To: IAHF List
Subject: We Have a Smoking Gun- Lets USE IT! Concise Plan To Stop Codex Vitamin Threat DEAD IN ITS TRACKS!
From: "International Advocates for Health Freedom" jham@iahf.com
Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 23:10:11 -0500
IAHF Webmaster: Post this under Breaking News, Codex Oversight, US Health Freedom
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IAHF List:
This is the most important anti Codex email alert I've ever sent, and it MUST be acted on!
For the past 4 years I've been sounding an alarm that many in the vitamin industry have dismissed out of hand as "nonsense". It has been my contention, based on my observations at meetings of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Use that they USA is being very skillfully set up for the forced harmonization of our dietary supplement laws to a grossly restrictive, totally unscientific international "standard" that is being slowly shoved down our throats at Codex.
NOW WE HAVE A SMOKING GUN: PROOF POSITIVE ABOUT MY CODEX VITAMIN CONCERNS-PROOF THAT WE'RE BEING RAILROADED
See the press release on the Council for Responsible Nutrition's website: http://www.crnusa.org/shellnr112000.html "U.S. and European Leaders Agree on Principles to Harmonize Dietary Supplement Regulations"
This press release clearly shows that multinational pharmaceutical interests, working via the secretive "Transatlantic Business Dialogue" (TABD) have a clear and definite intent to illegally force the harmonization of our dietary supplement laws to grossly restrictive, totally unscientific international standards. The intent of the pharmaceutical industry is now totally out in the open, and we must press Congress to intervene in defense of our access to vitamins and minerals within the therapeutic range, or we will clearly lose our access.
AMENDMENT WE THOUGHT PROTECTED US AGAINST HARMONIZATION IN FACT DOES NOT!
In 1997 I worked very hard on Capital Hill to amend the FDA Modernization Act of 1997 "FDAMA" in order to try to stop the FDA from being able to harmonize our laws to the grossly restrictive international standards. I thought our amendment was strong enough to stop them, but it is painfully clear that it lacks the necessary teeth, and the FDA is clearly ignoring it by taking actions at Codex that are clearly intended to assist in the consensus building process on the vitamin issue, and to assist pharmaceutical interests in stealing our vitamins.
BURTON RENEGES on PROMISE FOR CODEX VITAMIN OVERSIGHT DUE TO PRESSURE FROM PHARMA CARTEL
Thus far Congressman Dan Burton, Chair of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee has reneged on an initial promise to hold oversight hearings on this, due to pressure from the pharmaceutically dominated vitamin trade associations. Note that in CRN's press release they cite Peter Heer of Hoffman La Roche as the person in Europe to contact re the TABD decision to harmonize the vitamin laws and to impose restrictive "Safe Upper Limits" on both sides of the Atlantic. Note that in 1999 Hoffman La Roche was fined a record $500,000,000 for engagin in illegal price fixing in the sale of vitamin raw materials. Clearly they are now attempting to get through Codex what the US Congress and the Department of Justice have blocked them from getting in the USA. Clearly they're trying to make an end run around US vitamin laws.
When the FDA ignored Congressional requests to remove the unscientific NAS paper * from the table at Codex on the grounds that it was unscientific, had never undergone any public comments period, had been pharmaceutically funded, and that it was illegal due to my amendment in FDAMA for them to take any action that threatened harmonization, FDA totally ignored the written will of Congress.
* NAS paper is "A Risk Assessment Model for Establishing Safe Upper Levels for Nutrients" (See http://www.iahf.com for full text, and for Dr. Rick Malter's Rebuttal) (See http://www.iahf.com "Letters from Congress" to see the letters sent by a bipartisan group of Congressmen to the FDA telling them not to put the NAS paper on the table at Codex or to take any other action that threatens to harmonize our dietary supplement laws to a more restrictive international standard.
