A MUST SEE FILM ! We Become Silent: The Last Days Of Health Freedom
(Link from Dr. Mercola at Mercola.com--A great site for information about natural medicine, by the way.)
The Monkeys Have Taken Over The Island--Codex Alimentarius In Action
(Part 1)
Imagine. You drive past your local health food store, where a large hand-written “CLOSED” sign flutters in the breeze. A trip to the grocery store reveals more empty shelves where vitamins and supplements once sat in neat little rows. “What’s going on?” you mutter, annoyed by the mounting inconvenience. Maybe you travel to the next town, or hit the internet, in search of your accustomed regimen of supplements. But, what if you found every supplement shelf— in every town of America— stripped, and every health food store—from the East coast to the West—out of business?
What if I told you this is neither the prologue for an episode of The Twilight Zone, nor a kava-induced pipe dream, but rather a near-future reality?
It can be—unless we demand the return to sanity—because the monkeys have indeed taken over the island. Rip off those rose-colored glasses and strap yourself in for a Willy-Wonka ride into the inner workings of Codex Alimentarius—The Food Code.
What is Codex?
The Codex Alimentarius Commission, conceived by the United Nations in 1962, was birthed through a series of relationships between The World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) as well as the American FDA and USDA.
The Codex Alimentarius itself, is a compilation of food standards, codes of practice and guidelines that specify all requirements related to foods, whether processed, semi-processed, genetically engineered, or raw. Their purpose: to protect consumers’ health, ensure fair business practices within the food trade, and eliminate international food trade barriers by standardizing food quality. Sounds great! So, what’s the problem?
Codex Uses Toxicology To Assess Nutrients
There are many, none of which are immediately recognizable without the proper perspective. One of the most bizarre and pressing issues at hand—which is the one we will explore here—is their Vitamin and Mineral Guideline, finalized on July 4, 2005, which classifies nutrients as toxins. In their finite wisdom, the Codex Commission decided—with the support of the United States—to use Risk Assessment as the appropriate science to assess the maximum level of a nutrient that may be ingested without causing any discernable biological effect. Did you get that one? Let’s take that once more, from the top.
Risk Assessment is a branch of Toxicology, a.k.a. the science of toxins. In a sane world, it is used to assess how much of a toxic substance you can safely chow down, without noticing any physical effects or problems. As soon as there is a biological effect, you have hit the upper, maximum limit for that substance.
Codex Alimentarius is, slowly but surely, shimmying into position to mandate the universal maximum “safe” level of every vitamin, mineral, supplement and herb that may legally be manufactured, used or sold, with “safe” being a level that has no physical effect.
The Codex Vitamin and Mineral Guideline, 3.2.2 reads: “Maximum amounts of vitamins and minerals in vitamin and mineral food supplements per daily portion of consumption as recommended by the manufacturer shall be set, taking the following criteria into account:
(a) upper safe levels of vitamins and mineral established by scientific risk assessment based on generally accepted scientific data, taking into consideration, as appropriate, the varying degrees of sensitivity of different consumer groups;
(b) the daily intake of vitamins and minerals from other dietary sources.”
The end result of Codex? Nutritional supplements in doses that have no beneficial impact on health whatsoever.
Is DSHEA Being Primed For Extinction?
But why should we, as Americans, be concerned with what this Codex Committee says? We have laws in this country protecting our rights to use supplements as we see fit, don’t we? Yes, we do—for now.
The Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994, states that supplements of all kinds are foods, and as such can have no legal upper limits. If there were, then all those “All-U-Can-Eat” joints would be out of business too.
The problem is that DSHEA has already come under political attack in the form of proposed bills that would limit, or in worst case, reverse it. Just one out of several such examples is bill HR 3156 Dietary Supplement Access and Awareness Act, introduced in June of 2005 (which had already made a pass around the table in 2003 as bill HR 3377.) This bill proposed giving the FDA permission to ban any nutrient that has any degree of “risk”—regardless of how small or insignificant—associated with it. Add to that the proposed post-market reporting of all consumer side effects, and you could easily come to a not so rosy, pro-pharma-anti-alternatives conclusion.
As most of us who have taken supplements know, too much of a good thing can lead to symptoms, like itching or loose stools. Under the above bill, those supplements and herbs would quickly vanish off the shelves. Interestingly enough, this bill includes only supplements, not drugs. People dying from the correct usage of pharmaceutical drugs would still be par-the-course, but light-sensitivity from too much feverfew would be unacceptable in the name of consumer protection.
