Small News/Politics Graphic U.N..-W.H.O.'s "CODEX": A Threat to Health Freedom
from "Perceptions" March/April 1996 issue

U.N..-W.H.O.'s "CODEX": A Threat to Health Freedom

Few Americans have heard of the United Nations/World Health Organization (WHO) Codex Alimentarious (Nutrition Code) Commission or "Codex," partly because it meets in Rome. Very little has appeared about Codex in U.S. newsletters and magazines read by people interested in vitamins, alternative medicine and health freedom, but it may pose the greatest threat to health freedom in the world today.

The commission meets every two years and any delegate can propose a change in its standards. Attorney Suzanne Harris has reviewed a partial list of international organizations "allowed" to send delegates and found that more than 90 percent represent giant multinational pharmaceutical corporations. The only "consumer" organization she saw listed is the "International Organization of Consumers Unions," which means that right now the general public here has zero representation on this critically important committee!

What Supplements Will They Allow You?

In 1996, Codex will meet in Bonn to make radical changes in the rules governing dietary supplements for member nations. Consumers now face an ominous new threat in the proposals made by the German delegation, called "Proposed Draft Guidelines for Dietary Supplements". The German plan calls for the following:
  1. No vitamin, mineral, herb, etc. can be sold for prophylactic (preventive) or therapeutic use;
  2. None sold as a food can exceed potency ( dosage) levels set by the commission;
  3. Codex regulations for dietary supplements would become binding--eliminating the escape clause within the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that allows a nation to set its own standards, and
  4. All new dietary supplements would automatically be banned unless the go through the Codex approval process.

If these Draconian measures are adopted, any party to GATT (e.g., the United States) which does not accept the new standards can be heavily sanctioned ( fined) by the World Trade Organization. The WTO will have the right to levy enormous fines on any nation that gets "out of line," with the potential to cripple entire sectors of that nation's economy.

The sole U.S. delegate to Codex has been Elizabeth A. Yetley, Ph.D., R.D., of the FDA. Responding to political pressure in the United States, so far she has voted for health freedom, but with little result --at the last meeting the vote went 16-2 in favor of the German proposal!

What You Can Do About It

Clearly, we cannot expect much help from Congress which surrendered much of its power to deal with the issue when it passed GATT. Under the agreement, member nations must "harmonize" their rules governing the manufacture of health and medical products with new international standards so as to be "in line" with them. Congress cannot rescind its vote on GATT -- on the contrary, the single U.S. delegate to this international commission can be outvoted by delegates from other countries.

Two steps have already been taken in the Codex process, which is now at "Step Three": The proposal is going to be formalized. and written responses and debate over its specific features will be undertaken.

In 1996, the FDA will convene a public hearing where-in interested persons and organizations will be able to discuss and question Codex and the U.S. position on it. The FDA will then draft a final U.S. position paper to be submitted to the five-day Bonn Codex meeting. The paper will be highly influential in shaping the final proposed regulations.

It is vitally important that you write to Dr. Robert Moore, FDA Office of Special Nutritionals, HFS-456, 200 C. St. S.W., Washington, DC 20204, expressing your objections to the German Codex proposal. Also write/fax your senators and congresspersons, as well as every member of the Senate Labor Committee and the House Commerce Committee.


Yin/Yang Symbol Acupuncture.com

Contacting Acupuncture.com...