- HAMMELL THROWN OFF US CODEX DELEGATION DUE TO WHISTLEBLOWING EFFORTS "Reasons" cited by FDA in letter to Hammell: "Hammell disrupted the Codex meeting in Berlin in '98 by attempting to videotape the meeting, causing it to be interrupted and he was asked to stop." "Hammell continued taking photos despite being asked to stop." "Hammell disrupted the US delegation by numerous comings and goings and late arrivals." "Non government members of the delegation are not permitted to take any individual action on behalf of the US without expressed permission from the US delegate." (The REAL reason I was banned of course was my efforts to get a congressional oversight hearing on the Codex vitamin issue, my efforts to expose FDA violations of US vitamin laws at Codex, and my efforts to organize people world wide against the genocidal, unscientific, pro pharmaceutical Codex vitamin agenda. Dr.Yetley, an unelected bureaucrat who purports to "represent" us at these meetings actually had the nerve to put in writing her excuse for banning me saying that she expected me to get her "permission" to communicate about her violations of law, and her "permission" to act as a whistleblower. What a sick joke! German authorities from the German FDA "Bgvv" then denied my access to the meeting despite valid press credentials. My access was denied in writing by Juergen Kundke, Bgvv Press Officer, so I joined Dr. Rath in his street demonstration and counter meeting.)
- FDA SENDS HAMMELL ITS LEGAL INTERPRETATION OF THE AMENDMENT TO FDAMA SHOWING HOW THEY'RE ATTEMPTING TO LEGALLY JUSTIFY THEIR ACTIONS WHILE CLEARLY IGNORING CONGRESSIONAL INTENT
In a letter dated June 16, 2000, Mr. Robert L. Lake, Director, Office of Regulations and Policy in the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition addressed three topics of concern that I had raised in writing to the FDA about their actions concerning the Codex vitamin issue.
The 3 Topics of Concern I Raised Were:
1) The effect of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Uruguay Round Agreements on US law 2) The Report on Science based risk assessment model developed by the National Academy of Science on Upper Limits for Nutrients 3) The ability of FDA to participate in international fora such as the Codex Alimentarius with respect to matters pertaining to dietary supplements.
1) Lake's response to my assertion that the exemption clause in the Federal Statute that implements the GATT Trade agreement which supposedly "protects" US laws from harmonization does not in fact protect us as evidenced by the article "Dispute Settlement" by Jeanne Grimmett of the Congressional Research Service was to ignore her findings that are laws are NOT in fact protected, and to REASSERT that 19 USC 3512(a)(1) DOES in fact protect our laws, despite my evidence to the contrary. Although Lake truthfully states that no Codex decision can DIRECTLY impact US law, and he does state that only Congress can decide whether or not to abide by a WTO Dispute Settlement panel decision, Grimmett's article clearly shows that the multinational corporations have had no problem twisting Congresses arm to get what they want due to the threat of trade sanctions which can be imposed against us if we DON'T harmonize our laws. Grimmett has shown that even state and local laws have been forced to harmonize to international standards.
2) The FDA failed to address any of the concerns I expressed regarding the NAS "risk assessment paper". They dodged all my questions, refusing to respond to questions raised about conflict of interest, about the fact that NAS isn't subject to FOIA so we can't get the CVs of the authors of the paper or the raw data behind it, about the fact that the paper was funded by pharmaceutical interests, and that it came to numerous unscientific conclusions. They refused to respond to any questions raised regarding either Dr. Rick Malter's expressed concerns in his rebuttal to the NAS paper, or to Dr. Brian Leibovitz concerns, and it clearly didn't bother them at all that no public comments period had ever ensued over it, or that they were told in writing by several congressmen NOT to put it on the table at Codex because to do so would go against the amendment to FDAMA that was supposed to block them from harmonizing our laws.
3) The FDA responded to my demand that they provide their legal interpretation of the amendment I got in the FDA Modernization Act of 1997 intended to make it illegal for them to harmonize our laws to international standards. FDA does indeed show a complete disregard for congressional intent which was clearly established, illustrating that they are going strictly by the letter of the law as expressed in the statute which I now see was not in fact strong enough to stop their agenda. In short, there is currently NOTHING to stop the FDA from harmonizing our laws to Codex standards, and now the CRN press release indicates clearly that the TABD is in fact proceeding to do just that, which further contradicts Lake's assertion that we are protected against this happening here.
