What Is the Codex Alimentarius?

So many have asked me what the Codex Alimentarius is, so I am addressing it today. It goes along with the numerous bills regarding foods, supplements, agriculture, and other issues that are being debated in our country's Congress as I write. However, the difference with this is that it involves the issues on a world-wide scale which would ultimately affect the US in many ways.

What are the ramifications of all these laws, rules, and regulations if adopted? The proposed agenda, according to experts such as Dr. Rima Laibow, would be the loss of the individuals right to choose what you will be able to consume, what your food supply contains or is genetically modified with, our unalienable right to live holistically, and to voice our concerns.

Is having access to the natural foods and the supplements important to you? If you are like my wife and I, it is! For 41 years now, we have endeavored to live as naturally as humanly possible in an imperfect world and have used primarily natural organic flour, grains, oils, supplements, produce, and other items and staples purchased from health food stores along with other natural food sources and organic farms.

During all those years, however, there have been many who have have tried to limit access to living holistically. Numerous efforts have had to be initiated by those who treasure the freedom to consume wholesome organic, non-GMO/non-irradiated, non-adulterated foods, and to purchase supplements and herbs to counter those attacks on the ability to live naturally and holistically.

Now, besides the proposed bills in Congress I have discussed in previous posts, there is, also, the Codex Alimentarius, the Grand-daddy of all efforts to thwart access to holistic living, and this is, as I said before, a world-wide goal. The codex proponents now have several bills before Congress designed to overturn and get rid of DSHEA. There are many things that the Codex covers:

According to Dr. Rima Laibow, the most vocal doctor on the subject informing people about it, ...

Organic food governance will be dumbed down to suit the interests of large food producers. Various synthetic chemical additives and processing aids will be allowed, and food labeled as organic may be irradiated. Labeling will permit the use of hidden, non-organic ingredients.

Only what is expressly allowed under Codex will be permitted, and everything else is forbidden. In 1994, the same year DSHEA was signed( The Dietary Substances Health and Education Act was signed into law in 1994 for the purpose of ensuring that safe and appropriately labeled products would remain available to those who wanted to use them), Codex had nutrients declared to be toxic and poisonous. And as poisons, they claimed people must be protected from them through the use of toxicology and risk assessment, under which scientists test small doses on animals until they are able to discern an impact. They then take the first sign of the most minimal impact and divide this amount by 100 to establish a safety margin required from these poisons. This means that the largest dose of any nutrient allowed under Codex is 1/100th of the amount shown to produce the first discernible impact.

According to Dr. Robert Verkerk, founder and director of the Alliance for Natural Health, about 300 dangerous food additives that are mainly synthetic will be allowed under Codex, including aspartame, BHA, BHT, potassium bromate, tartrazine, and more. Dr. Verkerk is particularly concerned that no consideration has been given to potential risks associated with long-term exposure to mixtures of additives.

All together, Codex allows over 3,275 different pesticides, including those that are suspected carcinogens or endocrine disrupters.

Surprisingly, Dr. Laibow found that very few congressional representatives even know about the Codex and the agenda it propses to set forth.

Notes from: Barbara Minton - July 22, 2009 - source NaturalNews- posted at BlackListedNews

It is up to every "citizen" who values their health freedoms to know what is happening locally and world-wide and to keep abreast of the issues. You can make a difference.

Just to show how much of a difference health interest groups can make, just recently-6/6/10, there was a news release that stated:

Big pharma and other powerful groups have suffered a major blow in their efforts to strangle the vitamin industry. A US court has ruled that a manufacturer can make general health claims about its product – a decision that threatens the draconian new laws that will be introduced across Europe next year.

District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle upheld complaints from the Alliance for Natural Health USA and others that the FDA ban went against the First Amendment that allows free speech. She said there was credible scientific evidence to demonstrate that selenium helps protect against cancer, and so the manufacturer should be allowed to include the fact in promoting the product.

The surprise decision is a blow for European laws that will impose similar restrictions on the sale of vitamins in Europe. Under the Nutrition & Health Claims Regulation, manufacturers will not be allowed to make general health claims about their vitamin and dietary supplements.

Rob Verkerk, executive director of ANH International, said: “The verdict in our case against the FDA should be sending shock waves across the Atlantic. If European authorities implement the regulation, it is the European consumer that will be the main loser. Disease prevention using good diets and nutrients will effectively be thrown out of the window.”

This may slow the efforts of Big Interest Groups here a bit; however, this is by no means a time to become complacent. If these issues and concerns are important to you, VOICE THEM.

You can make a difference. Support Dr. Rima Laibow in her efforts to keep people abreast on the Codex and other important topics in the health field. Donations to her foundation are appreciated. Please see the web sites below for her contact information and listen to her radio show on Sunday evenings. The schedule is on the site.

To your health,
Stephen

http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/
http://www.anhcampaign.org/
For more of Dr. Laibow's videos in sequence, go HERE






"Healthy food & water, makes for healthy people!"

Do You Take Supplements? Read On!

Hello,

This is an update of the proposed bill that would have devastating effects on the choices we as consumers would have in the natural food and natural living marketplace. The following letter is from the National Health Federation, a well-respected group that has been on the forefront representing those interested in living naturally and maintaining their health freedoms. This has been an ongoing battle off and on for the last 50 years.

If this is important to you, please read, and do send a letter to your congress-person to voice your opposition. You can make a difference. The contact information for those in Congress follows at the end of the article.

