Codex Alimentarius
Monstrously Toxic  Power Play for Control of the Global Food Supply & Natural Health Industry
 
From: Food & Health Safety News #20
Living Nutrition Magazine vol. 20
livingnutrition
Compiled from various sources and edited
by David Klein, B.S., Ph.D.
 
 The Codex Alimentarius agenda, which has long metastasized in the recesses of closed board rooms and governmental chambers, is now coming to light. This is the paramount issue of our times, yet few know about it. If Codex standards ever replace the current laws  in the U.S. governing food and dietary supplements, it will affect not just Americans' right to choose supplements, but our right to grow crops with untampered seeds, to buy pure organic food, and to live free of the tyranny of Big Agro-Chem-Pharma-Med, through health-destructive FDA rules enacted and enforced by a pro-corporate government that cares nothing about our health freedom. In other words, the "natural health" industry will perish. Now more than ever, we must exercise our democratic duty and be vigilant in protecting that freedom, the health and survival of the  Earth, and all her creatures and citizenry.
     Please take action now and let your representatives know of  your opposition to Codex, to prevent the pro-disease industries and affiliated financial interests from seizing the total power they crave. It's our obligation to tell our Congressional leaders to stop Codex and to protect and promote food and  health safety and freedom. Our right to live healthfully is at stake.  
     Let us remember the vehement, relentless defiance by the founders of our nation that broke the stifling grip of tyrannical rule,  giving us the democracy we wanted and way of life we now cherish, which are now threatened. At this time of mounting crisis, each of us must expose this clandestine monster while claiming and exercising that democratic freedom as never before.
 
 
 Scott Tips, Esq. &  Paul Anthony Taylor *  <http://www.thenhf.com>
 The National Health Federation (NHF) is the only health-freedom organization with recognized status at Codex Alimentarius meetings, giving its members the right to speak out and submit  comments on all Codex actions. As a case in point, the NHF was the only delegation at the 2005 Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting in Rome, Italy to protest the ridiculously harsh Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplement Guidelines submitted to the Commission for approval. Founded more than 52 years ago by an  array of health-freedom activists, the NHF is the oldest health-freedom  organization in the world, and has been following Codex issues for more than 10 years.
     Codex is not just about nutritional  supplements, although that is an important aspect. In fact, it is the primary political battlefield where the war is being waged about who will regulate and  control the global food supply, from field and stable to table. This "war" is  being waged by an increasingly tangled web of global governmental and international authorities, aligned with big business and financial  interests, wherein human health takes a back seat to profit and power  goals.  
     Although American dietary supplements are currently protected—somewhat—by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education  Act of 1994 (DSHEA), its provisions are threatened by Codex and an  interlocking array of emerging regional and international treaties, agreements, regulatory “handshakes” and other executive arrangements that will  "harmonize" our food laws to harsh European standards, thereby relegating  DSHEA to the dust bin of history and suppressing our health freedoms...unless  we take immediate action.
     Do we want to see a world  where our access to safe, nutritious foods and effective dietary supplements is restricted, suppressed, and controlled by government in alliance with its  pharmaceutical and chemical bedfellows? If not, we must act now, before it's  too late.
     Contacting government bureaucrats with your complaints is largely a waste of time. Effective action takes the form of advising others and contacting your representatives in Congress. Remember: be “persistently vocal”—most politicians don't see the light; they feel the heat. Make them feel the heat.
 
 Shannara  Johnson * www.caseyresearch.com <http://www.caseyresearch.com>
 Ever heard of the Codex Alimentarius? If  not, don't be surprised. It's one of the best-kept “open secrets” of the U.S.  government. The World Trade Organization (WTO) has accepted the standards of  the Codex, and at some point, if their plans are allowed to proceed, member countries of the WTO will be required to implement Codex, "to harmonize the  standards" for the global trade of foods. It may present the greatest disaster  for our food supply—and thus for our health—that we have ever encountered,  here and abroad.  
 
