IAHF Webmaster: CODEX EMERGENCY, BREAKING NEWS, ANTI CAFTA, USA, ALL COUNTRIES
IAHF List: Our grass roots health freedom movement has poked a stick directly into the EYE of the US Trade Representative, and they have responded with the most INANE spin I've ever seen coming from a governmental body.
Their spin is grossly unimpressive and was easy to shred, which The Coalition For Health Freedom has done at http://www.coalitionforhealthfreedom.org/issues.html
Senator Obama and other enemies of health freedom are quoting the USTR's spin, but we're counter attacking in several important ways and have a growing number of allies in the House of Representatives, many of whom have viewed, or will be viewing WE BECOME SILENT at http://www.welltv.com and who will be adding their signatures to a Dear Colleague letter that is being disseminated. Floor statements will be made that reflect our concerns, but its CRITICAL that we KEEP THE PRESSURE ON- t
The vote on CAFTA could come any day this coming week, but our inside sources tell us it will most likely happen this coming Friday, Saturday or Sunday (congress will be in session this coming weekend as they tie up loose ends before August recess!!!
This new form letter (below) fits on one page in Microsoft Word Format if you set your margins high at top and bottom as well as fairly wide on the edges. I will be working with someone in Bellingham WA who has volunteered to help me hand this out in front of the biggest health food stores there, and we need more of you to follow suit nationwide!!! Theres SAFETY in NUMBERS, folks.
If I'm willing to stick my butt out there in the hot sun to hand these out, I know more of ya'll can help in whatever part of the country you are in. Please LET ME KNOW you're helping, that uplifts me, and makes me want to FIGHT HARDER!!
email this to your congressman via http://www.house.gov/writerep/ Call Your Congressman via 866-340-9281 Capital Switchboard
CAFTA BAD FOR DIETARY SUPPLEMENT CONSUMERS:
VOTE _NO_ ON CAFTA
Dear Congressman_______________________________
The US Trade Reps Office is Misleading the public in a policy statement titled CAFTA & Dietary Supplements. See a thorough rebuttal to their statement, and to the pharma dominated vitamin trade associations at http://www.coalitionforhealthfreedom.org/issues.html
Section 6 of the CAFTA Treaty requires us to create a Sanitary Phytosanitary Measures Committee to insure that we enter in to a constant process of harmonizing our laws to international standards. Section 3, the SPS Section of the WTO Trade Agreement, requires us to harmonize our laws to Codex standards: "To harmonize sanitary and phytosanitary measures on as wide a basis as possible, members SHALL base their food safety measures on international standards, guidelines or recommendations." (Codex standards)
On July 4, 2005, the UN's Codex Alimentarius Commission ratified a framework to create a global trade guideline for vitamins and minerals. In November Codex will move to bill in the blanks on allowable potency levels. The methodology being employed by the World Health Organization to fill in these blanks is scientifically biased given that it is only examining supposed "risks" of vitamins, while completely ignoring benefits, and its been heavily criticized by the Alliance for Natural Health in these extensive comments submitted to WHO http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/_docs/ANHWebsiteDoc_121.pdf
ANH, along with all other critics of WHO's biased methodology were barred from participation in a "Nutrient Risk Assessment Workshop" presided over by an FDA employee, Dr.Christine Lewis Taylor, an unelected bureaucrat with a known bias against the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act of 1994 and against consumer access to vitamins and minerals within the therapeutic range.
Given the well demonstrated bias, and flawed scientific methodology being employed, it is highly probable that Codex will fill in the blanks for allowed potencies of vitamins and minerals to potencies that are well below the therapeutic range- even lower than RDAs in some instances are reflected by column in the right side of this table: http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/_docs/ANHWebsiteDoc_145.doc
Attorneys who have analyzed this situation caution us that we're dealing with emerging law here and that anything can happen. For example, the FDA has recently blocked some manufacturers from marketing products containing one or more New Dietary Ingredients (NDIs). Under DSHEA, any ingredient not in use at the time DSHEA was ratified is classified as an NDI, and the FDA requires the manufacturer submit 90 days advance notice of intent to market a product with it along with safety data to show a history of safe use.
It would be easy for FDA to block a foreign product from coming in here due to its containing one or more NDIs, and the foreign manufacturer could initiate a trade dispute against us. Threat of cross sector trade sanctions has forced congress to change our laws on several occassions. Under these circumstances there is no reason to expect that the SPS Committee established under CAFTA wouldn't strongly recommend that congress pass legislation which scuttles the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 as mandated by Section 3 of in the WTO Trade Agreement which requires harmonization to Codex. Enormous political pressure could be applied to congress for this purpose by industries that would be impacted by trade sanctions- overriding the will of the people.
A vehicle for this purpose has already been introduced in the form of HR 3156 "The Dietary Supplement Access and Awareness Act" which would force substantive changes to the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, effectively gutting it.
Public Citizen has documented that we have lost 33 out of 36 cases brought against us before the WTO, and that we've lost EVERY case pertaining to environmental or public health matters. Frankly, I don't like those odds, and am not willing to take any chances.
Signed___________________________________________
Address________________________________________________________________