Thank you, and have a great day,
Stephen
501-802-2440

SENATE FOOD SAFETY AWAITING FINAL SENATE ACTION

By Lee Bechtel, NHF National Lobbyist, May 25, 2010

While others’ attention has been focused upon the House and Senate Financial Reform legislation, the National Health Federation has actively been following not only this legislation but S.510, the so-called Durbin “Food Safety” bill and Senate floor action, as well.

Federal Control of Our Food Supply

As readers will recall, S.510 will require registration of all food facilities, including manufacturers, processors, packers and storage facilities. Any such facility that introduces food into interstate commerce without being registered and having paid the mandatory registration fee would be subject to penalties for marketing misbranded food. Registered facilities must also implement hazard analysis, risk-based preventive controls, and food-safety plans. For large commercial operations and Agribusiness with their retained professional staffs of attorneys and accountants, these additional costs will be barely noticed; but for small farms and small operations, these regulatory requirements will be oppressively burdensome, even fatal.

In essence, this bill proposes total Federal government control over and tracking of food production, distribution, and sales supposedly to ensure “food safety” but which powers in fact would be unconstitutional and unnecessary. Under S.510, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would empower the government to regulate food production at all levels, up and down the chain of production. For violations, the bill provides for criminal prosecution for producers, manufacturers, and distributors who fail to comply with the new laws, and punitive property seizures and large fines for each offense upon conviction. And S.510’s “science-based” approach tracks that found in Codex food guidelines.

BPA to the Rescue

The Senate, under the direction of Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Dick Durbin, the best known of the anti-health-freedom and dietary-supplement “axis of evil” leadership of the Democratic-controlled Congress, has had to delay full Senate consideration of S.510, again, until mid-June.

In the most recent developments on S.510, on May 18th, Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) held a press conference with representatives from U.S. PIRG (Public Interest Research Group), a Ralph Nader group, and announced that despite food-industry opposition, she plans to offer an amendment to S.510 that would immediately ban the use of Bisphenol A (BPA) in beverage and food containers.

BPA is often used as a liner in cans for foods and other items, as well as in plastics. It has come under scrutiny in recent years for possible health dangers. A study conducted by PIRG found small levels of BPA in 46 of 50 grocery store cans. The results suggest that BPA, a xenoestrogen, can migrate from can linings into food, causing disruption of the endocrine system in humans and possible fertility problems. While some are convinced that BPA levels are within safety limits, the NHF’s position is that one cannot consider synthetic contaminants such as BPA in isolation; with all of the xenoestrogens that humans (and animals) are exposed to from hundreds, if not thousands, of different sources, the cumulative and interactive effect of all of these xenoestrogens is devastating. The incontrovertible fact remains that human fertility is dropping in developed countries and it is not without man-made causes.

Since the Feinstein announcement, the Can Manufacturers Institute, the American Chemistry Council, North American Metal Packaging Alliance, and Grocery Manufacturers Association have communicated to Senators that if Feinstein does introduce her amendment, then they will collectively withdraw their support for S.510. This, of course, gives Senator Dick Durbin, a passage headache. In addition, Congressman Henry Waxman has sent a letter to the FDA querying the role of a small number of industry-sponsored studies that may have played a role in influencing the FDA decision last year to conduct a more extensive study before considering a ban on the use of BPA.

And Another Delay

In addition, following the May 20th Senate Democratic Caucus meeting, Senator Byron Dorgan, the retiring Democratic Senator from North Dakota, informed his colleagues that he will offer his foreign-country prescription drug re-importation bill to S.510 as an amendment. Of course, once again, the big pharmaceutical companies are opposed to Dorgan doing this, while the NHF has supported foreign-drug re-importation as a means to increase competition and lower drug prices. After all, many of these “foreign” drugs come from the same factories in Puerto Rico as those shipped directly to the Mainland U.S.!

This also gives Senator Dick Durbin another Senate legislative hurdle to overcome in order to gain final Senate passage of S.510. In any event, a House-Senate conference committee awaits any Senate final passage.

All of these developments certainly slow things down and gum up the works with Senate passage of this bill. The Senate will now not get to S.510 before the Memorial Day recess, and maybe not even until mid-June.

The NHF is opposed to passage of S.510 because: (1) it is absolutely unconstitutional; (2) it will not remedy the “food safety” problem it is ostensibly intended to address; and (3) it expands the arbitrary power and authority of the FDA in particular and the Federal government in general. It is a recipe for disaster that will make our food supply less safe, not safer. Moreover, it will lead to the eventual extinction of the big Agribusinesses’ competition – the small- and medium-sized farms; but then this is part of the plan as well made by these huge corporations and their bought-and-paid-for buddies on Capitol Hill who pass coercive laws limiting our free choices so that, in the end, we will only be able to buy the trash food sold by Agribusiness.

More than ever, continue expressing your opposition to S.510.


Sample Letter to Your Senators - Click Here

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Click on this address to find your U.S. Senators: http://www.senate.gov

Contact Information to E-mail Senators:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

The Senate main number is (202) 224-3121

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Click for complete list of House of Representatives contact info:
http://www.theorator.com/government/house.html
Fax List for House of Representatives

Food Safety Act S.510 (H.R. 2749)

S.510 Chairman's Mark

Bill Overview

McCain/Dorgan/Hatch/Harkin Letter of March 10th

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National Health Federation: Established in 1955, the National Health Federation is a consumer-education, health-freedom organization working to protect individuals' rights to choose to consume healthy food, take supplements and use alternative therapies without unnecessary government restrictions. The NHF is the only such organization with recognized observer-delegate status at Codex meetings. www.thenhf.com.
Your donations to the NHF are appreciated.