 
 Chris  Gupta * http://tinyurl.com/2xohw
 It is not easy to come to grips with  Codex. With over 20 committees meeting on an annual basis, and published reports comprising a total of over 1,600 pages in 2005 alone, most people are  blissfully unaware of the extent of its implications for our health. Read on to discover the bigger picture behind the Codex Alimentarius Commission's  support for the "disease business."  
 
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 Tamara Thérèsa Mosegaard * www.mayday-info.dk <http://www.mayday-info.dk>
 MayDay is a Danish civil health-rights organization that has been following Codex since 1999, participating in the Danish national delegation to Codex meetings. Although Denmark is a relatively small country, MayDay has had  significant impact on the European food-supplement regulatory scene and its efforts are international in scope. MayDay has worked closely with the  US-based National Health Federation to oppose restrictive Codex guidelines on  food supplements. MayDay's extensive and informative website features articles in both Danish and English.
 
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 Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) & Dietary  Supplements
 Rep. Ron Paul, MD, July 19,  2005 * www.ronpaullibrary.org <http://www.ronpaullibrary.org>
 The Codex Alimentarius Commission, organized by the United Nations in the 1960s, is charged with “harmonizing”  food and supplement rules among all nations of the world. As a result of Codex  rules, those vitamins and minerals that would compete with medicines would  require a doctor's prescription. The European Union has already adopted Codex-type regulations that will be in effect across Europe later this year  (2005). This raises concerns that Europeans will challenge our relatively open  market for health supplements in a WTO forum. This is hardly far-fetched, as  Congress has already changed our tax laws to comply with a WTO order.  
     Make no mistake about it: those international standards  are moving steadily toward the Codex regime and its draconian restrictions on  health freedom. Pharmaceutical companies have spent billions of dollars trying  to get Washington to regulate your dietary supplements. So far, that effort has failed, in part because of a 1994 law called the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. Big Pharma and the medical establishment hate this Act,  because it allows consumers some measure of freedom to buy the supplements they want.  
     The largely government-run  "healthcare" establishment, including the nominally private pharmaceutical  companies, want government to control the dietary-supplement industry so that  only they can manufacture and distribute supplements providing any real  benefit. If this takes place, as it has in Europe, the high-potency,  beneficial supplements  that you can now buy over the counter will be  available, if at all, only by prescription and at a much higher cost. This alone is sufficient reason for Congress to oppose the  unconstitutional, freedom-destroying CAFTA bill.
     FDA  and Congress are also working (FDA quite openly, Congress more covertly) toward the goal of harmonizing our health laws with Codex Alimentarius  standards and guidelines.
 
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 Sharrhan  Williamson—Boston, Massachusetts Area Codex Action Committee
 The  problem with U.S. membership in NAFTA and CAFTA is that all the trading  countries have to be on the same page, in lockstep, accepting the same standards and regulations. This is the purpose of the Codex Alimentarius  Commission: to standardize all regulations, resulting in product policies that  are more convenient and more profitable for trade interests but that work against consumers' interests.  Under Codex, American sovereignty is lost,  at least for international trade purposes, and the WTO will make rulings based  upon Codex standards rather than Congress and/or other government agencies.  
     The FDA is presently recommending that the U.S.  harmonize with Codex standards, and it seems they would prefer to apply those  standards within the U.S. as well as for international trade.(It is more than  likely that we will have no choice in the matter once we are signed on to  Codex.) The recent actions of Congress (bills that threaten DSHEA) lead me to  think they have a similar agenda.
     The U.S. passed CAFTA  with a very close vote and, in fact, the Republicans held the voting  period open an extra hour or more while they haggled with their party members  to accrue enough votes. Sure enough, they got them. The Democrats were already all on board.  
 
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 Codex  Alimentarius Background and History
 Compiled by Chris Gupta, based  upon the work of Paul Anthony Taylor, Sepp Hasslberger, Scott Tips, and Helke  Ferrie * http://tinyurl.com/2xohw * www.thenhf.com <http://www.thenhf.com>  * http://kospublishing.com
 
 Codex Alimentarius  
 "Codex Alimentarius," which refers to a set of strict regulations covering  all aspects of food, is Latin for "food code" or "food regulations." This collection of food rules in Europe dates back to  standards enacted  between 1897 and 1911 by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They were used as a legal reference by the courts, although the Codex Alimentarius itself had no legal standing.
     Modern Codex regulations are prepared by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (herein referred to as "Codex"), which  works with the EU and UN in an attempt to regulate every aspect of food  production, packaging, preparation, preservation, and presentation of food  "from farm to fork." Codex also attempts to regulate supplemental nutrients. It even goes so far as to eliminate "organic produce" standards (through dilution)!
 