The end result is that although we currently have DSHEA and the FDA Modernization Act (FDAMA) protecting our health freedom, it does not mean that they will always be there. Any one of any number of future anti-health bills could pass, turning our current laws into Swiss cheese with more holes than substance.
Threat Of Trade Sanctions Steer Countries Toward Codex
1994 was the birth year of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This is the juggernaut with the big stick that has the authority to impose trade sanctions on countries that set up barriers to trade. One such barrier would be the failure or refusal to comply with the international standards and guidelines mandated by Codex Alimentarius, as these are the rules WTO has adopted to resolve international food disputes. Would it suck to be on the losing team of a trade dispute? You bet.
Simplistically speaking, trade sanctions operate like a form of legalized extortion, where the Winning country gets to choose where the sanction will be placed. Meaning, if two countries are in competition for the international automobiles and pharmaceutical market, for example, the Winner of a trade dispute over food, can choose to sanction the Loser's automobile industry, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars per year—until the Loser caves in.
Trade sanctions are designed to impose the maximum amount of harm to the loser’s domestic economy—not just to the industry that caused the dispute in the first place—which is why the countries of the world are scrambling to get themselves out of the kill-zone.
Is the United States ready to take hits against the electronics industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the automobile industry, or any other industry for the sake of making sure we have access to high-potency supplements? In an ideal world--Perhaps?
Misinformation And The Art Of Talking In Circles
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website states, The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) ensures that a broad array of dietary supplements are available to U.S. consumers. The Codex Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements do not, in any way, affect the availability of supplement products to U.S. consumers. On the contrary, the absence of science-based Codex guidelines could adversely affect the ability of U.S. manufacturers to compete in the international marketplace.
Not only is the FDA referring to toxicology in such a way as to fool us into thinking there is something scientific, and therefore “good and healthy”, going on here, they also openly admit that US manufacturers may not be able to compete in the international marketplace without it.
So which way will the wind blow in the future? Will DSHEA continue to rule the roost in the US, or will the fear of Codex-based trade sanctions put enough pressure on our leaders to find a way—any god-awful way—to not be the one holding the short stick in an international draw?
The Race Toward Insanity
So far, out of 167 Codex member nations, Africa is the lone ranger not racing to implement Codex into their own domestic structures. Africa, with some of the world’s most malnourished and poor populations, clearly sees the life-threatening future that Codex represents for their people. Low-potency supplements of limited range will literally mean death for millions of people, across the globe. But they know they’d be some of the first ones to go.
The European Union, for example, already has begun implementing Directives that severely limit consumer access to high potency supplements of vitamins and minerals. Take a peek at their Directive 2002/46/EC of the European Parliament and the Council, dated June 10,2002. Paragraph 13 of the directive reads, "Excessive intake of vitamins may result in adverse effects and therefore necessitate the setting of maximum safe levels for them in food supplements, as appropriate…" And Paragraph 14: When maximum levels are set, therefore, account should be taken of the upper safe levels of the vitamins and minerals, as established by scientific risk assessment based on generally acceptable scientific data, and of intakes of those nutrients from the normal diet…
Sound familiar? It should. It’s almost verbatim, straight out of Codex Alimentarius. The difference is that these are no arbitrary guidelines, but rather European Union law. Article 3 from this EU Directive states: Member States shall ensure that food supplements may be marketed within the Community only if they comply with the rules laid down in this Directive.
The end result for consumers in the EU? A mere twenty-eight permissible vitamins and minerals: Vitamins A, D, E, K, B1, B2, Niacin, Pantothenic acid, B6, Folic acid, B12, Biotin and Vitamin C, Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Copper, Iodine, Zinc, Manganese, Sodium, Potassium, Selenium, Chromium, Molybdenum, Chloride, Phosphorous and Fluoride (yes, FLOURIDE!!! same toxin the nazis used to induce APATHY in their prisoners. Never in my life have I heard anyone claim Flouride to be a vital nutrient... Nuts.) If it’s not on the list (such as choline, inositol, CoQ10 or silicon etc.) then it’s not legal. Furthermore, Directive 2002/46/EC promise to present a list of approved amino acids, fatty acids and herbals as well, as soon as scientific research becomes available. With the massive amounts of supplements and herbs available, surely a vast number of them will not be approved.
