FW: Tipping Towards Health Freedom PART II

[Guest guest]

PART II

 

Be Well,

Marcia Elston http://www.wingedseed.com

http://www.aromaconnection.org

" Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot. " Hausa Saying from

Nigeria

 

Part II

FDA " enforcement " by both legal harassment and Federal agents with

dogs, axes and guns is standard fare used against the wellness industry.

Rather than a war against drugs -- illicit ones, the US government appears

to be conducting a war for drugs -- prescription ones.

It is, we must recall, the same FDA which announced its policy on

October 11, 1995 in the US Federal Register to " Harmonize " with

international standards in preference to domestic ones (that means Codex).

And it is the FDA which propels Codex standards and guidelines forward at

Codex which contaminate and adulterate our food, weaken organic standards,

allow and/or require the use of dangerous veterinary drugs and permit

limitless radiation of food and food components. The very same FDA that

revealed that the reason that it does not permit identification of

genetically modified (GM) foods because that would allow consumers to

exercise their well documented preference to NOT purchase GM foods and the

FDA does not want to allow consumers to make that choice since it would

represent an error on the consumer's part to reject GM food (!)

 

The same FDA, you will recall, which jubilantly celebrated the

ratification of the restrictive and deadly Vitamin and Mineral Guideline

(VMG) at the 2005 Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting (Rome, Italy)

despite the devastating impact the VMG ican be expected to have on world

health by promoting under-nutrition and the diseases it brings. You probably

remember that, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the

preventable " Non-Communicable Diseases of Under-nutrition " (NCD's) include

cancers, cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity. Not only are

these diseases the big killers in both the developed and developing world,

they are, not coincidentally, the really big money makers for Big Pharma and

Big Medica. After all, if people don't get sick they won't need drugs. Bad

for the bottom line! Solution? Mandate under-nutrition and contaminated

foods to make sure consumers are sick and have only expensive drugs

available to them for long term use. Good for the bottom line.

By now the entire country is aware that the FDA is not in the health

protection business. With the CAM Guidance, FDA's Planning and Policy

department appears to be positioning the FDA for a stepped-up assault on

providers, practitioners and purveyors of all alternative health care

strategies in the US, Canada and Mexico. By distorting, extending and

exceeding what the law which governs the FDA actually says, the Natural

Solutions Foundation and our legal advisers believe the FDA is, in fact,

carefully laying the groundwork for the eventual total annihilation of

natural health.

 

 

Making it Medical

 

There are a number of ways this annihilation is being

prepared for. First, the term " CAM " has been redefined and is used in the

Guidance to mean " Complementary and Alternative MEDICINE " rather than the

more generic " Complementary and Alternative MODALITIES " . The difference is

significant, as we have written before, because the redefinition of these

practices and the products as MEDICINE may be interpreted by an agency

hostile to all competitors to drug based medicine to mean that only licensed

physicians may carry out these practices. Physicians are, with a few

exceptions, ill equipped to perform non-medical practices and do not have

the extended time to perform then which they take. Perhaps more important,

physicians carrying out such practices (e.g., Reiki, massage, acupressure,

biofeedback, nutritional therapy, detoxification, laying on of hands, sound

healing, crystal therapy, color therapy, etc., etc.) may well be hauled

before their State Medical Boards for practicing unapproved therapies,

failing to follow the increasingly ubiquitous " Practice Guidelines " which

detail which drug must be given for which disease, be paid less (or nothing

at all for their services) by insurance companies AND, in Minnesota, have

their names published on a State-run website as physicians practicing

sub-standard medicine.

But wait! There's more. The products which support these

practices, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs, juices, berries, holy

water, organic foods, nuts, grapes, coconut oil, or whatever, which are used

to support the procedures and intended to bring about healthy states become,

under this guidance, " CAM products " . As CAM products, if they are being used

with the intent to bring about health impacts or benefits, they are

classified as untested drugs. In the US and elsewhere, untested drugs are

illegal and people or organizations selling, recommending or making claims

for them are committing a crime.

 

Remembering Cherries

" Not even the FDA would act so irrationally and

irresponsibly " , you might think. You would be wrong.

The FDA says that their Guidance is merely a restatement of what is

already law. To believe the FDA on this matter one would have to trust the

FDA and see it as a fair minded, even-handed regulatory agency working for

the good of health and consumers. That belief system would require an

Olympic capacity for denial or a large pay check from the pharmaceutical

industry, or better yet, both.

One simple reminder out of many, many should suffice:

On October 17, 2006, when the Michigan cherry growers' trade group

put up independent scientific studies on their website which showed that

cherries possessed health benefits, the FDA announced that the association

of a food (cherries) or food components with a health benefit (reduced joint

pain) meant to the FDA that cherries were an untested drug and the cherry

growers were therefore promoting an illegal drug: cherries. The growers'

association was forced under threat of legal action by the Federal

Government, to remove that information from their site.***

Score? Big Pharma 1, Health Freedom 0. Referee: FDA

- " Willful Distortion of the Law "

The FDA is once again distorting and extending US law to do

the bidding of its pharmaceutical masters. While it has been doing so for a

long time, according to our legal advisers, this Guidance appears very much

like a willful distortion of the truth. The statements and assertions in the

guidance have gone well beyond the law itself. For example, the FDA

" Guidance " makes heavy use of the phrase " CAM products " (e.g., supplements

of all types, foods used with the intent of inducing health or correcting

illness like juice, nuts, holy water, berries, organic food, raw milk, etc.)

