To: IAHF List
Subject: Solemn Warning to Vitamin Consumers: CAFTA Moved Out of Committee in Both Senate & House...SPS Language Threatens Harmonization to Codex Standards
From: IAHF.COM
Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2005 21:28:14 +0200
IAHF List: [WHAT TO DO - SEND IN FORM LETTER BELOW MY COMMENTS AT END]
Historically, the ruling elite have ALWAYS tried to foist unpopular legislative measures through congress during the SUMMER when the largest possible number of people are on vacation and spending more time outdoors, not paying attention to what is going on right under their noses.
This summer is certainly no exception. Don't expect me to save you from whats going on, I'm just one person. I need ALL of you to get far more actively involved in this effort by taking action, by doing public speaking, by mass forwarding this alert.
PLEASE REDOUBLE your efforts to educate your fellow vitamin consumers to the immense threat posed by CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) to our future access to dietary supplements and to the ongoing existence of our country which will be plunged into a hemispheric equivalent to the EU Dictatorship if we sit idly by and LET this happen.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED IN WASHINGTON
At the Senate Finance Committee hearing that I just attended in Washington, Senator Conrad from North Dakota held up a huge chart showing our $617 Billion trade deficit. We're witnessing a NAKED EFFORT to crush the dollar, to DESTROY our country and we can't sit idly by and just LET it happen- but it WILL if we just sit on our hands because we must OFFSET the power wielded over our elected officials by multinational PAC donations- and we can ONLY do that by speaking out.... LOUDLY, and IMMEDIATELY! It sickens me that both the Senate and House passed CAFTA out of committee given that it obvioiusly extends the failed policies of NAFTA, but our reality is that they HAVE.
We can't let our country be turned into a mere SECTOR of a global dictatorship much as is happening to the UK as its being subsumed deeper and deeper into the morass of the EU. Read Conrad's testimony, but keep in mind that what he's saying about the threat posed to the sugar beet growers in his state extends to ALL of us as more and more jobs are being outsourced to the third world: http://conrad.senate.gov/~conrad/releases/05/06/2005607946.html Our manufacturing and agricultural bases are being destroyed. We can't let this continue.
The Rockefellers have made it very clear that they intend to FORCE the creation of a carbon copy of the EU Dictatorship in our hemisphere via CAFTA and FTAA, and its up to US to STOP THEM!! They've made their intentions clear via their book
INTEGRATING THE AMERICAS- THE FTAA & BEYOND
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0674014847/qid=1119119562/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-1531051-4622459
CAFTA WAS VOTED OUT OF COMMITTEE IN BOTH SENATE & HOUSE LAST WEEK
Last week, despite our best efforts which included my hand delivering an the info sheet expressing our concerns to every member of the Senate and meeting with as many as I could, on Monday the Senate Finance Committee passed CAFTA out of Committee, and on Wednesday it made it through the House Ways and Means Committee.
The text as deliberated in committee now returns to the President who makes changes which reflect concerns expressed in the markup hearings which just took place. This means that sometime later this month or in July we can expect a vote to take place on the House and Senate floors in which the allowed numbers of hours of debate will be strictly limited by Fast Track rules, and they'll have to vote it up or down.
Fast track rules limitting the number of hours of debate make it challenging to kill trade agreements such as this, and its going to take a huge amount of very hard work on all of our parts if our concerns will even be ADDRESSED in the debate.
NOT EVEN HATCH OR HARKIN ARE HELPING US
Not even Senators Hatch or Harkin are focused on the threat lurking in the form of the SPS (Sanitary Phytosanitary Measures) language buried deep inside this trade agreement which would force harmonization of our dietary supplement laws to restrictive emerging Codex vitamin standards. When I was in Washington, although I tried, I was unable to get appointments with their aides to discuss this concern, and we're going to just have to keep trying.
