To:
Cc: "ralph Fucetola"
Subject:
Dear Jeff
I greatly enjoyed the opportunity of being on your show last month, along with John Hammell. I have followed some of the feedback since the show and in particular I see that you have put a major link through to Durbin's Bill (S722) on the supplement quality.com website and I have heard also that you have seen fit to exclude an important response by John Hammell.
Further to this, I am also aware that the attorney Ralph Fucetola http://wwww.vitaminlawyer.com has written to you suggesting that you include John Hammell's response.
I think it is critically important, if we are to effectively fight the engines that are creating the restrictive legislation across the globe, that we take up the fight on the international stage. John Hammell is far from being alone in his view that the EU Directives represent the single most important piece of legislation ever to have impacted the dietary supplement industry.
This EU legislation is not just in the pipeline, but the first stage of it, the Food Supplements Directive, was passed in to EU law in June last year and was transposed in to the laws of all EU member countries in July of this year. There is a 2 year grace period before it starts to impact so the bans on around 5000 products will not start until 1 August 2005. This includes all products containing natural vitamin forms (eg mixed tocopherols, tocotrienols, carotenoids, methylcobalamin) as well as nearly all food-form minerals and all trace elements!! If this is not bad enough, they will then in subsequent phases of the directive, limit the allowed dosages (to ridiculously low levels) and further limit the range of other nutrient types, such as amino acids, fatty acids, phytonutrients, etc. The effect of this is to kill innovation in the industry as well as most effective supplements. The surviving products will be low-dose products manufactured predominantly by pharmaceutical companies and widely available throughout Europe via supermarkets and pharmacies.
The machine to do all of this is already in place and the only chance of railroading the machine is to challenge the directive legally. You could argue that it should never have been allowed to get this far, but there was so much confusion in the European Parliament as a result of mixed messages, by statements from the European Commission that the law would not result in any bans, and that protests were coming just from a noisy minority (in actual fact it seems that well over 10 million consumers objected to the legislation). So it narrowly missed being stopped and the pro-lobby won the day back in March 2002.
When it comes to challenging the legislation in the courts, we have only one last window of opportunity and that's making a challenge before October of this year. After this, we would have to accept every part of this legislation or run the risk of being prosecuted as criminals all of this for taking responsibility for our own health and taking nutrients that exist in foods.
Also of great importance is that you have to appreciate that the EU Food Supplements Directive will form the basis for international harmonization to be enforced through Codex Alimentarius and other international instruments. The European legislative model is the key model that will define all legislation across the world. Many say that the US would never harmonise to Europe, but it is abundantly clear that this is exactly what is being planned through Codex, the WTO, the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue and through international phytosanitary measures. Let's look at the evidence and it is John Hammell more than anyone else I know that has been screaming this message from the roof tops. It is probably the single most important message for health freedom so let us please listen to it!
Jeff - I don't mean that you should dismiss US issues such as S722, but I would say, if only to maintain your normally high standards of journalism, that you also very seriously consider keeping your listeners fully abreast of the situation in Europe, that you give John Hammell's message the exposure that it deserves, and that you consider making a link from your site to that of the pan-European Alliance for Natural Health (www.alliance-natural-health.org). Should you consider this request favourably, I have taken the liberty of attaching the ANH logo to this email.
I look forward to hearing from you in the very near future.
Kind regards
Dr Rob Verkerk
- - - c o n t a c t - - -
Robert Verkerk PhD
Executive Director
Alliance for Natural Health
t +44 (0)1252 371 275
m +44 (0)771 484 7225
e robv@alliance-natural-health.org
w www.alliance-natural-health.org
"Working cooperatively to ensure access to safe,
effective and innovative dietary supplements"
International Advocates for Health Freedom
POB 10632 Blacksburg VA 24062 USA
http://www.iahf.com; http://iadsa-exposed.tripod.com
800-333-2553 N.America
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International Advocates for Health Freedom
POB 10632 Blacksburg VA 24062 USA
http://www.iahf.com; http://iadsa-exposed.tripod.com
800-333-2553 N.America
540-961-0476 World
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