 Codex's reach
 Because the U.S. is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and because the WTO and other treaty agreements require the United States to adhere to Codex standards, any changes approved in Europe, and implemented in the EU-dominated Codex  meetings, could subject the United States to WTO-enforced trade sanctions.  
     Codex will control:
     1. Vitamins,  minerals and nutrients,
     2. Genetically modified  organisms,
     3. Toxic residues,
     4.  Antibiotics, drugs, growth stimulants and other hormones in food animals,  
     5. Organic foods, and
     6. Irradiation of food.
     The plan is to suppress all beneficial, high-potency nutrients, and to allow only those and a few other vitamins and minerals that will be high-priced, low-dosage, and synthetically-made by drug companies.
     Codex regulations will become binding internationally. Any nation that has entered into trade agreements through the WTO and its adjunctive treaties will eventually be forced to adopt Codex standards.
     All “new” types of  food supplements will be banned unless tested and approved in a drug-like manner. This is certain to be both time consuming and unnecessarily expensive.  And, the validity of such tests is doubtful. A favorite ploy of drug and  governmental authorities is to use such small doses of a supplement that tests do not show any noticeable value.
     Codex standards are not based upon accepted scientific or research findings. Rather, the standards are developed in a political atmosphere, with seemingly obligatory EU and drug-cartel approval.

 Can Codex be stopped?
 There is no certainty about this. You should contact your Congressmen and Senators, and  tell them how you think they should vote. It is imperative that concerned natural health consumers become organized and fully activated to stop Codex  from being enacted in the United States.  
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 Organic foods  
 From the drug cartel's point of view, the primary advantage in getting rid of true organic food is that in the absence of quality food, people will become ill and buy more prescription drugs. As a lesser advantage, the farmers will buy more insecticides and chemical fertilizers. The standards and definitions of "organic food" will be  changed. Under Codex, a farmer or rancher will be able to call his products  "organic" when they are full of toxic poisons. Under Codex, "organic food" may include as little as 70% organic contents, but this will not be  noted on labels. (The other 30% can consist of poisons or contaminants.)  
     The new laws requiring genetically modified crops, pesticides, hormones and antibiotics in foods will be cost-prohibitive to people living in developing nations, and billions of people may die and/or  sicken as a result of these policies.  
     
 Codex is not based on science or democracy
 Unelected government officials, working in cooperation with vested industry and trade interests, make decisions that result in domestic and international standards, which in turn are to be enacted into law by the member states of the WTO. When  the WTO was created, the enforcement mechanisms for Codex and other international standards were created. With this enforcement mechanism in  place, an increased incentive therefore arose to hijack the original purpose of Codex (i.e., to provide clean and safe food for the planet with no international barriers to the movement of that food), instead promoting a restrictive governmental agenda of suppression of natural alternatives to pharmaceutical medicines.
 
 Harm in harmonization  
 Through the process called "harmonization," our legislators in Washington will be required to align America with harsh and restrictive Codex requirements, regulating international trade, distribution and processing of  food, herbs and nutrients. Those proposed standards will be extremely detrimental to the environment and your health, blocking your access to many  clean, unadulterated, life-enhancing foods.
     The FDA is currently at work, preparing its own plans for "directives" for  "harmonization" of our dietary supplement laws so they will fully agree with  the excessively restrictive "international standard" set by the EU-dominated  Codex.  
 
 What Codex will accomplish
 These new  standards and guidelines will:  
     1.  Protect the multimillion-euro (European equivalent of dollars) investments of  the large drug companies as well as their government-blessed monopolies.  
     2. Lead people away from natural healing  methods, resulting in more power for the government-medical-pharma cartel, more suffering and death for the populace, and the further degradation of life on Earth.  
 