The SPS Agreement is part of the WTO Trade Agreement, and we're more firmly bound to it via SPS language contained simultaneously in NAFTA, CAFTA, and FTAA. Passage of CAFTA and FTAA would broaden and deepen its scope, roping us in.
(see http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/15sps_01_e.htm#ArticleIII)
Article 3 of the SPS Agreement reads:
"To harmonize sanitary and phytosanitary measures on as wide a basis as possible, Members SHALL base their food safety measures on international standards, guidelines or recommendations."
(Codex sets the international standards for Food Safety including vitamins & minerals, soon to be expanded to include the full spectrum of other supplements)
Then see the applicable text in CAFTA on SPS:
http://www.ustr.gov/Trade_Agreements/Bilateral/CAFTA/CAFTA-DR_Final_Texts/Section_Index.html
Section 6: CAFTA requires members to form an SPS Committee for the purpose of insuring ongoing harmonization under the terms of the SPS Agreement in the WTO.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
By Monday I will have gotten a new alert on the Consumer Alerts section of Life Extension Foundation's website http://www.lef.org LEF has something called "Capital Advantage" which facilitates the sending of form letters to members of Congress with one mouse click.
I'll have a new set of directions on their site by then to replace the instructions their currently which were intended to impact the markup hearing in the Senate that just took place.
If you'd like to utilize a form letter immediately, you can take the one below, and fax or email it to members of Congress, getting their contact info from http://www.house.gov and http://www.senate.gov
Kill CAFTA For the Following Reasons
To: Senators____________________________
And Congressman ______________________________
I Urge Your Opposition to CAFTA for the following reasons:
The WTO, NAFTA, CAFTA and FTAA trade agreements all contain the SPS (Sanitary Phytosanitary Measures) agreement. Article 3 of SPS states:
"To harmonize sanitary and phytosanitary measures on as wide a basis as possible, Members SHALL base their food safety measures on international standards, guidelines or recommendations."
This makes the supposedly voluntary Codex Alimentarius standard for vitamins and minerals MANDATORY for all WTO member nations.
Passage of CAFTA and FTAA would broaden and deepen the scope of the SPS agreement, forcing harmonization of not only our dietary supplement laws to mindless international standards, but it would lead to the creation of a supranational body similar to the EU in our hemisphere, and we oppose this clear threat to US sovereignty.
When the draft text of CAFTA was first made available on January 28th, 2004 the Governors of all 50 States discovered that they were bound by the 2,400 page agreement- being specifically listed in chapter 9. A third have since rescinded their support of CAFTA.
Last fall, a WTO tribunal outlawed Utah's ban on gambling, opening the door to millions of dollars in penalties against all states with anti-gambling restrictions. Antigua had charged that Utah's ban on gambling violated America's obligation not to discriminate against foreigners providing recreational services.
CAFTA includes hundreds of pages of grants of vague authority to foreign tribunals. It wouldn't take long for an activist foreign judge to read his own interpretation into language such as the SPS agreement and force changes to US laws including the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act.
In addition to these concerns, NAFTA never lived up to the numerous promises made about it, and our Trade Deficit is worse now than ever, contributing to the weakening of the dollar. There is no reason to expect CAFTA or FTAA do anything more than to FURTHER this negative trend, and lead to the destruction of our nation, and our economy.
WTO tribunals have ruled against the USA in 42 out of 48 cases, many of which were very costly to our economy. Since joining the advent of NAFTA, our trade deficit has ballooned to $617 Billion. CAFTA continues this failed policy, threatening to destroy our country. I therefore ask you to vote NO on CAFTA and on FTAA.
Signed________________________________
Address____________________________________________________
City_________________________________State____Zip____________
For Health Freedom,
John C. Hammell, President
International Advocates for Health Freedom
556 Boundary Bay Road
Point Roberts, WA 98281-8702 USA
http://www.iahf.com
jham@iahf.com
800-333-2553 N.America
360-945-0352 World