This is significant because in a conversation with Bruce Artim on the Senate Judiciary Committee, he wrongly stated that the FDAMA amendment protects us from harmonization, and that the exemption clause in GATT also protects our laws. Artim and Senator Hatch need to look very closey at CRN's press release wherein they announce very matter of factly that the TABD is taking steps to harmonize US and EU dietary laws.
Here is FDA's artful legal interpretation of Section 803 C which was added to the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act by section 410 b of the FDA Modernization Act. [This was the amendment that I got which Senator Hatch thought protected us, but it clearly does not.] FDA uses this as their "justification" for ignoring the clearly expressed intent of Congress that they NOT harmonize our dietary supplement laws for their illegal actions at Codex:
"Section 803(c) was added to the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) by secton 410(b) of the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act on 1997 (FDAMA), public law number 105-115, 111 Stat. 2296 (1997) Paragraphs (1) through (4) of section 803(c) impose an affirmative requirement on the agency to, among other things, regularly participate in meetings with foreign governments to discuss and reach agreement on approaches to harmonize regulatory requirements. Paragraph (c)(5) of section 803 merely negates that requirement with regard to dietary supplements. Thus, paragraph (c)(5) operates solely to release FDA from the affirmative obligation established by paragraph (c)(3) of participating in international harmonization efforts with regard to dietary supplements. It does not prohibit the FDA from participating in those efforts."
Note: This legal interpretation was also arrived at independently by the Congressional Research Service upon their review of the amendment, however both legal interpretations go diametrically against clearly expressed congressional intent.
This destroys Senator Hatch's (Bruce Artim's) contention that my amendment from '97 in any way "protects" our laws from harmonization.
It is now incumbent upon both Senator Hatch, and Congressman Burton to do the following to address this immense threat to our health freedom: Call them via 202-225-3121 Capital Switchboard. Fax and email this to them along with your personal letter asking for help on this.
1. Hatch should strongly encourage Burton to hold oversight hearings on the Codex vitamin issue, and he should encourage similar oversight hearings in the Senate.
2. Hatch should introduce a Senate companion bill to Ron Paul's American Sovereignty Restoration Act and should use the Codex vitamin issue as the basis to garner grass roots support for the bill.
3. Burton should immediately start holding Oversight hearings to closely scrutinize this situation, and should take immediate action by introducing a bill which unequivocally would give us the protection that my amendment to FDAMA clearly did not.
Unless these things happen, we can kiss our high potency vitamins good bye.
Please call this to the attention of your Senators and Congressmen, and strongly request to know what actions they intend to take to protect us from the FDA's illegal actions at Codex. Call their attention to the "SMOKING GUN" (CRN's press release at http://www.crnusa.org/shellnr112000.html "U.S. and European Leaders Agree on Principles to Harmonize Dietary Supplement Regulations" Here the pharmaceutically dominated CRN has shown its "true colors" Note that Peter Heer of Hoffman La Roche was listed as the EU contact person about this press release and that Hoffman La Roche was fined $500 Million in 1999 for illegal price fixing in the sale of vitamin raw materials. Clearly Roche is trying to get the monopoly via Codex that the US Congress and the US Dept of Justice have denied them from getting in the USA. Clearly Roche and the other multinational corporations comprising CRN are trying to make an end run around US law.
Call this to the attention of every health food store owner and vitamin manufacturer because they are being actively misled on this issue by the vitamin trade associations which are dominated by pharmaceutical interests.
Ask why NNFA's international chair, Randy Dennin, is an employee of Capsugel, subsidiary of Warner Lambert, which was recently bought out by Pfizer. Ask if that isn't a gross conflict of interest. Ask why he is the Treasurer of "Citizens for Health" and the executive director of IADSA. Isn't this a gross conflict of interest?