 Codex's Evil Sister
 The drug industry, recognizing the growing preference for natural remedies over pharmaceuticals, wants nutritional supplements and herbs either forbidden or priced out of  reach. In Europe, the drug cartel has succeeded in enacting the European Food Supplements Directive, which will accomplish that objective on the European  continent very  soon. This Directive, which passed into European Union (EU) law in 2002 and was implemented throughout the EU on August 1, 2005, is the first of several EU Directives to impact natural healthcare and is one of the bases for the Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements Guidelines  adopted by Codex Alimentarius.
 
 Effects of the 1994 U.S. dietary-supplement law, DSHEA:
 In the United States, after DSHEA was enacted by Congress, the shackles were removed from American suppliers, who were permitted for the first time to actually advertise some of the purported health benefits of vitamins, minerals, and herbs, and to sell such products free of the arbitrary enforcement powers of the FDA. DSHEA was passed because large numbers of Americans demanded it. Over 2.5 million ordinary citizens wanted to ensure that dietary supplements would remain available over-the-counter.  By 2002, nutritional supplements outsold drug medications.  Interestingly enough, although the FDA has retained wide-ranging enforcement powers over supplements, many anti-supplement  interests repeatedly and deliberately lie and call supplements  "unregulated."
 
 CAFTA agreement
 Special clauses have been inserted into the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) designed to force America to submit to Codex standards after its enactment by the U.S. Congress. CAFTA was passed by the U.S. Senate and Congress in 2005. This laid yet another brick in the wall for the U.S. government to eventually restrict vitamin and supplement sales in accordance with the  "German Model" of healthcare. Gradually, DSHEA, which protects the nutritional  rights of Americans, is being nullified by these “end runs,” and the North American supplement companies (along with their healthfood stores) are being insidiously phased out.
 
 The power behind the throne  
 Codex is a joint venture between the United Nation's World Health  Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization (WHO/FAO). The WTO stated that it will enforce Codex "guidelines" as the world standard for trade in food and food supplements. Both the FAO and the WHO are intended to protect the health and welfare of the world's population, but it is clear they have shirked this responsibility in regard to Codex.  
     An immense German, French, U.S., and British drug cartel is behind this. Codex is also working with other groups supporting the following agendas:  
     1. The chemical industry's aim that all animals be treated with antibiotics and hormones.
     2. The largest seed company in the world (Monsanto) is  working toward 100% genetically-modified crops.
     3. The nuclear industry's goal of irradiating all foods including plants and livestock.   
     4. All industries' goal: phasing out truly organic foods, or at least, making them extremely difficult to obtain.  
     Hopefully, the facts will alarm you enough that you will want to immediately contact Congress and tell them how you feel about all  of this.  
     Actions by the European Union and the United Nations affect millions of lives. What makes it possible for drug companies to have so much influence at the EU and UN and even within our own  FDA? The answer is rather simple: drug companies make excessive profits by overcharging on patented medicinal drugs. They claim that the profits are needed for research into new drugs. Yet, the costs of that research only come down to paying the salaries of some lab technicians. It is well-known that most of the profits are used for lobbying politicians, advertising, and similar methods of increasing sales.  
 
 The powers on the throne
 Some 167 countries are members of the Codex Alimentarius  Commission (CAC). Here are some of the international organizations working closely with Codex in order to accomplish its objectives:  
     • Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):   
     • International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)  
     • International Consultative Group on Food Irradiation  (ICGFI)
     • Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food  Additives (JECFA):
     • The European Commission on Food  Safety (ECFS)
     • United Nations (UN)  
     • World Health Organization (WHO)  
     • World Trade Organization (WTO)
     The bottom line is that, for all their power, the pharmaceutical companies could no more force you to buy their drugs and accept their medicines than  Wal-Mart could force you to buy its pots and pans. It is the overriding dictates of monopolistic legislation enacted by Congress, coupled with the government-enforced monopoly given to government-licensed and approved medical doctors, that restrict our healthcare choices. Without these laws, you could  reject “Big Pharma” with impunity as you bought and used all the natural health products you wanted in a truly free market.
 
