to keep the

GOP in the

majority.

 

It was a speech that was tough enough to make the party's free-traders

cringe,

said Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), but both parties are treating

the coming

showdown over CAFTA like a political donnybrook. Democratic leaders

are leaning

hard on members to keep defections to a tiny minority, while the Bush

administration considers major concessions on sugar crop subsidies and

China trade.

 

 

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pressured Democrats to vote no on CAFTA.

(Terry

Ashe - AP)

 

If those don't work, administration officials may have to resort to

old-fashioned political pork. " With the Democrats almost united, we

have to deal with the

most protectionist Republicans in Congress, and that means [dealing with]

textiles, sugar and whoever else comes along, " said one U.S. trade

official, who

spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations are ongoing. " If

you take 170

Democrats off the playing field, it means we're going to have to cut some

deals. "

 

" An awful lot is stake here, and control of Congress is the grand

prize, " said

Moran, one of only five Democrats who have publicly pledged to vote

for the

treaty. " The stakes are very, very high. "

 

From an economic standpoint, the Central American Free Trade Agreement

appears

to be a relatively minor treaty. The accord would extend NAFTA-like

trading

preferences to El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica

and the

Dominican Republic, six countries whose combined economies -- at $85

billion in

2003 -- are smaller than the Czech Republic's.

 

But with a growing backlash against free trade, the treaty has grown in

political importance. Republican Rep. Bob Inglis, whose upstate South

Carolina

district includes much of the nation's decimated textile industry,

said he has

received more than 1,000 inquiries on CAFTA, making it the hottest

issue since he

returned to Congress this year.

 

In past trade agreements, dozens of Democrats have joined Republican

majorities

to help secure passage. But this time, as few as 10 may vote for it.

That means

Republicans from hard-hit districts representing textile mills,

machine-tool

manufacturers and sugar growers will have to vote yes if President

Bush is to

avoid a major political defeat.

 

" What's different is how much this has become a party-line issue for the

Democrats, which has really raised the pressure on Republicans, " said

Rep. Peter T.

King (R-N.Y.).

 

Administration officials had hoped to win passage of the treaty before

Congress's July 4 recess, but they acknowledge they do not have the

votes -- yet.

Indeed, Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. (R-N.C.) said between 20 and 23 House

Republicans

are solidly against the treaty.

 

But the White House is working hard to chip away at the opposition on both

sides of the aisle. On June 15, in a letter to 14 members of the House

Democratic

Hispanic Caucus, Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez tried to

answer concerns

over the enforcement of labor laws in the CAFTA countries, offering " a

long-term, sustained commitment to labor capacity-building " in Central

America as well

as an international donors conference before the end of July to win

aid to the

countries' labor ministries and labor courts.

 

A U.S. trade official, speaking on condition of anonymity because

negotiations

are ongoing, said the White House has secured $20 million to beef up

enforcement of labor and environmental laws in the CAFTA countries.

 

Sugar-state lawmakers late last week presented the White House with a

series of

demands drafted by the sugar industry to assuage concerns that the

treaty would

undermine the U.S. system of sugar price supports. They include government

purchases of surplus U.S. sugar to make up for new imports from

Central America and

assurances that sugar will be excluded from future trade deals.

 

And yesterday, Bush invited 14 wavering House members to the White

House to

listen to their demands. Inglis told Bush he could vote for the treaty

only if a

separate, binding agreement is reached with each of the signatories to

ensure

that cheap Chinese textiles could not be brought into Central America,

then

shipped duty-free to the United States. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette

(R-Ohio) said Bush

is unlikely to win him over, but he wanted to hear how far the White

House is

willing to go to force China to float its currency.

 

Such overtures have some leading Democrats convinced CAFTA will ultimately

pass, perhaps by a single vote. Rep. Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.), the

ranking Democrat

on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over

trade, said

he has not been swayed by a personal visit from Secretary of State

Condoleezza

Rice and an audience with the president. But, he said, others probably

will be.

 

" I always had thought it would be impossible to pass this thing

because of the

hemorrhaging of Republican votes, " he said, " but that was before I saw

what

they were doing to get Democratic votes. If there's no limit to what

they'll pay,

they've got to win. "

 

So far, trade officials concede such talks have yielded only limited

results.

After one conversation with Bush and three with Gutierrez, Rep. Henry

Cuellar

(D-Tex.) said he has been won over.

 

" I am interested in doing the right thing, not in making one political

party

look bad, " Cuellar said. " We cannot politicize this type of agreement. "

 

But Democratic leaders aren't about to bend. House Democratic Caucus

Chairman

Robert Menendez (N.J.) said the White House cannot cut development

assistance to

Latin America and allow congressional Republicans to pass anti-immigrant

measures, such as the recent clampdown on driver's license issuances,

then come to

Latino lawmakers promising aid in exchange for their votes.

 

" I make of it all to be hollow promises, too little, too late and, to

be honest

with you, incredibly offensive, " he said.

 

 

For Health Freedom,

John C. Hammell, President

International Advocates for Health Freedom

556 Boundary Bay Road

Point Roberts, WA 98281-8702 USA

http://www.iahf.com

jham

800-333-2553 N.America

360-945-0352 World