Codex Alimentarius makes it clear, on numerous occasions, that domestic harmonization with the international Codex standards are of utmost importance.
The Strategic Framework document by FAO offers, “Given the importance that the WTO attaches to international harmonization, there is now an even greater imperative for CAC and its members to ensure that the Organization maintains its pre-eminent status as the internationally recognized body for food standards and its norms are applied to the widest extent possible by all members as a basis for domestic regulation and international trade.”
So, how does the health of United States’ citizens weigh-in against potential billion-dollar trade sanctions? Will there be enough vigilance to sniff out and kick down potential DSHEA-crushing bills in Congress? Will the people we voted into office finally see the light and realize that assessing nutrients as toxins is insane? These are questions only the American public can answer, en masse.
Be Part Of The Solution
The Report EVALUATION OF THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS AND OTHER FAO AND WHO FOOD STANDARDS WORK states, “Whereas in the past member governments of Codex were under no obligation to use Codex standards for domestic consumer protection or health, since the WTO SPS agreement of 1994, Codex has had legal status. While this does not require that all countries adopt all Codex standards, they must be able to justify non-adoption according to strictly-defined criteria.”
What does this mean—“being able to justify non-adoption”? It means, any country unwilling to adopt Codex standards, must be able to present scientifically proven, better information than what Codex is currently working with.
The Natural Solutions Foundation was founded by Dr. Rima Laibow and her husband, retired Major General Albert Stubblebine, to protect, promote and defend Health Freedom across the globe. They are actively working to thwart the anti-health machine represented by Codex Alimentarius, and have created a Revised Vitamin and Mineral Guideline that would ensure compliance with Codex Alimentarius—offering protection from trade sanctions—without sacrificing people’s health in the process, by justifying non-adoption through the use of better, nutritionally appropriate, science.
There are many avenues available to those who want to get involved and make their position heard. Here are a baker’s half-dozen:
1. Go to www.HealthFreedomUSA.org and sign the citizen’s petition. In the eyes of the government, each signed, faxed or mailed, petition counts as 13,000 un-heard public opinions. If there ever was a time when one voice could make a significant difference, this would be it.
2. Educate yourself. There’s no shortage of reading available related to Codex—a close relative of the horror genre, albeit a bit drier, with none of the classic B-movie humor.
3. Tell others! This is not the time to keep your knowledge in the vault.
4. Donate cold, hard cash to the Natural Solutions Foundation—to keep them going where the rest of us have neither time nor energy to go.
5. Make www.GoodSearch.com your permanent search page, and enter Natural Solutions Foundation (Croton on Hudson, NY) as the recipient of your search donation. Every search earns one penny. They add up too.
6. Write to your congressman. Let him or her know, politely of course, that they may be the ones looking at the unemployment line if they don’t listen to their constituents’ opinions about proposed anti-health bills. Big Business has lobbyists working hard on their side—we have to work equally hard on ours. The Natural Solutions Foundation has a page on their website with bills to Support & Oppose.
7. Keep yourself up do date on all things Codex by signing up for the Natural Solutions Foundation newsletter.
8. Become a Health Freedom Organizer in your community by holding discussion groups, hosting video screenings, organizing fund-raising parties or anything else you can come up with, and be invited to take part in bi-weekly teleconferences with Dr. Laibow to discuss strategies.
***
“The Codex Alimentarius Commission was born of necessity. Its carefully crafted Statutes and Rules of Procedure ensure that it pursues its clearly defined objectives in a disciplined, dispassionate and scientific way.”
Quoted from “Understanding the Codex Alimentarius” by the FAO.
Their masterful achievement of dispassionate operation cannot be challenged. It’s hard to imagine a single beating, non-genetically-modified, heart in the bunch. But the scientific part—Pure monkey business.
Here's a great interview with Dr. Laibow, by Dr. Liz Lipski. It will blow your mind right out of your skull.
Your Health Freedom is under attack. Your right to make natural health choices and eat clean, healthy food is being silently removed by Codex Alimentarius. Watch what may be the most important video you will ever see: "Nutricide". Please visit www.HealthFreedomUSA.org to find out why this health freedom site was recently blocked. The Natural Solutions Foundation tells you what the US FDA and Big Pharma do not want you to know.
