To: Jeff Rooker, MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA, UK
FAX +44 (0)171 219 5823

To: Paul Boateng, MP, House of Commons, London SW1 0AA, UK
FAX +44 (0)171 219 4970

Dear Mr. Rooker, and Mr. Boateng:

I have taken high potency B-6 with no side effects, and know many other people around the world who have also. I have read, and agree with the concerns expressed by Linda Lazerides of the Society for the Promotion of Nutritional Therapy as expressed below, and request that you send me a copy of your response to her concerns. Consumers world wide refuse to tolerate efforts such as this by the pharmaceutical industry to demonize safe natural products as part of a global campaign to dominate and take over the dietary supplement industry. This move to regulate vitamin B-6 is unscientific, arbitrary and capricious. I agree with Linda's concerns as expressed below:

The UK government is poised for new legislation making all vitamin B6 supplements above 10 mg in strength licensable medicines. A government press release suggests that this move is required "...following public concerns about reports of toxicity caused by vitamin B6...." The SPNT has not been able to ascertain who made these reports, who exactly has been poisoned, or why the government's Food Advisory Committee believes that an expensive licence will make higher-range B6 supplements less "toxic".

Pharmaceutical marketing licences are designed to prevent drug tragedies like thalidomide and can add 150,000 UK pounds to the total cost for consumers. Many favourite brands which do not have the funding and resources for animal trials and other pharmaceutical requirements would disappear.

The SPNT calls these moves illogical and unscientific. The officials have announced that they are based on the following rationale:

1. That a survey carried out more than 10 years ago by a Dr Dalton who attributed symptoms experienced by PMS patients in her private practice to the vitamin B6 supplements they told her they were taking, claims to have found B6 toxicity at doses as low as 50 mg per day. Virtually ignored for ten years by the scientific community, this study's methods did not follow rigorous scientific procedures and its claims have been refuted by dozens of other studies in which vitamin B6 produced no side effects at doses of 2,000 mg a day or more.

2. The toxic dose of vitamin B6 in dogs is known to be equivalent to a massive 3,000 mg per day. The government's advisers known as the Committee on Toxicity (COT) say this should be divided by a factor of 300 to arrive at a safe dose for humans of 10 mg.

But leading science policy experts consider a factor of 300 to be arbitrary, not based on normal scientific practice. Why did the COT think it necessary to deviate from normal scientific practice just for vitamin supplements...?

Products containing up to 200 mg of vitamin B6 have been on the UK market for decades with no reports of side effects. Even the Food Ministry's own recently completed 5-year study on the safety of dietary supplements could not turn up any adverse reactions to these products. They are sold under food law, which keeps the price down and affords the best consumer protection.

Medicines do not have to be safe - only to prove that their risks do not outweigh their benefits. But foods can be taken off the market if they are found to be unfit for human consumption.

Pharmaceutical licences are primarily intended for pharmaceutical products, which is why they can cost 80,000 to several million UK pounds to obtain. The cost comes from the massive amount of data which a manufacturer must produce in order to prove that his product is a medicine. Ultimately it is the consumer who must pay the premium, in this case receiving little benefit from the added expense since vitamins are not drugs.

The position of independent expert scientists is that vitamin B6 is completely safe at up to 200 mg per day, allowing for a considerable safety margin. Signs of toxicity may begin to show in a small proportion of people after taking 500 mg per day for months or years.

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I stand in solidarity with consumers of dietary supplements throughout the UK as well as all over the world. I stand behind the UK's opposition to the draconian German proposal for dietary supplements which is under deliberation in the UN's Codex Commission. Please respond to Linda Lazerides specific questions, and please send me a copy of your response.

Signed:______________________________________________

Address: Street _______________________________________

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cc: My elected officials in my country if different from the UK.

International Advocates for Health Freedom
John C. Hammell, Legislative Advocate
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