|
2005/08/28, 12:21 AM
The warnings have been out there for a while now, and action is being taken....as warned about...read on....
Well, they did it. Remember I told you last month to be concerned about the power of the Codex Alimentarius Commission? This international organization sets global standards for food-related trade -- and their latest decision will have serious repercussions for those of us who use dietary supplements.
At their annual meeting in Rome last month, they voted to adopt international standards for vitamin and mineral supplements. That sounds like a good thing. But unfortunately, that one line doesn't come close to telling the whole story.
Their actions will define the upper levels of safe supplement use by a new method, calculating it based on scientific risk assessment rather than on recommended dietary intake. This new method is more suited to testing safe usage levels of substances known to be toxic rather than for evaluating nutrients that are considered safe under ordinary circumstances. This change could seriously restrict available dosages of vitamins and minerals.
Although Codex's actions by themselves will not change U.S. laws, the fear among natural medicine proponents is that manufacturers will likely follow suit, watering down their products to conform to international standards of potency. And it will most likely give those who oppose consumer access to dietary supplements the ammunition they need to attempt to change our laws.
You see, as much as Codex likes to quantify its decisions as being in the best interests of consumers, among its participants are representatives of Big Pharma, big business, and corporate-funded lobbyists.
But we can do more than sit back and wait to see how all this will play out and what impact it will have on our access to nutrients. I urge you to make a donation of any size to the Alliance for Natural Health (www.alliance-natural-health.org), which has commissioned a group of independent risk assessment scientists at the Netherlands-based HAN Foundation to develop better methods for setting maximum levels.
--------------
If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything....
bb1fit@freetrainers.com
|