It sounds logical and seems to make sense until you realize that

there is no such category. " CAM products " do not exist under the law but the

FDA " Guidance " , by its wording, has created a new " legal-like " category and

devised an irrational and dangerous regulatory strategy for them. The

" Guidance " makes it clear that " CAM products " will be classified as untested

drugs if the intent behind their use is to heal, cure, treat or mitigate

illness or to create health. The standard for regulation has been changed

from use to INTENT! The FDA now gives itself the right to determine WHY you

used, bought, recommended, provided or produced this substance.

That means that any communication of the health impact or

benefit for a food (or food component) turns the food or supplement into a

drug. Selling, recommending or advising the use of that untested drug is

illegal.

This just happens to dovetail perfectly with the US-backed

definition of advertising which will be discussed at the Codex Committee on

Food Labeling (CCFL, which the Natural Solutions Foundation will be

attending next week in Ottawa, Canada).

 

That definition says that ANYTHING which influences public beliefs,

behaviors or diet, and therefore either indirectly or directly influences

the sale of food, constitutes advertising! As advertising, of course, it

will be regulated by the government. See " Cherries " above.

The Natural Solutions Foundation has submitted comments to the FDA

pursuant to its misguided policy of support for this dangerous muzzling of

speech and information about food and health. (Those comments will be

available shortly on our website along with our comments on Organic

Standards and Genetically Modified Foods.)

 

When we share those comments with delegates to Codex from health

friendly countries, they take in what we say and, as with our Fluoride

comments last November, can act to block the US' dangerous position.

In Chiang Mai, Thailand, at the Codex Committee on Nutrition and

Foods for Special Dietary Uses (or CCNFSDU) our comments showing the dangers

of fluoride for infants led to the US being defeated in its bid to include

it as a permitted additive for formula for normal infants. This was a big

win for global health and bottle fed babies everywhere. It was also a clear

indication that our presence and trust-building activities with the

developing nations at Codex and in their home countries is a potent and

successful strategy. The more of that we can do, the more impact we can have

on health and health freedom globally and the weaker the " Big's " domination

becomes.

 

Big Pharma, Big Chema, Big Biotechna, Big Agribiz and Big Medica run

the FDA and, according to our analysis and direct personal observation, the

FDA runs Codex. The developing nations know this and value our input to help

them find options inside and outside of Codex to protect their people from

Codex dangers and their economies from World Trade Organization (WTO) trade

sanctions if they stray from Codex.

When we go to CCFL next week, we will have copies of our Codex Book

<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=329739133

<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=329739133 & url_num=6 & url=

http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthfreedomusa.org%2Findex.php%3Fpage_id%3D220>

& url_num=6 & url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthfreedomusa.org%2Findex.php%3Fpage_id%3

D220> (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=220

<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=329739133

<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=329739133 & url_num=7 & url=

http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthfreedomusa.org%2Findex.php%3Fpage_id%3D220>

& url_num=7 & url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthfreedomusa.org%2Findex.php%3Fpage_id%3

D220> )and Nutricide: the DVD

<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=329739133

<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=329739133 & url_num=8 & url=

http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthfreedomusa.org%2Findex.php%3Fpage_id%3D156>

& url_num=8 & url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthfreedomusa.org%2Findex.php%3Fpage_id%3

D156> (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=156

<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=329739133

<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=329739133 & url_num=9 & url=

http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthfreedomusa.org%2Findex.php%3Fpage_id%3D156>

& url_num=9 & url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthfreedomusa.org%2Findex.php%3Fpage_id%3

D156> )to give to folks there. The Codex Book (available for download on our

site) is an example of the application of the 2 step strategy we share with

countries to protect their peoples from the multinational mandated

under-nutrition which will kill so many. The same strategy, of course, can

be used to protect any country from any of the dangerous standards and

guidelines of Codex while " WTO proofing " the country.

These tools (available to you on our website

<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=329739133

<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=329739133 & url_num=10 & url

=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.HealthFreedomUSA.org>

& url_num=10 & url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.HealthFreedomUSA.org> ,

www.HealthFreedomUSA.org

<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=329739133

<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=329739133 & url_num=11 & url

=https%3A%2F%2Fsecure.democracyinaction.org%2Fdia%2Fhq%2Fhttp%3A%2Fwww.Healt

hFreedomUSA.org>

& url_num=11 & url=https%3A%2F%2Fsecure.democracyinaction.org%2Fdia%2Fhq%2Fhttp

%3A%2Fwww.HealthFreedomUSA.org> , are powerful persuaders. So are our

comments.