JOINT NATIONAL HEALTH FEDERATION /

[Guest guest]

JOINT NATIONAL HEALTH FEDERATION /

ALLIANCE FOR NATURAL HEALTH PRESS RELEASE

 

For immediate release

25 November 2005

 

GLOBAL VITAMIN GUIDELINES ONE STEP CLOSER TO RESTRICTING CONSUMER

HEALTH FREEDOM

 

International Committee setting out to determine vitamin safety and

health claims at risk of using flawed science according to experts

 

Today sees the end of three days of meetings of delegations from

some 70 countries and numerous non-governmental organizations, at

the 27th Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition & Foods for

Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) in Bonn, Germany.

 

The Committee, which started developing a global guideline on

vitamin-and-mineral food supplements more than 10 years ago, was

attempting at this year's meeting to address a number of additional

contentious issues. Amongst others, these included the amounts of

vitamins and minerals required for good health, the application of

risk assessment to establish safe maximum dosages, the scientific

basis of health claims, and the implementation of the World Health

Organization's Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health.

 

The National Health Federation (NHF), a US-based, international

health-freedom organisation of more than 50-years standing, was the

only non-governmental delegation representing the interests of

vitamin consumers at this meeting.

 

The NHF sent three delegate members to this year's meeting. Scott

Tips, Legal Counsel for the NHF and its Codex delegation head,

said: " The bad news is that these guidelines could stop millions of

people around the world from using food supplements containing

nutrients in sufficient amounts to benefit their health. The good

news is that there is recognition by an increasing number of

delegates that there are serious flaws in some of the scientific

methods being used by some health authorities that are now under

consideration by the Committee. Fortunately, however, we believe

it's not too late to rectify these problems. "

 

Scientific Advisor to the NHF and its newest delegation member, Dr

Robert Verkerk, who is also Executive & Scientific Director of the

pan-European Alliance for Natural Health, continued:

 

" There is increasing scientific consensus that a sea change in the

nature of the science being contemplated for both risk assessment

and the setting of nutritional reference values is needed. We are

working closely with scientists around the world to help facilitate

this change and the NHF will be making submissions directly to the

Committee's Electronic Working Groups that are dealing with these

issues. If governments are going to address nutritional health

seriously, they cannot any longer afford to ignore the role of high-

quality food supplements in health promotion. "

 

The NHF's Vice Chairman and veteran Codex delegate for the

organization, Paul Anthony Taylor, added: " Codex guidelines are, in

part, supposedly designed to protect consumers, when in fact, they

could actually cause harm by preventing people from accessing

beneficial vitamin dosages and forms. Millions of consumers are

already using dietary supplements in ways that we could not have

imagined when vitamins were first discovered. For example, when the

U.S. National Institutes of Health announced recently that vitamin C

selectively kills cancer cells, this information was trumpeted

around the world by the media as if it were a new discovery. In

reality, of course, enlightened consumers have known about this

property of vitamin C for many years now and have been safely using

this information as a means of improving their health and prolonging

their lives. Codex guidelines should be assisting, not inhibiting,

the spread of existing knowledge. "

 

Unfortunately, due to a lack of time and last-minute shuffling of

its schedule that relegated some of the most important issues for

consumers to the end of the meeting, the Committee did not

adequately discuss the agenda items on health claims and risk

analysis. The NHF, along with other consumer and health-freedom

groups around the world, is concerned that if excessively

restrictive global guidelines for vitamins and minerals are

established through Codex, consumer access to food supplements with

a long history of safe use will be blocked. This would particularly

be the case if countries adopt the guidelines into their own

national laws, but could also occur as a result of socio-political

pressures caused by the existence of internationally-recognised

guidelines backed by World Trade Organization enforcement sanctions.

 

The NHF shall therefore continue to work with other delegations in

pursuing specific and realistic pro-active strategies that will

maximize consumer choice and optimize human health.

 

END.