Ask why NNFA allows companies like Novartis, BASF, Rhone Poulenc and other pharmaceutical giants to be amongst their membership. Ask Burton why he trusts CRN when they tell him an oversight hearing on the Codex vitamin issue "isn't necessary" given the obvious huge number of pharmacetical companies amongst CRN's membership, a complete list of which can be seen at http://www.crnusa.org/2members.html and which consists of the following. Anyone who now can't understand the Codex vitamin issue must simply choose NOT to, because the pharmaceutical agenda can't be any more clear than it is in the CRN press release at http://www.crnusa.org/shellnr112000.html
CRN's Heavily Pharmaceutical Membership:
* A.M. Todd Botanicals
* Accucaps Industries Limited
* Adams, Harkness & Hill, Inc.
* Albion Laboratories
* American Home Products Corporation
* American Laboratories, Inc.
* Anabolic Laboratories, Inc.
* Archer Daniels Midland Company
* Ashland Distribution
* B&C Nutritionals
* B&D Nutritional Ingredients, Inc
* BASF Corporation
* Banner Pharmacaps, Inc.
* Bayer Corporation
* Bio San Laboratories Inc.
* BioSint USA, Inc.
* Biotron Laboratories, Inc.
* Capsugel
* Cargill, Incorporated
* Chris Hansen Ingredient Technology
* Cognis Nutrition & Health
* Colorcon
* Covance Laboratories, Inc.
* Daiichi Fine Chemicals, Inc.
* DCV Bionutritionals
* Draco Natural Products
* E.T. Horn Company
* Eastman Chemical Company
* Eisai U.S.A., Inc.
* EM Industries
* Enzo Nutraceuticals, Ltd.
* Euromed USA
* ExtractsPlus, Incorporated
* Feeling Fine Company
* Ferrosan A/S
* Five Star Brands
* Fortitech Inc.
* Franklin Publications, Inc.
* GNLD International
* Gail Becker Associates of Florida, Inc.
* Gallard-Schlesinger Industries, Inc.
* General Nutrition Products, Inc.
* H. Reisman Corporation
* The Hain-Celestial Group
* Health for Life Brands, Inc.
* HealthComm International, Inc.
* Herbalife International
* Hoffman-La Roche, Inc.
* Indena USA
* Inter-Cal Nutraceuticals
* Jamieson Laboratories Ltd.
* Japan Health Summit Inc.
* Kemin Foods, L.C.
* Kenko Sangyo Shinbun
* LDI Group
* Leiner Health Products Inc.
* Linnea, Inc.
* Loders Croklaan
* Lonza Inc.
* Lonza Ltd.
* Lycored Natural Products Industries, Inc.
* Mary Kay Holding Corporation
* Martek Biosciences Corporation
* McNeil Consumer Healthcare
* Monsanto Life Sciences Company
* Natural Life S.A.
* NBTY, Inc.
* Nestle USA, Inc.
* Next Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
* Novogen, Inc.
* Nutraceutical Corporation
* Nutrilite Division/Amway Corporation
* Nutrition 21/AMBI Inc.
* Nutritional Outlook
* Ocean Nutrition Canada Ltd.
* Omya (California) Inc.
* Penwest
* Perrigo Company
* Pharmaton
* Pharmavite Corporation
* PhytoChem Technologies
* PhytoPharm Consulting
* Pronova Biocare a.s.
* Proper Nutrition
* Quest International
* R.P. Scherer Corporation
* Rainbow Light Nutritional Systems
* Rexall Sundown, Inc.
* Rhodia
* Roche Vitamins Inc.
* Ross Products
* SETCO, Inc.
* Seven Seas Limited
* Shaklee Corporation
* Shuster Laboratories, Inc.
* SKW Biosystems, Inc.
* SmithKline Beecham
* Specialty Minerals, Inc.
* Stauber Performance Ingredients
* Takeda Vitamin & Food U.S.A., Inc.
* Tom's of Maine
* USA NutraSource
* Vitaline Corporation
* VitaTech International, Inc.
* Wakunaga of America Company Limited
* Warner-Lambert Company
* Watson Foods Co., Inc.
* Weider Nutrition International
* Wright International
*** DEFEND HEALTH FREEDOM****
DOWNLOAD THE CODEX REPORT FROM BONN:
http://www.lef.org/fda/fda.htm
PASS IT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!