To: IAHF List
Subject: URGENT ALERT- EU Vote Tuesday On Dangerous Vitamin Directive: Signatures Badly Needed NOW!!!
From: "International Advocates for Health Freedom" jham@iahf.com
Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2001 12:40:18 -0500
URGENT ALERT- EU VITAMIN DIRECTIVE VOTE TUESDAY- ACTION NEEDED NOW- MORE SIGNATURES NEEDED - forward widely & ACT NOW!
IAHF List: Joseph Hasslberger from La Leva di Archimede alerts vitamin consumers world wide to please urge as many people as humanly possible to sign the health freedom petition at http://www.laleva.cc/petizione/english/intro_eng.html between now and Tuesday, because on Tuesday the European Parliament will vote on the dangerous vitamin directive that threatens to destroy consumer access to dietary supplements all over Europe, forcing all 15 EU countries to walk in lockstep with Germany where access to vitamins is heavily restricted. People outside the EU must not ignore this due to harmonization.
After the vote on Tuesday, if the EU Parliament agrees by simple majority to accept the Vitamin Directive, the language would then go to the European Council of Ministers where the reps from each EU government can either accept the Directive as written, or make changes. If they make changes, it goes back again to the EU Parliament, but there is a very real danger right now that the Directive will be accepted as currently written by the EU Parliament, and that the Council of Ministers will also accept it as written.
It gives the Pharma Cartel everything they want, so it very well might go right on through despite our efforts on getting signatures on the La Leva petition, because the MEPs and Council of Ministers is under no obligation whatsoever to pay attention to that petition, especially when over half of the signatures are from Americans, and many more come from countries outside the EU.
Only Denmark and Sweden have gotten any appreciable number of signatures on the petition, and they are just 2 out of the 15 EU countries. So if MEPs from Denmark, Sweden, England, Portugal and Holland all spoke against the Directive when they go to vote on it, it would still pass on Tuesday because they would simply be outvoted by the rest of the EU.
So frankly, it does not look good for our friends overseas, and as a person with a genetic need for vitamins, whose health would be seriously impaired if I lost access, I feel immense pain right now, not only for our friends in Europe, but also because of the very real threat that our American dietary supplement laws could be harmonized to the EU unless far more Americans wake up to this reality.
Does it make sense for Americans and other vitamin consumers world wide to keep signing the petition at http://www.laleva.cc/petizione/english/intro_eng.html between now and tuesday and after tuesday as well? YES!! Its the ONLY CHANCE we have of POSSIBLY stopping what is going on.
Americans are being set up like bowling pins, and far too many arrogantly assume that nothing could ever overturn DSHEA. These people need to pull their heads out of the sand and take a very close look at what is happening with harmonization, with entities such as the Trans Atlantic Business Dialogue, the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue, and the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body. They need to take a very close look at the CRN press release below where the writing is very clearly on the wall, and they need to sign the petition above as well as the petitition calling for proper oversight at http://www.garynull.com because otherwise we could be whitewashed in the Codex Oversight hearing fast approaching on February 28th, and the possibility is very strong that unless we actively get involved and educate our Congressmen, all of our witnesses could be excluded from presenting oral testimony at the hearing.
Is this a bad situation? Yes, it is. Is it hopeless? No, its not, but it could BECOME hopeless if people keep ignoring what is going on.
There has been immense spin control world wide to try to hide the stealth pharmaceutical takeover of the natural products industry. They've been making use of controlled opposition groups, plants, double agents, bribery, pay offs, control of the mass media, but we can't pretend they're not coming for our vitamins when they make no bones about it. Look at the CRN press release below. Closely. Then look at the US News and World Report cover story which slams the dietary supplement industry at http://www.usnews.com The time for ACTION is NOW!! Proof that the USA is being SET UP:
U.S. and European Leaders Agree on Principles to Harmonize Dietary Supplement Regulations
http://www.crnusa.org/shellnr112000.html
Monday, November 20, 2000
Contact: Mike Greene
202/263-1002
mgreene@crnusa.org
WASHINGTON, DC -- The dietary supplements sector-working group of the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) agreed on several key elements to harmonize the regulatory framework for vitamin and mineral food supplements on both sides of the Atlantic. These major breakthroughs were forged at the Sixth TABD CEO Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, from November 16-18.
The working group approved the principles and components on definition, safety, and GMPs. The working group also agreed to continue its dialogue and that its next steps would be to:
1.Define types of claims and appropriate labeling for food supplements and develop criteria for transatlantic acceptance of credible scientific evidence to substantiate these claims; evaluate mechanisms for authorizing/approving claims; and assess conditions for exclusivity to encourage research and development.
2.Encourage the scientific bodies responsible for the evaluation of the safety of total intakes of vitamins and minerals (EU Scientific Committee on Food and US Food and Nutrition Board) to cooperate closely to harmonize setting upper safe levels for vitamins and minerals.
3.Define and recommend methodologies for setting maximum levels for vitamin and/or mineral food supplements on the basis of upper safe levels of total intake for these nutrients and intakes from other sources. The responsible regulatory bodies are encouraged to cooperate and establish one set of figures for maximum levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements on both sides of the Atlantic.
4.Seek urgently, in light of the imminent proposed US rule on GMPs, transatlantic harmony for implementing common GMPs and quality standards. The working group also agreed to develop practical procedures to support GMP details; and seek acceptance, implementation, and appropriate enforcement.
Progress toward transatlantic harmonization of dietary supplements was led by a team of supplement CEO´s that included: Gale Bensussen, Leiner Health Products Inc.; William Van Dyke, B&D Nutritional Ingredients, Inc.; Johannes Burges, Hermes Arzneimittel; and Sonnich Fryland, Ferrosan. They were among the more than 120 industry leaders from the U.S. and the European Union who called on their governments to adopt a list of progressive trade liberalization measures at this TABD CEO Conference.
The CEO´s, meeting with senior officials form the U.S. Administration, the European Commission, the U.S. Congress, and the European Parliament, made recommendations on how best to boost transatlantic and global trade and investment. They focused on specific mechanisms for resolving trade disputes and expanding the U.S.-EU commercial marketplace, which at $1 billion per day in two-way trade, is the world´s largest trading relationship.
"The recommendations we have developed at this meeting will, if adopted by the governments, expand trade and investment opportunities for large, medium, and small companies by removing obstacles and inefficiencies in the U.S. and European regulatory regimes," said George David, chairman and CEO of United Technologies Corporation and US TABD chair for 2000. "Adoption of these recommendations will create jobs, raise living standards, lower costs and improve access to goods–that is, provide concrete benefits for business, for labor, and for consumers."
The TABD is a results-oriented forum that seeks to increase transatlantic trade and investment opportunities through the removal of costly inefficiencies from excessive regulation, duplication and differences in the EU and U.S. regulatory systems and procedures in a manner consistent with sustainable development.
For details about the dietary supplement sector working group progress and future plans, contact either Issues Manager John Cordaro–USA jcordaro@crnusa.org or Peter Heer–Europe peter.heer@roche.com.