 There are more than 20 Codex Alimentarius Committees.
 These committees develop guidelines (there are more than 16,000 pages of working documents) on every aspect of food, and present those guidelines to the Codex for  ratification. Trade organizations with strong publicly documented ties to the pharmaceutical, chemical and agricultural industries have a very influential voice at these meetings. There has been no significant representation from  health advocates, nutritional supplement manufacturers, natural healthcare  professionals, or similar groups at the Codex meetings,  except for the National Health Federation (NHF), which is the only health-freedom organization with official International Nongovernmental Organization (INGO)  status at these meetings. The NHF is the only INGO voice consistently speaking out for health freedom year after year at these meetings.  
     The Codex Commission meets every year, alternating  between Rome and Geneva, while its various committees meet in different host countries (such as France, Germany, Canada, Australia, the US, etc.). The  U.S. representatives to Codex have well-documented, unsavory connections to the very industries that stand to profit from the wholesale implementation of  the Codex standards. Insofar as the FDA is concerned, consumers have virtually no say at all.
     The governments of both India and South  Africa have repeatedly expressed their dissatisfaction with the foolish  restriction of nutrients and herbs under Codex, but their protests have been regularly disregarded during meetings by ill-defined "consensus" tactics that do not allow full discussion or debate on these crucial issues, or even true  consensus.
 
 The Power in Codex
 Here is one of many reasons why Codex can overrule our U.S. dietary laws. In the United States Federal Register, dated Oct. 11, 1995, the FDA's Policy on Standards states that "where a relevant international standard exists, or completion is imminent, it will generally be used in preference to a domestic standard." The  U.S. Constitution states that U.S. treaties take precedence over U.S. laws. There has been activity on Capitol Hill to prepare "harmonization" rules,  which will lock America into obeying Codex dietary standards.  
     It is important to note that Codex Alimentarius operates under the system enshrined in the Napoleonic legal code, under which  anything not explicitly permitted is forbidden! In contrast to the Napoleonic legal code, the U.S. operates under the more sensible English-based Common Law, wherein anything not specifically forbidden is permitted.  
 
 WTO placed corporations over nations
 The WTO has put the mechanisms in place to override any national law that interferes with multinational corporate profits in international trade. That is one of the reasons why Congressman Ron Paul tried to remove us from the WTO in 2000 via House Joint Resolution 90. Congress failed to enact his proposal.    
  
 U.S. Codex Office
 The U.S. Codex Office is found within the FDA, which, in turn, is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  This Office works very closely  with Codex in Europe. If you go to its website, you will see this:  
     "The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by FAO and WHO to develop food standards, guidelines and related texts such as  codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. The main  purposes of this Programme are protecting health of the consumers, ensuring  fair trade practices in the food trade, and promoting coordination of all food  standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations."
 
 The U.S. obeys WTO
 Codex standards and guidelines were originally intended to be voluntary, i.e., each nation could obey or disobey them. But that began to change when the various nations signed new treaties at the Uruguay Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), at which time the World Trade Organization (WTO) came into existence. According to the treaty the United States signed at Uruguay, we are  required to obey the rulings of the WTO. The WTO has enforcement power through a new international court, the Dispute Settlement Body, which does not follow our rules of evidence and wherein our interests are represented by unelected  government bureaucrats.
 
 We have a controlled (or paid-off) press  
 This Codex crisis is the clearest proof this writer has ever seen that we have a "controlled press" in America! There is absolutely no mention  by ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, BBC, or the newspapers and newsmagazines that America is hurtling toward the total loss of effective vitamin-and-herbal supplementation! This is largely due to a conflict of interest: the drug  companies provide them with millions of dollars in drug-ad revenues, and it is my belief that the media have been threatened with the loss of this revenue if  they tell the public the truth about Codex.  
     In my  opinion, this includes generous "contributions" to the White House and Congress, as well as immense bribes to EU and UN officials. Now you can understand why the newspapers, newsmagazines, and news broadcasts do not say a  word about the nutritional crisis we are facing. In 2004, pharmaceutical  companies spent over $4 billion on direct consumer advertising. This includes media advertising. In that same year, $785 million was spent on Congressional lobbying.
 
