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IAHF List: [See story of Strauss Herb Co. Legal Victory After My Brief, but important Comments]
I always find it uplifting when an herb or vitamin company in any country is vindicated in court, and yesterday the Strauss Herb Co. of Kamloops BC opened up a few cans of whupass on the scoundrels at (so called)"Health Canada" who failed to nail them on a slew of trumped up charges.... see the story sent to me just now by Peter Helgason of Strauss Herbs.
Encourage everyone to buy Strauss Herbs products http://www.straussherbco.com to help them recoup the $500,000. CDN they were forced to shell out just to keep the jackals at bay.
Peter and I were at the recent Health Freedom Summit in Minnesota along with Trueman Tuck from Friends of Freedom, who played a role in the Strauss victory. IAHF Still needs urgent donations to get a couple of key people to the upcoming Codex meeting in Bonn on November 1. Many thanks to those of you who have sent donations.
Tomorrow we're going to start sending those of you who have contributed IAHF bumper stickers and some other materials including some valuable articles about the FTAA threat as thanks.
If any of you have not yet sent in your donations, any amount is very badly needed: via paypal: http://www.iahf.com see paypal button on top of scrollbar once enter site, or send check or MO to: IAHF 556 Boundary Bay Rd. Point Roberts, WA 98281.
COMPLETE VINDICATION FOR STRAUSS HERB COMPANY
Kamloops BC (September 20)- In a stunning victory the Strauss Herb Company of Kamloops BC was completely cleared of all charges in Kamloops provincial court Monday. In throwing out the 30 remaining charges of the original 73 count Health Canada alleged violations the judge noted the Crown didn't have any evidence to back up their charges.
This came as no surprise says the Strauss Herb Company and their lawyer Shawn Buckley. There was never a question of the products being compliant Buckley says. Strauss general manager Jim Strausz Jr. says he has always felt the charges, which were laid in January of 2003 during the first Strauss Canada Cup of Curling, were filed to try and embarrass the firm during it's first national-profile sponsorship. "The fact that Health Canada sat on the file for nearly two years and did nothing, and then laid charges when they did speaks volumes about the moral compass some Health Canada employees follow," says Strausz. "This action was initiated to smear and defame Strauss Herbs, not to benefit or protect the health of Canadians. If it cost us half a million to defend ourselves from these slanderous lies how many scarce health dollars did Health Canada waste in this utterly failed prosecution?"
Buckley says that had the judge not thrown out the charges he was prepared to argue the merits of the case and was certain he would have prevailed. "The company was always in compliance," he says. "It's funny that the Crown offered a "deal" early on in the proceedings and Strauss Herb Company could have "copped a plea" and paid a $500 fine and moved on." Instead, based on the values the company believes in and the moral stance of the owner nearly half a million dollars was invested to prove a point of honour. That point being Strauss believes in their products and their right to honestly promote their benefits.
From a lawyer's perspective Buckley says he was disappointed the Crown stayed the charges relating to advertising. "The Charter of Rights and Freedom arguments are very compelling that the government has no basis to restrict free speech and in fact Sections 3.1 and 3.2 of the Food and Drug Act are wholly unsupportable in law." Buckley says he feels the Crown feared to "go there" because if his arguments prevailed the legislation would have been struck down.
"The good news is we are still in business and we are still making and selling the products hundreds of thousands of people have come to rely on to maintain and improve their health," says Strausz. The bad news is that our good name has been harmed and we have lost many millions of dollars in sales as people were scared off by bogus claims of fraud levelled by a government organization they thought was acting in their best interests. "We are considering our legal remedies available to recoup our losses, " says Strausz. "In the meantime it is back to business as usual."
For more information contact Strauss Herb Company
866 478 2873
Jim Strausz General Manager 