Imagine having to go to a physician to get your vitamin C! There is a movement in Europe and other parts of the world to "harmonize" world trade regulations and thereby force other countries and eventually the USA to adopt restrictive food supplement legislation. A major proponent of this movement is being driven by the commission known as "Codex."

The Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) was established in 1962 by two United Nations organizations, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Codex, it is said, is a major international organization established to encourage fair international trade in food and to protect the health and economic interests of consumers.

There are currently attempts to modify the Codex to include restrictions on vitamin supplementation in all EU countries of Europe and eventually all other countries including the USA.

CODEX ALIMENTARIUS BACKGROUND

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is a subsidiary of the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) Codex Alimentarius is Latin for "food code." Representing member governments, The Commission is mandated to set international reference standards for trade in all kinds of raw and processed foods products with regard to nutritional content, pesticide residues, contaminant levels, and labeling standards.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission meets every two years. The Codex process has so far been mainly secretive and meetings are not open to the public.

The Codex met in Germany in October, 1996 to create binding new global trade rules for health supplements. Codex members voted on the laws proposed by the Germans and supported by large European drug companies like Hoechst, Bayer and BASF.

If Codex Alimentarius succeeds in passing wide-sweeping legislation related to nutraceuticals, then food supplements such as herbs, vitamins, minerals, and homeopathic remedies you have taken for granted most of your life may be available by prescription only. This is already the case in Germany as related to vitamins such as vitamin C. If you want to get a dietary supplement product with more than 200 mg of Vitamin C in Germany today you must have a doctor's prescription. In the future this this standard could be lowered to a regulation quantity of of only 60 mgs of vitamin C per day.

The idea behind the proposed Codex regulations as related to supplements is to shift product obtained currently as "natural remedies" into the prescription category so they can be controlled exclusively by medical physicians and their major business partners such as the giant pharmaceutical firms.

Some of the Proposed (Codex) Draft Guidelines for Dietary Supplements include:

1. No dietary supplement can be sold for preventive (prophylactic) or therapeutic use.

2. No dietary supplement sold as a food can exceed potency (dosage) levels set by the [Codex] commission.

3. Dietary supplements of higher potency, as decided by Codex will be sold as drugs and sold by the pharmaceutical or phytopharmaceutical companies.

The Codex proposals are already in force in Norway and Germany, where the entire health food industry has been co-opted by corporate interests over the rights of individual freedoms.

In these countries, vitamin C above 200 mg, vitamin E above 45 IU, vitamin B1 over 2.4 mg and so on are available by prescription only.

The Norwegian pharmaceutical giant Shering-Plough now controls echinacea tincture. It is sold in Norway as an over-the-counter drug at grossly inflated prices. The same is true of ginkgo biloba and many other herbs, because only one government-controlled pharmacy has the right to import supplements as medicines to sell to pharmacies, natural food stores and convenience stores.

Many major European Pharmas and medical associations support the Codex agenda of restricting vitamin supplements in Europe and eventually the USA not because it is good for the consumer, but because it makes good business sense for them and is in their economic self-interest.

In America over 50% of the population takes a daily vitamin or food supplement daily. If the Codex legislation gains momentum and succeds in "harmonizing" all the world's countries into its regulatory proposals then the big pharmaceutical companies could corner the market on vitamins and nutrients removing any competition by the current natural foods and nutraceutical industry.

The good news is that there has been some encouraging progress in the European court system related to decisions affecting the Codex proposed control of vitamins and nutrients that is in favor of protecting naturally occurring nutrients as found in foods and botanicals.

The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), located in Surrey, United Kingdom is a nonprofit organization and consumer advocate group which is fighting in court against Codex proposed control of dietary supplements and the movement to restrict consumer's rights to free access to vitamins, food supplements and alternative nutritional and medical therapies.

In some ways we do not disagree with the Codex concept of controlling synthetic vitamins which, after all are un-natural chemical compounds similar to drugs. But we find abhorrent the idea of someone dictating to us what food supplements we can and or cannot take to pursue our self care goals.

The ANH is one among other proactive organizations helping to protect us from legislation to curtail our rights to self care. Their activities world-wide have resulted in substantial victories for those who cherish the freedom to choose their own diet and food supplements without interference.

The Codex authorities representing the EU have been trying to group the naturally occurring vitamins with the chemical-synthetic vitamins manufactured by laboratories, thereby banning or restricting both types of vitamins and nutrients under one law. In July 2005, ANH won a victory in court in this regard and more recently (August, 2007) a substantial victory in court related to protection of naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, and nutrients as found in foods. Below is a partial of their recent news release:

"A Stunning Victory! American Association for Health Freedom (AAHF) is pleased to announce that a stunning decision was made by the European Commission and all because of our international affiliate, Alliance for Natural Health (ANH). In a stunning move, ANH received a letter from the European Commission (EC) signed by two members, which indicates clearly that all natural sources of vitamins and minerals, which could have been subject to a ban EU-wide, will escape the draconian EU Food Supplements Directive (FSD), and will now be regulated as foods. This means that not only will natural sources be outside of the Directive (thereby escaping the bans); this new letter reverses the position of the EC's legal unit given to ANH in March 2006 and upholds their interpretation of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) 2005 ruling!!"

We should thank the ANH and especially their director, Dr. Robert Verkerk, for their fine work protecting the consumer's rights to nature's bounty of nutrients which, after all, belong to all of us.

Part of the impact of this legal decision that affects the Codex should be appreciated as a victory for organic consumers everywhere and for those who promote Naturally Occurring Standard dietary supplements and food fortification. We say this because it is our belief that naturally occurring traditional nutrients from foods should never be regulated or restricted in any way.

The current Codex situation should also be a wake-up call for the consumer and the food supplement industry indicating the important fact that dietary supplement products derived from naturally occurring nutrients from food sources must be protected and promoted as the next and final evolution of real, dietary supplementation. This is because synthetic nutrients could eventually become regulated since they are not derived from nature and people may make a stronger case for regulating what they make in laboratories as opposed to making a strong case for regulating what they do not make such as nutrients produced by nature.

Nutrient complexes from foods created by nature can never be duplicated and must always be protected because our lives depend upon it. Only nature can make an apple and only natural food supports human life. No amount of synthetic "food" or nutrients made in laboratories can replace the food made by nature that we require daily for our health and our survival.

Hopefully, food supplement companies everywhere will see the danger from regulation to their products that contain synthetic nutrients and will in their own self-interest seriously consider adding naturally occurring standard (NOS) products containing only NOS nutrients from foods and botanicals to their lines for the insurance of their survival and as a service to the consumer. More importantly, it is the duty of the consumer to demand NOS food supplements in all categories for the sake of their health and for the survival of the food supplement food industry.

Our freedom like our nutrition is Naturally Occurring. It is worthwhile protecting and promoting our naturally occurring rights to real foods and nutrition free of unnecessary regulation or restrictions. We are responsible to help support the current trend of dietary purification being lead by the organic movement which includes the removal of synthetics from all areas of our life whether they be synthetic vitamins, nutrients, or any kind of synthetic chemical compounds which are a burden to our body or our planet.

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