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 July 4, 2007 Update by Sharrhan Williamson
 Just this week,  the FDA announced that it was implementing tough, new “Good Manufacturing  Practices," which consist of regulations that will adversely affect sales of  vitamins and minerals. For once, the FDA was very forthright, making it clear  that small supplement companies will have to go out of business. According to  news sources, the big vitamin/supplement companies that are set to stay in business (Vitamin Shoppe, GNC, etc.) have strong  pharmaceutical company  backing.   
     Senator Ted Kennedy's FDA "revitalization" bill S. 1082 is another blow to DSHEA: it allows for its dismantling by the FDA and Congress. Dr. Ron Paul is trying to counteract this  with some new bills such as his H.R.2117.  We'll see if he is successful.
     Codex is happening, although they are implementing it in small stages so that the public hardly notices. If we call Congress to complain, they'll say, "Oh no, that's not happening." We must read  between the lines and look at all the evidence—it's as plain as day.            On the bright side, perhaps  people will get back to growing more good organic food and herbs locally than ever before.   
 
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 July 16, 2007 Update by  Scott C. Tips, Esq. of National Health Federation
 Codex (Rome): The  Non-Meeting
 The 30th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) in Rome, Italy just ended (July 2-7, 2007). Heaping plates full of Codex standards and guidelines were advanced to their final stages as if starving people were gathered around a banquet table. It did not matter what was heaped on the plate; it got passed to the table regardless. It also did not matter that there were some 451 country delegation members and another 61 INGO (International Nongovernmental Organization) delegate-observers from around  the world in attendance (or pretend attendance); the CAC Chairman, Dr. Claude  Mosha, plowed forward, pushing aside any and all objections—excuse me, he called them "reservations"—that were made. It would not have mattered if a plate of rotten tomatoes had been presented to him for approval; he would have approved them too. In this one meeting, the CAC was rendered irrelevant as a meaningful "approving" body, for it merely rubber stamped without thought what had been done by others. Mimi the Gorilla could have done just as good a job.  
     That is the  essence of what happened at the Codex meeting as Sepp Hasslberger and I (the  National Health Federation delegation) saw it. To read our full report, see  www.thenhf.com/press_releases/pr_16_jul_2007.html <http://www.thenhf.com/press_releases/pr_16_jul_2007.html> .

 
 While Americans Slept by A. Ofria
 When we see  powerful players forcing our leaders to act in ways that threaten the rights  that Americans have historically died to preserve, we must remind them of  their duty to safeguard our way of life. If we do not raise our voices above  the clamor of multinational commercial interests, we may be silenced forever.  
 
 
 Take Action by Scott C. Tips, Esq.  
 Legislation can either protect or restrict your freedom in all its  aspects, including your health freedom. As long as there is some semblance of representation in the halls of Congress, use whatever influence you have as a constituent on your Senators and Congressional representative. Let all three of them know that you oppose American harmonization with Codex Alimentarius standards and all other restrictions upon your right to purchase and grow naturally healthful foods and choose naturally healthful goods and services.  
     Remember the National Health Federation's action motto: "Be persistently vocal." That is, do not just send one letter or fax, or one  e-mail, and then sit back and watch TV reruns, thinking your job is done. Be persistent, do all three, re-send, and pick up the telephone to call them with your concerns. Even better, if possible, pay them a personal visit in their offices, ideally, going together with friends. Engrave your views in their minds, even when they are on the Senate or House floor. Make them feel  the heat.
     To begin, you could say:   
     "I am asking you to do two things to protect our health freedoms here at home: 1. Support the Health Freedom Protection Act (H.R.2117) by signing on as a cosponsor; and 2. Oppose all  efforts to  harmonize with or conform our American system of food and food-supplement regulation to the European-dominated Codex Alimentarius Commission's health standards, which are based on junk science."  
     Unify your efforts with others by joining an organization such as the National Health Federation with an established track record of health freedom activism. Together, our individual efforts will  be coordinated and amplified.    
 
 Editor's note: Special  thanks go to Scott C. Tips, Esq. of the National Health Federation for  assisting with the editing of this article.