 

For further information contact:

 

Scott Tips

Legal Counsel, NHF

Tel: +1 626-357-2181

Email: ct

www.thenhf.com

 

Dr Robert Verkerk

Scientific Advisor, NHF

Executive & Scientific Director, ANH

Tel: +44 (0)1252 371 275

Email: info

www.alliance-natural-health.org

 

Editor's Notes:

 

Codex Committee on Nutrition and Food for Special Dietary Uses

(CCNFSDU): one of 27 committees of the Codex Alimentarius

Commission, established under the auspices of the Food &

Agricultural Organization and World Health Organization. For further

information: www.codexalimentarius.net.

 

National Health Federation: established in 1955, the National Health

Federation is a consumer-education, health-freedom organization

working to protect individuals' rights to choose to consume healthy

food, take supplements and use alternative therapies without

government restrictions. The NHF is the only such organization with

recognized observer status at Codex meetings. For further

information: www.thenhf.com.

 

Alliance for Natural Health: The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH)

is a UK-based, pan-European and international not-for-profit

campaign organisation working to protect and promote natural health

care through the use of `good science and good law.' For further

information: www.alliance-natural-health.org.

 

Summary of progress of the 27th Session of CCNFSDU, Bonn, Germany,

21-25 November 2005

WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health

 

A discussion paper prepared by WHO/FAO regarding the Implementation

of the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health had

originally been scheduled to be included under agenda item 2.

However, this discussion was moved to agenda item 10, under `Other

Business and Future Work.' As a result there was only a very

limited amount of time available to discuss the proposed

implementation strategy. During the short discussions that did take

place, WHO presented a new two-page proposal document to the

Committee. Unfortunately, however, the vast majority of delegations

had not seen this document because its presence had not been

previously announced and the WHO had apparently run out of copies.

The Codex Secretariat eventually admitted that there was not enough

time to address this difficult and complex issue, and stated that

the Committee should report to the Codex Alimentarius Commission

that there had not been enough time to address the proposal; adding

that it could perhaps be considered instead by the Codex regional

coordinating committees.

FAO/WHO Nutrient Risk Assessment Project

 

It was also announced during this week's meeting that the final

report from the Joint FAO/WHO project to develop scientific

principles on nutrient risk assessment is currently being prepared

and that it should be available during or before early 2006. The

report will then be discussed at the next meeting of the CCNFSDU in

Thailand.

 

Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs)

 

A discussion paper on Nutrient Reference Values was introduced by

Antoinette Booyzen on behalf of South Africa. After some discussion

it was decided that South Africa should be given the mandate to

further revise this document, as a means of establishing some

fundamental principles.

 

It was also announced that an FAO/WHO meeting will be taking place

in December in Florence, Italy, with the goal of reaching agreement

on principles and guidelines that will lead to evidence-based

dietary standards. As a part of this work FAO/WHO will be

discussing the possibility of setting up an expert consultation to

establish new NRVs.

 

Proposed Draft Recommendations on the Scientific Basis of Health

Claims

 

Once again, and for the second year running, there was only a very

limited opportunity to discuss this agenda item. Issues that came

up during the short debate that did take place concerned the

substantiation of health claims and disease risk reduction claims.

There was no in-depth examination of these topics however. It was

agreed that this work would be continued by the electronic working

group chaired by France.

 

Discussion Paper on the Application of Risk Analysis to the Work

 

A Discussion Paper on the Application of Risk Analysis to the Work

of the CCNFSDU had been prepared by Australia, with the assistance

of Canada, the European Community, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, the

United States, the International Alliance for Dietary Supplement

Associations (IADSA), and the International Union of Food Science &

Technology (IUFoST). Australia introduced the paper and proposed

that the work of the Electronic Working Group (EWG) should

continue. In response, the Committee's Chairman, Dr. Rolf

Grossklaus, stated that this work was of enormous importance, and

that it should be given the highest priority. It was therefore

agreed that the work of the EWG would continue under the

chairmanship of Australia.

 

2006 Session of the CCNFSDU

 

Next year's meeting in October/November will take place in

Thailand. The Thai government will co-host the session along with

the German Secretariat.

 

 

 

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