Americans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, and people in S.Africa had better sit up and take notice of the LARCENY which is presently occuring in the European Union with regards to our herbs. (If you are in the EU, you had REALLY better take action!) The multinationals are very busy right now setting up the mechanisms to STEAL our herbs, and to turn them into "drugs" which they want to sell back to us at exhorbitant prices, much as they already are in Norway where the takeover has already proceeded. Beware of all attempts to "harmonize" your countries laws with the EU's, here is why:
At the request of the European Commission, the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA)www.eudra.org/emea.html has just released a draft report located at http://www.eudra.org/emea/pdfs/EMEA_HMPWG_114_98.pdf
You will need acrobat reader to download the draft, which is undergoing a comments period until sometime in April. It would help if you have a team of Philadelphia Lawyers once you download it, because they are playing a serious game of "hurdle raising" on us here.
Upon perusing this document, I see that the pharmaceutical industry is actively taking steps to totally dominate the manufacture and sale of herbal products by creating far more red tape than any small manufacturer would ever be able to comply with. This is out and out ROBBERY.
Bayer, Boerhinger Ingleheim and a growing number of pharmaceutical giants are calling herbs "green pharmaceuticals" and after you read this draft report, you will clearly see the sort of steps they are taking to get complete control of the market and to regulate the herbs as "drugs". (See the article from the April 15, 1997 issue of Genetic Engineering News at <http://www.pnc.com.au/~cafmr/hammell/world/herb-eu.txt>
Under the Codex Commission these products are regulated as FOODS, so we can rest assured that the amendment that I was able to get put into the FDA Reform Bill will be targetted for repeal by pharmaceutical interests who could insert language repealing it into any telephone book thick legislation that comes along, and we won't even SEE it unless we remain vigilant.
(When we amended the FDA Reform Bill we got dietary supplements exempted from the harmonization language which threatened to harmonize our food and drug laws with those of the EU, where supplements are regulated as "drugs" and where its getting worse.
The writing is on the wall. Unless enough Americans push hard to pass HR 2868, the Consumer Health Free Speech Act, which removes FOOD from the current overly broad definition of DRUG, we won't be able to maintain our access, or be able to stop the EU or other countries (including Canada) from erecting trade barriers against our products.
It is essential that we approach the US Trade Represenatative to get him to write letters to all foreign governments (much as Senators Hatch and Harkin already have regarding the illegal pending ban in England on B-6) to put them all on notice that if they block us from shipping product to their countries, they will be in violation of international law. (We won't be able to stop them from embargoing our products if they can succeed in continuing to push them across the line from FOOD to "DRUGS" due to the differences in how products are regulated on a basis of risk/benefit analysis under the Sanitary Phytosanitary Measures Agreement (SPS) as opposed to the Technical Barriers on Trade agreement. (TBT).Under SPS things aren't regulated nearly as stringently as they are under TBT.
From a standpoint of emerging international law, it is absolutely essential that we KEEP dietary supplements classified as FOODS in the US.
If you haven't already, please download the form letter for HR 2868, the Consumer Health Free Speech Act, which removes FOOD from the current overly broad definition of DRUG from the IAHF website, first item under breaking news. It is essential that grass roots health freedom groups world wide, especially in the EU, file comments with the European Commission before the April 1998 deadline.
Citizens for Health, the fake grass roots astroturf organization which actively supports the agenda of the European-American Phytomedicines Coalition (rather than fight for health freedom) would have us believe that there is no more threat to access to herbal products because we were able to get the Canadian negative or no trade list for herbs killed at the last Codex meeting in Geneva, but it should be easy to see by looking at this EAMP document that the pharmaceutical companies have merely redoubled their efforts at the national and regional levels (such as this effort within the EU) to pursue their crooked agenda. They are gearing up world wide to come roaring back from step 3 in Berlin in September of this year. They are attempting to neutralize all opposition, and are very patient. They boil the frog slowly, and as Ron Birckhead reports from Norway right now: "hmmmmm! I smell frogs COOKING!!!"
What can you do? You can take action! You can file comments, and if you can't do it, you can assist IAHF and the Law Loft in filing comments by contributing monetarily. We need your active support in order to warn people world wide as to what is going on. People can't fight what they can't see! We are trying hard to expose what is going on. Please forward this to more people. Anyone can get on the IAHF distribution list by sending email with their snail mail address and the word "add" in the subject line. Anyone can also assist IAHF by joining the Life Extension Foundation and by buying their products. For a free copy of one of my articles call LEF at 800-841-5433 or send them email at lef@lef.org. Please tell them you heard about them through IAHF in order to support our badly needed efforts to defend your health freedom. Currently LEF will be sponsoring a special meeting at the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, CA, USA and I will be traveling next week to Total Health '98 in Toronto, Canada where I've been invited to speak as part of a panel discussion group this coming saturday at the Toronto Convention Center.
John Hammell
28 Feb 1998
Donations Needed- Need Help to Keep Helper On
International Advocates for Health Freedom
John C. Hammell, Legislative Advocate
2411 Monroe St.#2 Hollywood, FL 33020 USA
800-333-2553, 954-929-2905, FAX 954-929-0507,
FAX ON DEMAND 954-927-8795,jham@concentric.net
www.iahf.com
HERBS ARE _NOT_ DRUGS! HELP PASS HR 2868
THE CONSUMER HEALTH FREE SPEECH ACT!!!