Minutus

Dear homeopathy folks,
This alarming article has appeared from several sources this morning. One is
below:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... ws.html?in_
article_id=355514
&in_page_id=1797
Food supplement restrictions upheld
09:54am 12th July 2005


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The European Union's high court upheld proposed restrictions on the sale of
food supplements, despite objections from trade organisations that claimed
the rules would ban popular vitamin pills.

The European Court of Justice in Brussels said the EU law was "appropriate
for securing the free movement of food supplements and ensuring the
protection of human health."

The law setting up a "positive list" of food supplements approved for sale
across the 25-nation EU is due to come into force on August 1.

Food supplements not on the list will be banned.

Trade groups, led by the Alliance for Natural Health, had lobbied hard to
overturn the legislation, claiming it would ban thousands of vitamin and
mineral supplements.

However the court in Luxembourg backed the rules which were approved by EU
governments and the European Parliament in 2002.

The EU said the rules were needed for consumer protection and to provide
common rules that would allow companies to sell supplements across the EU.

"Certain restrictions can be justified by the protection of public health,"
said a European court statement. The court "considered the measures in
question to be necessary and appropriate for the purpose of achieving that
objective."

Under the rules, only food supplement ingredients approved by the European
Food Safety Authority will be authorised for sale.

The campaign to overturn the regulation has been particularly vocal in
Britain, where the Alliance for Natural Health - a Europe-wide association
of manufacturers, distributors and consumers - joined other groups in
mounting a legal challenge.

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So what does this mean for us in the United States? Will we be denied legal
access to the nutrients we use, and if so, when? At present, I am seriously
considering making some huge internet purchases of nutrients, to see if I
can lay in supplies for the rest of my family's lifetime. I wonder if
anyone else thinks this is either reasonable or necessary.
Jenny Decker
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Yes, we now can look forward to a day when we have to pay our dealer
for a few tabs of Vit C when we have a cold....

Seriously this has been on the agenda for years - in April the
Alliance for Natural Health in the UK won basically a holding motion
- that the EU court would uphold the restrictions today came as a
shock to everyone who has been involved in the 'fight'.

no surprise it has been backed by the pharma industry in closed door
meetings with all the usual vested interests. The Alliance for
Natural Health raised the money to run a NEUTRAL Risk Assessment
Analysis by well respected scientists (not paid by the Pharm
industry) since (of course) the stated agenda for this restriction is
to protect the public. What from things that will improve our
health!??

It may have an effect in the US because as I understand it, it will
be enforced by WTO.

CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) and CODEX will
therefore likely insist at some point in the not too distance future
that the US also adopt these restrictions. Why we did not see people
on the streets campaigning against it was hard to fathom - I think in
general the public still didn't / don't fully understand its
ramifications - and I include in that many practitioners whose
practice will be directly affected.

So - US CITIZENS - ACT NOW. Lobby Congress to stop CAFTA.

Visit http://www.coalitionforhealthfreedom.org for more information.

(As for buying up lifetimes supplies - some of the supps don't store
well over time.)

Carol

Carol Boyce BSc(Hons), LCH, MCH, CCH
Director of Education
The Homeopathic Symposium
http://www.homeopathicsymposium.com
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