Saturday, December 19, 2009

Codex - Worry or a non-issue?

This blog entry is going to short, sweet & to the point this week.

There is a lot of info out there on Codex. You have to be able to discern what is truth & what is fiction. I've been researching this since first hearing about it. I decided that tonight, since the "deadline" is so close to try to figure it out for sure.

From the research that I've done, I've decided that its a non-issue. Here is my link showing this.

http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/faq_rum.jsp#R1

There is a lot of reading there, but here is the main answer that everyone is seeking.

R12: I have heard that the Codex will become law on 31 December 2009. Is it true?

This is an unfounded rumour: The standards, guidelines and codes adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission are voluntary and do not therefore contain implementation deadlines or dates, nor can the Commission turn them into binding law.

I think those of us who take supplements to enhance our health can now breathe a little easier.

Have a great week everyone,
Lori

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Codex Alimentarius - Good or Bad?

On Dec. 31st., 2009, a bill goes in effect that will limit how many vitamins, minerals & other nutritional supplements you can purchase at your store without a prescription. Anything above these "low" dosage recommendations, you will need a prescription.

It is called Codex Alimentarius & its coming to a store near you in just under a month. Those of us who have enjoyed great health because of D3, Vit. C & multivitamins are in for a rude awakening very soon. Those days are going to be gone.

Lets look at the 7 points of Codex Alimentarius -

1) Started in 1962 by UN, Imposed by WTO Sanctions

Codex Alimentarius was created in 1962 as a trade Commission by the UN to control the international trade of food. Its initial intentions may have been altruistic but it has been taken over by corporate interests, most notably the pharmaceutical, pesticide, biotechnology and chemical industries.

Codex Alimentarius is backed up by the crippling trade sanctions of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Any non Codex-compliant nation would face huge economic punishment since they would automatically lose in any food-trade dispute with a Codex compliant country.

2) “Nutrients are Toxins” Is Junk Science

Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) has two committees which impact nutrition.

One of them, the “Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses” (CCNFSDU), is chaired by Dr. Rolf Grossklaus, a physician who believes that nutrition has no role in health. This is the “top-guy” for Codex nutritional policy, and he has stated that “nutrition is not relevant to health”.

As unbelievable as it may sound, Dr. Grossklaus actually declared nutrients to be toxins in 1994 and instituted the use of toxicology (Risk Assessment) to prevent nutrients from having any impact on humans who take supplements! It is worth mentioning that Dr. Grossklaus happens to own the Risk Assessment company advising CCNFSDU and Codex on this issue. This company makes money when its toxicology services are used for the “assessment” of nutrients. Here in the U.S. we call that a “conflict of interest”.

Codex is made up of thousands of standards and guidelines. One of them, the Vitamin and Mineral Guideline (VMG), is designed to permit only ultra low doses of vitamins and minerals (and make clinically effective nutrients illegal). How can the VMG restrict dosages of vitamins and minerals? By using Risk Assessment (toxicology) to assess nutrients.

While Risk Assessment is a legitimate science (it is a branch of toxicology), it is the wrong science for assessing nutrients! In fact, in this context, it is actually junk science. Biochemistry, the science of life processes, is the correct science for assessing nutrients. Codex Alimentarius treats nutrients as toxins, which is literally insane.

Nutrients are not toxins – they are essential for life.

No matter what Codex Alimentarius officials say to convince you that Risk Assessment is a “science-based” approach to nutrients, it is not.

And it is worth repeating that Dr. Grossklaus, the head of Codex Alimentarius, owns the Risk Assessment company advising CCNFSDU and Codex on the “benefit” of using Risk Assessment to assess nutrients.

3) Not Consumer Protection – That’s Propaganda

Contrary to the propaganda, Codex Alimentarius has nothing to do with consumer protection. Nothing! Codex is about the economic ambitions of multi-national corporations, in particular, the pharmaceutical industry.

Using their multi billion-dollar marketing budgets, these industries have launched a massive media propaganda campaign to paint Codex Alimentarius as a benevolent tool of “consumer protection”, as well as to negatively taint the image of natural health options and mislead people to fear them as “dangerous”, so they will take drugs (which really are dangerous). Natural health products and options have an amazing safety record and are remarkably effective, especially when compared to pharmaceutical drugs.

Unfortunately, one-time defenders of health freedom such as National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA) and Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) have joined the propaganda bandwagon and are spreading false information saying that Codex Alimentarius is either “harmless” or benevolent “consumer protection”. Neither is true.

The membership of these one-time defenders of health freedom has become permeated by people from the pharmaceutical industry (for example, CRN counts as its members corporations such as Monsanto® and Bayer®).

4) Codex: Serious Threat to Health and Health Freedom

If Codex Alimentarius is implemented in the United States of America, therapeutic dosages of vitamins and minerals (and all other nutrients soon to follow) will become unavailable because they will literally become illegal.

Here’s how it would work, in a nut-shell:

Due to the junk science use of Risk Assessment (toxicology) to assess supposedly toxic nutrients, a false belief is being engineered saying that “nutritional supplements are dangerous to people’s health”.

Using this false belief generates calls to “protect” people from these “toxic” nutrients. After the calls come the bills to set ultra low permissible dosages (remember, nutrients are deemed “dangerous toxins” under this false belief). If enough of us and our Congressional delegates buy this nonsense, we and Congress would blindly comply with Codex Alimentarius’ VMG. And blind compliance is what the industries behind Codex Alimentarius intend.

Blind compliance goes hand-in-hand with lack of activism. This lack of activism allows our protective laws, classifying nutrients as foods with no upper limits (such as DSHEA), to be easily repealed and replaced with draconian laws to classify nutrients as toxins. And “harmonization” with the pro-illness, pro-pharmaceutical industry Vitamin and Mineral Guideline is there to fill the void.

Only intentionally ineffective, ultra low dose supplements would be legal, with or without a prescription, on the VMG list. If enough people do not take action, we can expect to watch nutritional supplement manufacturers and, thus health food stores, to go out of business, in a domino effect. The only player left standing would be Big Pharma.

Therapeutic grade vitamins, minerals, and amino acids would be eliminated from the marketplace (although a few low-dose supplements would be allowed by Codex, as a symbolic measure to avoid suspicion about their ulterior motive).

Natural health professionals would lose the tools of their trade (nutritional supplements) and health conscious people would be unable to choose natural health options for health promotion and disease treatment.

And that is, in a nutshell, how Codex Alimentarius is poised to make Natural and Nutritional Medicine (NNM) disappear from the legal health world and go underground. Who benefits? Big Pharma.

It would take a few years for the above scenarios to be feasible (Codex Alimentarius is meant to go into full global effect by 2010). The slower the process takes, the less alarmed people will be. That’s probably the logic of the architects of Codex Alimentarius.

5) Serves Economic Interests of Sickness Industries Through WTO and Napoleonic Code

More and more people are turning to natural health products globally. The “wellness” trend is a major trend in today’s society. The more natural health products people use, the fewer drugs they buy. The pharmaceutical industry, which is part of the “Sickness Industry”, fears the inevitable shift toward natural health care.

Instead of accepting the will of the people and rethinking the future of the pharmaceutical industry, the industry has decided upon an unethical course of action: the use of deception and deceit to eliminate natural health products completely.

Codex Alimentarius is a shrewd vehicle for protecting the pharmaceutical industry from the loss of income it stands to suffer due to the inevitable growth of natural healthcare.

Codex Alimentarius is the resistance of the dinosaurs to inevitability: the burgeoning desire of humanity for a healthier, saner, and more sustainable way of life.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) intends to force Codex Alimentarius upon the nations of the world, including the U.S. This would be done under the threat of massive economic sanctions if WTO-countries do not comply with Codex Alimentarius.

Furthermore, Codex is based in the Napoleonic Code, not Common Law. That means that under Codex Alimentarius, anything not explicitly permitted is forbidden. Under Common Law, we hold that anything not explicitly forbidden is permitted. The difference is the difference between health freedom and health tyranny. Codex Alimentarius would be able to ban supplements by default.

6) DSHEA Protects America From Codex Alimentarius

The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA, 1994), an American law classifying our supplements and herbs as foods (which can have no upper limit set on their use), was passed by unanimous Congressional consent following massive grass-roots support organized by health food stores. Millions of American activists told Congress, in no uncertain terms:

“Protect nutritional supplements as foods or we will remove you from office”.

Congress listened and carried out the will of the people.

DSHEA appropriately classifies nutritional supplements as foods which can have no upper limits set on their use. DSHEA recognizes that people use nutrients safely to deal with their individually differing needs for nutrients. The concept of biochemical individuality means that people have different needs for nutrients at different times. Are nutrients toxins? No, they are not toxins. They are substances essential to prevent, treat and cure any chronic condition, in differing doses at different times in different people.

DSHEA protects the US from Codex Alimentarius’ deadly Vitamin and Mineral Guideline. We must reach our Congressional members, educate them about the facts on Codex Alimentarius and direct them to vote against anything that would threaten DSHEA.

Congress holds the keys to our health freedom. And it is their job to listen to us. Let’s not allow cynicism to tell us otherwise. We did it for DSHEA in 1994. We can do it again this year.

7) Your Action is Needed Now!

DSHEA is under significant legislative attack right now. Your letter-writing is crucial: if the members of Congress know that voting against health freedom means losing their jobs come election time, they will listen. Our job is to make sure they get the message loud and clear. Take action via our 3 easy steps and send personalized emails to Congress right now.



There are MORE deaths each year from prescription pharmaceutical mistakes than nutritional supplements. Prescriptions make up 5.18% of the deaths in the U.S. whereas nutritional supplements account for .00001% of the deaths. I recall a local 14 year old girl died about 2 years ago from an antibiotic overdose. She had her tonsils out & was prescribed antibiotics for post-op. She died less than a week later since the pharmacy instructions were MUCH more than what the doctor called for. I was once taking antibiotics for a double ear infection & was having a horrible reaction to them. I called up the doctors office & they told me that the reactions were nothing & to continue to take them. I took one or two more & threw them out, having a hard time breathing, double vision & severe dizziness. The first one alone is enough of a reason to stop taking the antibiotics.

But YET, Codex is insisting that vitamins, minerals & nutritional supplements be regulated for our own "safety". Who is kidding who here?

Codex says that toxins in our food is o.k. along with GMO (genetically modified origins) food is also o.k. GMO ingredients can get into our DNA & change it, therefore even affecting our children!

In 1995, the FDA issued a policy statement saying that international standards such as Codex would supersede U.S. laws governing all food.



Why haven't we been told this in the mainstream media? Is it because the pharmaceutical industry has bought their silence with all of their drug ads? After all, their advertising budget is in the BILLIONS every year. This is only a drop in the bucket with their TRILLION dollar income every year.

This article is only the tip of the iceberg on this. Do your homework, call your senators & congressman. There isn't time to write. One of our senators said in a townhall meeting that he has over 10,000 emails to answer. When do you think your email regarding this will be answered? Probably when its too late.

Its time to stock up on your favorite supplements. Ours here is D3 & Vit. A. D3 has been shown effective in fighting the H1N1 virus. Vit. A meant life or death when there was a measles outbreak in Africa quite a few years back.

Keep alert my friends, its going to be a bumpy ride.

Til next time,
Lori