I don't normally go for alarmism (except in my politics) but this has me seriously weirded out. According to an email I received from an associate and a cursory Google search, the 109th Congress could soon help us 'comply' with what I think is a terrifying (now voluntary) WHO policy that in the past we have skated past.
From
here I found:
Legislation attempting to harmonize the US with the very restrictive standards set by the CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION has been introduced and defeated repeatedly in the US Congress. It is the intention of the WTO and supporters to "harmonize" the US with the CODEX ALIMENTARIUS regulations just as Australia, the EU and Canada are being "Harmonized".
CODEX ALIMENTARIUS is a complex set of technical regulations which increase pesticide and other toxic residues, permit genetically modified organisms (GMOs), many of which cannot germinate without the use of specific pesticides, authorize the irradiation of food and eliminate all but 28 ultra low dose nutrients. Doses higher than those found in foodstuff of supplements and nutrients and other substances are banned under CODEX ALIMENTARIUS. In fact, they are interdicted substances much like cocaine or heroin.
This is the Codex "Contact Point" for the United States. When you scan the Home page it doesn't look all that bad of an idea:
Codex Alimentarius is the major international mechanism for encouraging fair international trade in food while promoting the health and economic interest of consumers.
A number of sites I found, particularly related to things like labeling requirements (failed - too lengthy) and food safety (unpasteurized foods - passed, especially because of succesful use in Europe) make sense and seem to be about opening up markets in what look like very positive directions.
But then on a homeopathic medicine site there's a post like this:
CODEX is a sub-committee of the United Nations mandated to establish guidelines on food trade issues. The Codex Commission met last fall to ratify Step 8, entitled the "Proposed Draft Guideline for Dietary Supplements."
The CODEX policy calls for the following:
- No dietary supplement can be sold for prophylactic (preventive) use or
therapeutic use;
- No dietary supplement sold as a food can exceed potency (dosage) levels set by the commission;
- Codex regulations for dietary supplements would be binding, (which means that the escape clause within GATT that allows a nation to set its own standards would be eliminated);
- All new dietary supplements would automatically be banned unless they go through the Codex approval process."
CODEX now applies to Norway and Germany, among others, where zinc tablets rose from $4 per bottle to $52. Echinacea rose from $14 to $153 (both examples are now allowed by prescription only). They are now "drugs". Vitamin C above 200 mg, niacin above 32 mg, vitamin B6 above 4 mg; all are banned over-the-counter and are classified as drugs. No amino acids, essential fatty acids (omegas 3, 6, 9, etc.), or other essential supplements such as DMEA, DHEA, CoQ10, MSM, beta-carotene, etc. are allowed.
So Kossacks, in Democratic years I would dismiss this and go back to the work I am actually supposed to be doing right now. But this is the decade of the Republican grab-for-all and am I tripping or is this, given the 109th, again a possibility? And if so, this is no small matter. I know many, many folks (myself included) who can't afford or tolerate pharmaceuticals and use alternative medicine as a matter of course, not an alternative at all.
Update [2005-3-12 20:43:16 by clb8]: Seriously folks, this wouldn't be so scary except that I know many people disabled with chemical sensitivity (think Agent Orange victims and the now-deceased Holy Cross football coach Dan Allen) who can ONLY tolerate and rely on vitamin and herbal treatment to retain any semblance of health and for whom such legislation could literally be a death sentence. Additionally, becoming chemically sensitized becomes an increasing danger in the now more unregulated corporate environment; it can happen to anyone, including you, and there is no research on or treatment for, the condition.