What is it that is threatening this basic right which DSHEA (the Dietary Supplement Health Education Act of 1994) is supposed to protect?
CODEX ALIMENTARIUS - a set of UN-created and WTO-backed standards for food and nutrition. Its original intent was to ensure clean and abundant food for the planet, and to remove international trade barriers for that food.
However, large multi-national corporations in the pharmaceutical, pesticide, chemical, bio-technology and industrial agriculture industries have had enormous influence in developing these international guidelines. The result is a serious threat to your access to supplements, herbs and clean food.
CODEX guidelines have already been instituted in many European countries and in Canada, with the result being serious impingement on the availablility of supplements of supplements and herbs in therapeutic doses. Now these standards are being considered for implementation in the US.
Can you imagine having to pay $50.00 for 50 mg of Vitamin C? In addition to the $30.00 fee for the doctor's visit you had to go to in order to get your prescription for the Vitamin C? This is the reality in France and other European counties right now.
In Germany you can not get Echinacea in a strength that is therapeutic.
And while the citizens of England are in an uproar over similar rulings, and gathered more than 1,000,000 signatures on a petition demanding that these laws be reversed, their government told them this could not be done.
If you are thinking that this is too bizarre, and that such a thing could never happen in this country, think again.
Several pieces of legislature have recently been introduced to Congress that would weaken or dismantle DSHEA. This critical piece of legislature is what is protecting us from restrictions on herbs and supplements within our own government .
In the early 1990's there had been several attempts to control access to herbs and supplements here in the United States. DSHEA established the categorization of herbs and supplements as foods. As a result of this decision, it was determined that because they are foods, no safe upper limit can be set for herbs and supplements. This put an end to the restrictions that were being considered at that time.
CODEX laws can not over-ride or violate laws already in effect in a specific country. With DSHEA out of the way, there would be nothing to counter the CODEX guidelines, which are set to go into full effect worldwide in 2010.
And have you noticed that the media has recently reported several studies claiming to prove the ineffectiveness of such time honored natural therapies as Echinacea and Vitamin C?
We are concerned as to the timing of such reports, and have noted in our reading on this subject that in Europe, media reports of ineffectiveness, and of harmful effects of various herbs and nutrients preceded the implementation of the CODEX standards in Germany and other countries.
We are also aware that several organizations that sound like they are pro natural health, including the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA) and the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) are saying there is nothing to worry about, and that CODEX would provide consumer protection.
From what we have read, and from what we know is now the situation in Europe, we do not believe that CODEX, as it is currently being developed, would provide consumer protection, but would in fact play a significant role in dismantling the natural health care system in this country.
If this information concerns you, and if you want to know what you can do about it, here are three excellent resources that provide a clear understanding of the issue and offer actions you can take to protect your rights:
