Health Freedom Crisis - Action Required

July 26, 2007 FORWARD TO ALL CONTACTS CRISIS: HIGH-DANGER CONGRESSIONAL THREAT TO SUPPLEMENTS Your Organization, Club, Church or Company Can Make A Difference IF You Act Now Your Organization Speaks for Many Voters Your organization can sign on to the Natural Solutions Foundation's Letter to the Chairmen of the Compromise Committee which will save or kill our access to Natural Supplements. It will be carried, by hand, to the appropriate members of the Committee which will draft the Compromise Committee Report merging the House and Senate versions of the bills. That is the version which will appear on the President's desk for signing.   Sign on Deadline: 9:30 AM Monday, July 31         Action Steps: A. Sign your group on to Liberty Coalition Letter (http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/healthfreedomusa/content.jsp?content_KEY=3020)to Protect Your Access to Supplements. Click here (michaeldostrolenk@gmail.com)to add your organization's voice to keeping your health freedom intact. Michael is the Director of the Liberty Coalition (http://www.libertycoalition.net/). The Natural Solutions Foundation is a member organization, signing on to numerous letters to Congress which urge freedom and restraint of intrusive governmental policies on that freedom. Your group can sign on to the Natural Solutions Foundation letter along with many other groups by clicking on the link above. If you are not your group's decision maker, forward this email immediately to that person. Meet-ups, social, religious, educational, humanitarian, sports, corporate and all other types of organizations are welcome to join the Natural Solutions Foundation in urging the Congressional Conference Committee to include protective language to keep supplements on your kitchen counter (and in your body)!   B.  Call the Congressional Switchboard, 1-800-839-5276 or 202-224-3121 and ask to speak to the offices of Senators Kennedy and Congresman Dingell.  You probably will have to call back to be connected to the second of their two offices.  Tell Senator Kennedy and Congressman Dingell's offices (you won't get to speak to them)  that you "strongly support retaining the the Durbin Amendment, (also called Sec. 608), to S. 1082 in the Compromise Committee Report because it protects Dietary Supplements from the FD".   C. Spread the word. Everyone on your email list is a member of a group or knows people who are. This is such an urgent matter that we urge you to take the time as a first priority to send this information to everyone you know. NOW!  Ask people who have the authority to do so to sign on to the Liberty Coalition letter. Ask everyone to go to www.HealthFreedomUSA.org or www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org and sign up for the Health Freedom Alerts on our secure list.  And tell them that this issue is important to you so they hope they will get involved, too!   D. Donate (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=189) Your tax deductible donations allow us to educated Congress.  We have retained Charles Frohman (http://www.cfrohman.com/), an expeSurienced and highly respected and Congressional educator and legislative consultant because we need a voice on the Hill.  On Monday, July 31, Ralph Fucetola, one of our trustees, and Charlie will visit the offices of key members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican, to continue the process of education so they can understand what their Pharma friendly votes mean to their voters - you.   Having Charlie on staff is a great forward step.  Your emails to Congress have made us a force. Now we need to keep for force pushing steadily for health freedom  in the halls of Congress.  We need to raise $2000 every month to have take that step. He has already proven his worth in the month that he has been with us.  But each month that step costs $2000.  Click here (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=189) to make a special recurring donation to keep our health freedom message ringing in Congress.   You can support the wellness industry by buying high quality, organic supplements and care products while you support the Natural Solutions Foundation at the same time.  Your purchases at www.Organics4U.org do both and support your health at the same time since every item is organic and approved by me as a physician with nearly 40 years of experience in natural, drug free medicine. As a thank you, 40% of your purchase is tax deductible!   E. Support Congressman Ron Paul's Health Freedom Protection Act, H. R. 2117 (http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/healthfreedomusa/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=11754).  Urge your Congressman or woman to become a co-sponsor of the bill so they can participate in protecting your right to know what dietary supplements can -and cannot- do for you. This bill stands in direct opposition to the FDA's latest attempt to take away your right to accurate health product information (FDA draft guidance, "Evidence-Based Review System for the Scientific Evaluation of Health Claims", Docket 2007D-0125, http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/hclmgui5.html).  Voice your strong support for accurate health claims here (http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/healthfreedomusa/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=12189) during the Public Comment Period.   Background on the Immediate Legislative Crisis    Within a few days the ill-advised and dangerous bills that give more power to the FDA to solve the problems created by the FDA having too much power (!) will go to a Conference Committee for resolution of the differences between them. The House and Senate versions of the FDA Revitalization Bill, S. 1082 and H.R. 2900, are now being merged in a Conference Committee. As bad as it is (and it IS very bad), S. 1082 contains something that we need badly. Senator Durbin's amendment, Sec. 608, strongly protects dietary supplements. The House version does not. Your right to take supplements depends on this amendment. Without this protection, the FDA will have the perfect legislative "end run" it needs to kill Big Pharma's most significant competitor: health. People who take supplements and other health products stay healthy (despite the Pharma-inspired "Poison Press" of Pharma-sponsored junk science). Relatively inexpensive supplements cut heavily into the illness-care industry. Their Congressional shopping spree is bringing home their bacon in these bills. Without Senator Durbin's amendment, the FDA's long-standing attack on your health freedom will gain tremendous momentum.   Thank You!     Your continued support through your emails to Congress and other vital actions has turned the Natural Solutions Foundation into a powerhouse on Capital Hill!  Several of the front runners in the Presidential election have told us when we call to make appointments or talk to their staffers that they are well aware of the Natural Solutions Foundation's positions on health freedom.  Your emails and calls to the Congressional Switch Board are doing that!  We ARE the ones we have been waiting for.   The pro-illness forces are powerful and have all the money they need.  We have truth and freedom, ringing like a bell. It takes continued vigilance and continued participation to ring that bell loud and long enough to get what we demand: health freedom so that we can chose our own health options as we see fit! Stay active.  Spread the word! Yours in health and freedom,   Dr. Rima Rima E. Laibow, MD Medical Director Natural Solutions Foundation http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/ http://www.globalhealthfreedom.org/ Notes: HR 2117, Health Freedom Protection Act: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-2117 FDA draft guidance, "Evidence-Based Review System for the Scientific Evaluation of Health Claims", Docket 2007D-0125, http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/hclmgui5.html

Stop Codex Alimentarius and Protect Health Freedom!

 

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FDA: Constitutional Code Red

July 20, 2007 Health Freedom Threat PLEASE SHARE WITH EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK! Freedom Mouse Warriors to the Ready: New FDA Guidance Violates US Constitution, Prevents Truthful Health Claims URGENT ACTION STEPS: 1. The FDA has issued yet another dangerous, health-hostile Guidance with an absurdly short public comment period. Click here (http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/healthfreedomusa/campaign.jsp? campaign_KEY=12189) to tell the FDA that you value your right to truthful health claims and demand that the FDA adopt the health-friendly approach defined in the Health Freedom Protection Act, HR 2117. 2. Click here (http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/healthfreedomusa/campaign.jsp? campaign_KEY=11754) to educate your Congressional representatives to protect your health freedom by becoming a co-sponsor of HR 2117 in the House and introducing identical legislation in the Senate. HR 2117 would go a long way to restoring our Health Freedom of Choice. It won't pass unless YOU help educate Congress about it. PLEASE use your computer mouse - as HEALTH FREEDOM MOUSE WARRIOR let Congress know what you want! We need a MILLION messages so Congress can no longer ignore the Health Freedom issue! Health Freedom Protection will not pass either house unless YOU help educate Congress about this critical issue. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE use your computer mouse - become a MOUSE WARRIOR and join NSF in this effort to teach Congress what we need to protect our Right to Freedom of Choice in Healthcare. We need a million messages to Congress so "our representatives" can no longer ignore the Health Freedom issue! And, of course, PLEASE ask your friends and associates to join the Natural Solutions Foundation email alert system by going to http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/ and signing up as a Mouse Warrior. Background On July 2, 2007, the FDA issued a "Draft Guidance expressing its current thinking" on health claims, "Evidence-Based Review System for the Scientific Evaluation of Health Claims", http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/hclmgui5.html apparently in direct response to Dr. Ron Paul's Health Freedom Protection Act, HR 2117, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-2117. Ignoring more than 300,000 letters of support for your right to truthful health claim information, the FDA chose to give itself a restrictive, dangerous and highly Pharma Phriendly regulatory structure to forbid that information. This time, let's make it a million letters. If you use supplements of any kind (or value the US Constitution), this issue touches your life, your liberty and your health. Now would be a really good time to take action on this critical issue and ask everyone in your circle of influence to do the same. By my count, the 60 day FDA Public Comment Period ends on August 31, 2007. Your right to access information about how supplements can help you is literally at stake. This is the same restrictive process by which the FDA attacked the right of the Michigan Cherry Growers Association to post independent scientific papers on their site which demonstrated that cherries were sometimes helpful in arthritis and gout. "Take those articles off your web site", said our out-of-control FDA, "Or you will have turned cherries into an untested drug and we will make them illegal anywhere in the US!" The Michigan Cherry Growers Association took the articles down. No one coming to their site can learn that cherries can ease or end the misery of gout and arthritis. Clearly, this new Guidance says that supplements are next in the line of fire -- again! POLAR EXPRESS - Next Stop Pharma City There is a set of polar opposites at play in this issue. It is no secret that the FDA is owned lock, stock and conflict of interest by Big Pharma and Big Biotechna. Supplements and healthy food are their biggest competitors and, as in any economic war, they are interested in killing the competition. It is also no secret that the US FDA supports international Food Code (Codex) compliant regulations here in the US, also called "HARMonization". Just what is the FDA pushing here? Let's look at what Codex has to say on the topic. Codex defines a Health Claim as "any statement which states, suggests or implies that a relationship exists between a food or a constituent of that food and health" and that "Health Claims should be supported by a sound and sufficient body of scientific evidence to substantiate the claim, provide truthful and non misleading information to aid consumers in choosing healthful diets and be supported by specific consumer education."* But the same document also says, "Health Claims should be consistent with national health policy, including nutrition policy, and support such policy where applicable." Just what is our national health and nutrition policy? Last I heard, it revolved around the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) which, as the law of the land, certainly constitutes our health policy. Neither Dr. Paul nor the Natural Solutions Foundation supports Codex. Ironically, Dr. Paul's bill would also be consistent with 'a sound and sufficient body of scientific evidence to substantiate the claim'. This is one time when the US could actually be Codex-compliant by interpreting the texts in line with good public policy (and US law) and actually help people. The FDA has chosen to set its policy sights on the exact opposite outcome. Consistent with its anti-health policy promoting drugs at the expense of health and life (drugs, not supplements cause in excess of 110,000 preventable deaths each year while supplements cause none) the FDA consistently does whatever it can to eliminate our access to truthful health claims and natural products. Because the FDA's food regulatory responsibility directly conflicts with its drug regulatory responsibilities, the FDA's new Guidance takes the exact opposite position to the Health Freedom Protection Act. In fact, common sense, consumer protection and health freedom demand that the food and drug regulatory aspects of the FDA be carried out by separate organizations. If the FDA "Guides" itself into a regulatory muzzle on nutritional supplements who loses? We do, of course. There are two sides to this coin. One is good for your health and the other is good for Big Pharma's. On the one hand, there is your right to know what you need to know: truthful health claims. On the other hand, the FDA is seeking to give itself permission to engage in unconstitutional prior restraint of truthful speech about health options. Prior Restraint: Unconstitutional AND Dangerous to Your Health Wikipedia says "Prior restraint is often considered a particularly oppressive form of censorship in Anglo-American jurisprudence because it prevents the restricted material [health claims in this case] from being heard or distributed at all." And, once again, the FDA is deciding what is best for you by preventing you from knowing the truth through an inappropriate manipulation of junk science to keep you from having the information which might help you to make informed choices about natural health options. GM Sleigh Ride! This is precisely the same convoluted rationale presented at the Working Group on Labeling of GM Foods (Oslo, February 8-9, 2007) by the FDA's Dr. Barbara Schneeman when she 'explained' to a stunned meeting that the US prohibits the labeling of food as genetically modified (GM) when it IS GM because FDA and other research shows conclusively that consumers won't want to eat food if they know it is GM but since GM food is "really OK" (says the FDA without safety testing) telling consumers the truth (that it is GM food) would be "false and misleading" since consumers would make the 'wrong choice' if they knew the food was GM! (By the way, Dr. Schneeman took exception to my reporting of this strange logic and I asked her to provide me with what she believed she had said. To date I have not received her version of her statements: mine are taken from my verbatim notes and recordings.) Whew! That's some cognitive sleigh ride! The FDA has determined that you may not have the information you need because corporate scientists and unelected bureaucrats with potentially huge conflicts of interests get that privilege instead! Compare that to what former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote in Thompson v Western States, a leading free speech case: "If the First Amendment means anything, it means that regulating speech must be a last - not first - resort. *** We have previously rejected the notion that the Government has an interest in preventing the dissemination of truthful commercial information in order to prevent members of the public from making "bad" decisions with the information." IF If you really are content to have the FDA take away your right to read and learn about what dietary supplements have to offer to your health, please do nothing. The FDA will take care of the matter for you. If, on the other hand, you believe that you not only can handle the truth, but that the US Constitution protects the right of scientists, authors and merchants to give you information for you to sort out as you see fit, you MUST take action and take it now. Nutricide Coming Right Up! When I coined the term "Nutricide" to describe the impact of Codex on your health and health freedom, I gave it two definitions: ? The death of a body of knowledge relating to the relationship between food and health ? The death of large populations through manipulation of the food supply This latest FDA Guidance is designed to assure the first definition is in place, at least in the US. It takes us back to the bad old days before the rage of the US population at the attempt in Congress to take away all supplements (does that sound familiar?) led to such public uproar that the 1994 Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act (DSHEA) was passed. DSHEA treated supplements as foods and said that since foods are generally safe, supplements would also be regarded as generally safe. Some of us remember that in those bad old days, the FDA prohibited the use of "food" and "health" in the same sentence or phrase. (I kid you not!) Signs that said "Health Food Store" were illegal and were broken down by FDA Marshals wielding axes! That's where the new FDA Guidance takes us. Under it, health claims for supplements, although they may be truthful, are prohibited unless there is "significant scientific agreement" on the claim. Whose Science? We might like science to be neutral, but it is not. The FDA's science emanates from and serves corporate coffers. Nothing more, nothing less. Ron Paul's Health Freedom Protection Act says that health claims MUST be allowed unless the FDA determines that ? There is no scientific evidence that supports the claim ? The claim is inherently misleading and incapable of being rendered non-misleading through the addition of a disclaimer 'No scientific evidence' means that even a scintilla (scin?til?la - [ sin-til-uh] -noun, a minute particle; spark; trace) of evidence is sufficient to allow a health claim. That effectively eliminates the corruption of science brought about when corporate interests pay for their own version of convenient 'truth', pay to have it ghost written and published in the now totally corrupted "peer reviewed journals" regardless of the lack of real science involved. The "scintilla" standard is the traditional legal standard to avoid charges of fraud and support truthful discussion. Recent scandals involving every major medical journal have made it clear that their science is for sale to the highest bidder, peer reviewers who are free of financial interests in the reviewed papers and products cannot be found even by the most diligent editors and the sorry state of science makes "significant scientific consensus" virtually meaningless. Health freedom includes the freedom to know what might -- or might not -- help you stay healthy or get that way. Codex does not want you to have access to nutrients which are more than 15% above the amount of nutrients contained in unprocessed foods. (That's in the FDA supported Vitamin and Mineral Guideline ratified July 4, 2005 by Codex). Codex is in the process of approving a definition of advertising that would make information about food, health and diet commercial speech, regulated by nations as such. Another squeeze on your right to know about food and health. Lethargy and inaction equals a vote of confidence for the FDA. I treasure my right to make my own decisions on how I want to get - and stay - well. Join me in pushing back this unconstitutional foray into your personal territory - your health - by taking the actions indicated above. Housekeeping The Natural Solutions Foundation is always looking for new ways to make it easy to keep up with Health Freedom development. Sign up for our privacy-protected Health Freedom Alerts at http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/ . And don't forget to donate! Your tax deductible donations make this winning fight possible! Recurring donations (once a month, for example) allow us to budget our resources and are very helpful to us. One time or recurring, large or small, every dollar goes directly to the battle and is greatly appreciated! Yours in health and freedom, Dr. Rima Rima E. Laibow, MD Medical Director Natural Solutions Foundation http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/ http://www.globalhealthfreedom.org/ Notes: HR 2117, Health Freedom Protection Act: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-2117 Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_restraint *Health Claim: http://www.codexalimentarius.net/download/standards/351/CXG_023e.pdf

Stop Codex Alimentarius and Protect Health Freedom!

 

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The Speaker needs a message from you...

SPECIAL ALERT

Hello! This message is from Ralph Fucetola, JD., one of the trustees of the Natural Solutions Foundation. Dr. Laibow and Gen. Stubblebine are boarding a plane in Europe just about now and they asked me to convey this message to you.

This morning I received an urgent email message from Congressman Ron Paul's Washington, DC office. The bottom line: a newly introduced bill, HR.2900 should now be a focus of health freedom activities.

We need your help in getting a message through to the House leadership. Please reference HR.2900 and ask that HR.2900 be "brought up under a regular order" to be considered by the House WITH amendments. The bill is expected to be moved on Tuesday, so this is an URGENT matter.

Speaker Pelosi's office in DC is: (202) 225-4965
Eemail her at: AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov

Email the following message:

---------------------------
"I urge the House leadership to allow HR.2900 to be brought up under a regular order so it can be fully debated and amended. I support Ron Paul's Health Freedom Protection Act, HR.2117."
---------------------------

Currently the bill is scheduled for 40 minutes of debate and NO amendments, which means Ron Paul's important Health Freedom Protection Act, HR.2117 or other amendments, such as that proposed by attorney Jonathan Emord, would not be allowed to become an amendments to this bill. HR.2900 is the House companion bill to S.1082, the FDA "revitalization" bill that breezed through the Senate last month. That Senate bill was amended to protect Dietary Supplements and we want to make sure the House bill will also be amended to protect supplements and natural remedies.

To do that, HR.2900 must be "brought up under a regular order" so it can be fully debated and amended.

Please forward this widely.

Ralph Fucetola JD
www.globalhealthfreedom.org
www.healthfreedomusa.org

PS - and remember to support Natural Solutions by shopping though www.organics4u.org

------ Original Message ------
Received: Mon, 09 Jul 2007 08:34:21 AM EDT
From: "Singleton, Norman" <Norman.Singleton@mail.house.gov>
To: "'Ralph Fucetola JD'" <ralph.fucetola@usa.net>
Subject: RE: Now 82,918+ messages supporting Ron Paul

HR 2900 (FDA Reform) is on the SUSPENSION calendar tomorrow. It might be helpful if people called Pelosi, Hoyer, Bonner, and Blunt to see if it can
be pulled and brought up under a regular order.

Norman Kirk Singleton
Legislative Director
Congressman Ron Paul
203 Cannon
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-2831

Liberty "...will win eventually because it and only it is compatible with the nature of man and of the world. Only liberty can achieve man's prosperity, fulfillment, and happiness....libertarians now propose to fulfill the American dream and the world dream of liberty and prosperity for all mankind." - Murray Rothbard

-----Original Message-----
From: Ralph Fucetola JD [mailto:ralph.fucetola@usa.net]
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 9:30 PM
To: Singleton, Norman; McAdams, Daniel
Cc: Bailey, Jennifer; releyes@gmail.com
Subject: Now 82,918+ messages supporting Ron Paul
Importance: High

Natural Solutions Foundation's supporters have now generated 82,918 messages to the House supporting Ron Paul's HR.2117 or opposing HR.1561 and urging
that HR.2117 be added to it by way of amendment. Which Committee and Subcommittee should we direct our supporters to contact to move HR.2117?

Ralph Fucetola, JD
The Vitamin Lawyer.com Consultancy
http://www.vitaminlawyer.com
All Rights Reserved . . .

Tucson and Patagonia are in Arizona After All!

July 9, 2007 SHARE AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE, PLEASE FLASH! Tucson and Patagonia in Arizona, Not New Mexico! Haste makes extra emails, that's for sure.  Flying through a limited amount of time on a computer yesterday I mis-typed and told you about July 15 meetings in Tucson and one in Patagonia (accurate) but said they were in New Mexico when they are both in Arizona. Here is the link for the ASHEVILLE NC MEETING on July 14 and the one for the two ARIZONA meetings on July 15: http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=192 You will find flyers you can print or email.  Please do both.  The updates from Rome and the most recent CAC will be fresh and there is information that people need to fight for - and keep- their health freedoms. Congress is on Recess, but Health Freedom Needs Your Help. Please take the time to urge your Representative to become of co-sponsor of Ron Paul's important Health Freedom Protection Bill, HR 2117. Click here or cut and paste: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/healthfreedomusa/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=11754 Then click on the link below to oppsed the very dangerous HR 1561, sister legislation to the "FDA Revitalization Bill, S. 1082, passed with only 1 dissenting vote on May 9 by the US Senate: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/healthfreedomusa/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=11344 Click here to make your recurring tax deductible donation of as little as $10 per month.  We have hundreds of thousands of supporters.  The health freedom battle requires a good deal of money if we are to win it.  Imagine what would happen if everyone, not just a few people, made the committment to pay what they think is fair, and what they can afford, to help win this struggle!  Please make the contribution you have been meaning to make right now for your health and your health freedom! http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=189 Oh, and don't forget www.Organics4U.org, our wonderful all-organic virtual health mall.  Most of your purchases give you a full 40% back in tax deduction since that is the amount we receive to support our work from your purchase.  All of your purchases support your health since you are buying pure, clean, GM free nutrients, foods and products.  Win-win-win.  Be involved, be active and be well! Yours in health and freedom, Dr. Rima Rima E. Laibow, MD Medical Director Natural Solutions Foundation www.HealthFreedomUSA.org www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org

Help Us Stop Codex! Donate Buy Codex DVD Buy Codex eBook Visit the Natural Solutions Store for supplements and natural medicines. All sales benefit the Natural Solutions Foundation. Click here for a quick Codex Summary.

NOTE: If you click on a link and it seems like it isn't working, if it's a really long link and is two or more lines long, you may need to copy and paste each line into your browser's address bar, being sure to delete the space in between each section of the link. To unsubscribe from this CODEX Action Alert, click on the link below and enter your email address: http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/healthfreedomusa/unsubscribe.jsp

Meetings, Ours and Theirs

July 8, 2007 Quick Update on Meetings As you probably know, the 30th Codex Alimantarius Commission (CAC) Meeting ended yesterday.  With countries fighting over tiny changes in the final report, the session reached the point of absurdity very quickly except for one item: Fourteen countries registered their reservation (i.e., disagreement) with the decision of the CAC on a particular item.  They disagreed so strongly, in fact (and here is the important part) that their leader, Columbia, stated that because so many nations disagreed with the decison THEY DID NOT BELIEVE IT REPRESENTED A CONSENSUS. Why is that important? Because phony consensus, driven by pre-ordained outcomes which the Chairmen of the committees and the CAC itself, are the rule of the day in Codex. Unless and until blocs of nations begin acting together to protest and prevent this phony consensus, Codex will continue to ride rough shod over the rights and needs of the nations of the earth who get in the way of the Multi National Corporations and their lackeys. That can happen.  And that is why the Natural Solutions Foundation spends so much time working with, educating, and supporting developing nations in exactly this process. Meetings in Asheville and Tucson Check out the following link for up to the minute information and flyers on upcoming Codex meetings at which General Stubblebine and I will be presenting: http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=192   If that does not work for you, go directly to the Natural Solutions Foundation website at www.HealthFreedomUSA.org and click on the "Events" tab on the upper right hand page.   You will find information on the meetings in:   Asheville, North Carolina on July 14 Tucson, NM on July 15 Patagonia NM on July 15   As other meetings are planned, the information will be posted there. If you are in the area, please attend.  If not, send the information to people you know who are there.   And if you are involved in local organization, send us an email about it at dr.laibow@gmail.com and we will post your event, too!   Overheard at Codex   Presented without comment: At the conclusion of the recent CAC meeting a two days ago in Rome a member of the US delegation was calling together all of the Codex Committee Charmen and women and announcing to them that there would be a several day meeting in October, clearly at the pleasure of the United States.  They were not very happy, based on what I was hearing, since the dates were not convenient for them.  That did not seem to matter very much to the US representative.    I found that fascinating.   Must run.  Get involved,  spread the word!   Yours in health and freedom,   Dr. Rima   Rima E. Laibow, MD Medical Director Natural Solutions Foundation   www.HealthFreedomUSA.org www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org   PS:  Your tax deductible donations (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=189) make all of this possible. And don't forget about supporting your health and your health freedom through www.Organics4U.org, our all-organic store! Thanks, Dr. Rima

Help Us Stop Codex! Donate Buy Codex DVD Buy Codex eBook Visit the Natural Solutions Store for supplements and natural medicines. All sales benefit the Natural Solutions Foundation. Click here for a quick Codex Summary.

NOTE: If you click on a link and it seems like it isn't working, if it's a really long link and is two or more lines long, you may need to copy and paste each line into your browser's address bar, being sure to delete the space in between each section of the link. To unsubscribe from this CODEX Action Alert, click on the link below and enter your email address: http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/healthfreedomusa/unsubscribe.jsp

Codex Report - July 5, 2007

July 5, 2007 PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY Codex: No Time for Discussion, Plenty of of Time for Chit Chat In my first Codex report from the 30th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (July 2-7, 2007) here in Rome I noted with astonishment the brazen disregard for the procedures and pruposes for which Codex was (allegedly) been created.  Those of us who understand the real game know that the format and words do not represent the real text.  Still, up until this Codex meeting, at least the forms have been observed.  This meeting, however, has really been different. Two days ago there was no time to discuss any matter of substance, any decisions made by any of the Codex committees, no issue pertaining to the food (and therefore the lives) of the world's eaters.  Instead, every decision was rushed through without discussion, dissent or question.  Hurry, hurry!  Otherwise we will not finish our agenda items.  Hurry, hurry!  Otherwise you delegates will not have a free day on Friday before the final session on Saturday! (Note:  Say, what?  Come again?) So imagine our surprise when, relegated though we were to the hot upper reaches of the 4th Press Gallery of the Food and Agriculture Organization Penary Session Room when the discussion became positively languid.  Somehow the leadership of Codex found the time to spend (literally) HOURS on a 'discussion' of how important it is to have a continuing relationship with the International Organization of Animal Safety (OIE).  On and on went the comments, but they were all of a piece:  Country after country enthused about how important that relationship is to food safety.  And then another identical comment, another and another and... another! Then WHO and FAO (Codex' parent organizations) agreed.  Then the Vice Chair said that it would be important to have a formal relationship and the Codex Secretariat and WHO and FAO said that relationship would be between WHO, FAO and IOE and then around again.  There was time for this leisurly conversation but no time to discuss the real work of Codex.  Or, perhaps, this distortion of objective IS the real work of Codex.  Hmmmmmm.  What do you think? No multinational corporation's ox was gored by this song of praise to institutional collaboration but many of them would have been gored by delegates questioning the US' attempt to make sure all food is irradiated, GM food is unlabled, pesticide residues are either vacated (first day, no time for discussion) or accepted, including levels for those substances banned by the 2001 Stockholm convention because they are too toxic for use on this planet.  No time to talk about the Codex definition of advertising which can be used as a blanket prohibition against truthful informaiton on health benefits of food. No time to ask questions about sugar in baby foods or the fact that although, because of our documetation, the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses banned fluoride in the formula for healthy babies, the US sneaked it in at the very end of the discussion in the formulas of sick (and thus, more vulnerable babies). No time to question why stevia is not a permitted substance (although some Latin American nations tried again today and were slapped down for it pretty hard).  No time to ask why baby food and weaning foods have such high levels of salt and sugar. And certainly no time for anything like the World Health Organization's Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health which Codex is supposed to implement but which, somehow, neither the Canadian-led Codex Committee on Food Labeling (into whose report South Africa's contributions were inserted, meaning that they were to have been presented here today) nor Dr. Grossklaus' Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses seems to have been able to find a way to implement in the two years since they were ordered by WHO and FAO to do so. After that,  WHO and FAO rather lamely, I thought, reminded the Codex Commission that every Codex Committee could find ways to implement the Global Strategy.  Yeah. Right. So what's the good news?  Contact.  Despite the very best efforts of the Codex folks to keep us segregated, we have been able to make the sorts of contact that we came here for.  Developments are unfolding that will lead to more trips and more meetings with major leaders who are NOT happy about all of this.  The Codex Two Step Process is receiving a level of listening that it has not had yet.  The worse, the more dictatorial and obvious the Codex process becomes, the better it is for health freedom! More delegates and more leaders, more consumer advocates and more consumers are 'getting it'.  And, with that understanding, of course, comes a hunger for the solution.  That's the Codex Two Step Process. We need your support.  We need your donations.  It is that simple.  We WILL win this battle if we marshall the resources.  I am on an internet cafe computer (our hotel has lost internet service) and cannot tell you what the link is to make your tax deductible donation.  But if you go to our website, www.HealthFreedomUSA.org and click on the 'Donate' tab, you'll be there.  Please DO IT NOW! We are on the winning side.  We need to travel to other Codex meetings and to the countries in which these changes will occur.  We will also be in Washington DC on July 13 to meet with people in the US Government (friendlies) and to make a new DVD for Codex Delegates and for you.  Then on to Asheville for a meeting on July 14, one in Tucson and another in Patagonia, New Mexico on July 15.  If you are interested in attending any of these meetings, send an email to dr.laibow@gmail.com with 'Asheville', 'Tucson' or 'Patagonia' as the subject and you will receive the information. If you know people in those areas, send them the information. A Roman Moment A quick traveler's note: I was in the Rome Metro on the way back to the hotel after the meeting with General Stubblebine.  I felt something at my hip and looked down to see a hand that did not end in my wrist in my pocket.  (Rome is famous for this, unfortunately.)  Since all I had was a sheet of homeopathic lozenges and a used tissue, the person sharing my pocket quickly averted his eyes and stepped off the train at the station we had reached no richer (or healthier) than before he explored my pocket! The internet cafe is closing, so I am done for now.  Go to www.Organics4U.org and support us that way, too. And don't forget to take the action step on the upper right hand corner of our home page, www.HealthFreedomUSA.org.  Do that now, too, please. Yours in health and freedom, Dr. Rima Rima E. Laibow, MD Medical Director Natural Solutions Foundation www.HealthFreedomUSA.org www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org

Help Us Stop Codex! Donate Buy Codex DVD Buy Codex eBook Visit the Natural Solutions Store for supplements and natural medicines. All sales benefit the Natural Solutions Foundation. Click here for a quick Codex Summary.

NOTE: If you click on a link and it seems like it isn't working, if it's a really long link and is two or more lines long, you may need to copy and paste each line into your browser's address bar, being sure to delete the space in between each section of the link. To unsubscribe from this CODEX Action Alert, click on the link below and enter your email address: http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/healthfreedomusa/unsubscribe.jsp

Summer of Decsions

 

 

July 4, 2007 

PLEASE FORWARD TO YOUR CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE

 

Summer of Decisions: The State of Health Freedom 2007

Natural Solutions Foundation Analysis

A series of international and US government actions at the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007 have put Health Freedom of Choice -- with regards to Organic Standards, Nutrients, Traditional Remedies and Leading Edge Alternatives -- in greater jeopardy than any time since the adoption of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act  of 1994 (DSHEA). Thus, the Summer of 2007 has become a Summer of Decision for health freedom activists.

Codex Alimentarius is the least known, the most impactful and potentially the most dangerous threat to health and health freedom.  Most threats to health freedom are local ( e.g., a State goes on a rampage against physicians practicing drug free medicine), national (e.g.,  the US FDA decides to articulate the law inaccurately setting the stage for draconian "enforcement" of a regulatory structure which deems all health aides to be untested drugs, like cherries if used for arthritis, or untested devices, like hot rocks to sooth painful muscles).  Codex, because it is a UN project which sets standards and guidelines controlling the international trade of all foods and nutrients, not only determines what is available internationally (with all the market pressure that implies) but also becomes the domestic law for those countries which, like the United States, have decided to "Harmonize" with Codex standards and guidelines.  The US announced its intention to do just that on October 11, 1995 in the Federal Register when it stated that it would give preference to international standards over US regulation and, as it has turned out, US law as well.

Codex is a mechanism for moving the entire world rapidly towards an industrialized, nutrient poor diet which benefit a multinational constituency and threaten health everywhere by compromising food on a cataclysmic scale.  Under Codex, dangerous, expensive and health-damaging changes in the global food supply are being implemented. Organic standards are being degraded, permitted heavy metal residue levels are being increased, Codex permits astonishingly high levels of dangerous industrial drugs, chemicals, pesticides, toxic veterinary drugs and other poisons in the food supply.  Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) for many pesticides are being removed so that there is no upper limit whatsoever to the amounts of these systemic poisons which can be introduced into foods (and into the bodies and environments of the farmer, his family and his land. Others are being increased dramatically.  Organic standards are being lowered so pure, unadulterated food can be expected to vanish globally since the phrase will be maintained but the reality will be degraded beyond recognition to meet the needs of industrial farming.  At the same time, high potency (dose) nutrients are being prohibited since they are treated as if they were toxins (severely limited, unlike most toxins) and "assessed" by "Risk Assessment" to be present at  no more than, for vitamins and minerals, for example, 115% of the amount found in untreated foods.  High potency nutrients will become unavailable in any country which "HARMonizes" with Codex" (the US) or adopts its texts as its domestic laws (most of the developing world).

In effect, Codex standards and guidelines mandate unparalleled levels of toxicity plus global under-nutrition, the very same condition to which the World Health Organization (WHO), one of Codex's parent organizations (Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO,  is the other) attributes the global epidemic of non communicable diseases of under nutrition: cancers, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, diabetes and obesity. These diseases are the principle killers in the developed world (after properly used pharmaceuticals) and are rapidly becoming the principle killers in the developing world as well.  These preventable diseases are also major profit centers for industries that depend on illness for their profits: the pharmaceutical and medical industries.

At this year's Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) meeting (FAO Headquarters, Rome, July 2-7, 2007) the procedure has been radically altered.  In previous years, standards and Guidelines proposed by the various Codex Committees and regional associations were discussed (at least to some extent) by the national delegates to the annual CAC. Unjust, dangerous, unwise or unhealthy Codex texts were opposed by countries whose self interest or public health was harmed by the text under consideration.  If the standard or Guideline was not approved or needed to be revised, it would either be killed or sent back to Committee for revision, often along with specific instructions to that body.  When ready, the text would return to CAC for further consideration, advancement to another level of acceptance or rejection.

That has changed dramatically.  The anticipated date for implementation and globalization of total control of the world's food trade appeared to be dramatically off track.  Things were not moving very rapidly despite the near-desperate efforts of Committee chairpersons like the German Rolf Grossklaus, MD. of the Codex Committee for Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) and the Canadian Ellen Mackenzie, Ph.D. of the Codex Committee for Food Labeling to rush decisions, curtail discussion and gallop through their view of the agenda at a dizzying pace. Of course, pro-health options like the WHO's Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Nutrition (mandated for implementation by Codex by both WHO and FAO) somehow never seemed to garner adequate time for meaningful discussion leaving implementation strategies in the dust and in the dark.

This year at CAC not only has the Natural Solutions Foundation been prevented from mingling, eating or talking with the Codex Delegates (by security guards on several occasions!), but the delegates have been prevented from discussion of the standards and Guidelines they are advancing through the Codex process!  It is strikingly reminiscent of the US Senate being handed sealed copies of the Patriot Act weeks after 9/11, assured that their security clearances were not high enough to read the law but being instructed to vote on it anyway. If you recall, 99 US Senators did.  Robert Bryd of Virginia was the sole member of the Senate to refuse to buy that pig in that poke.

At CAC, the Chair now urges members to adopt whatever texts have been brought forward, whether they agree with them or vehemently disagree.  Texts and amendments to them are presented "en bloc" for approval en mass without a single word of discussion, if the Chair can bully the delegates into it.  When delegates try to overcome this de facto gag rule, either they are told that they are getting in the way of the good work of the CAC (shame) or that they are making it impossible for the CAC to complete its work (guilt).

Those few delegates who try to clarify the irregularities of the process or the dangers of the standards or Guidelines are told that they are getting in the way.  Since Codex refuses to define "consensus" and the Chair's agenda is set before the meeting, the Chair does whatever the Chair had intended to do in the first place.  An example: today new standards were authorized for a whole group of dangerous industrial chemicals (pesticides) whose MRLs were simply evaporated by the Chairman's administrative fiat.  This means that there is no upper limit to the amount of these metabolic poisons which may be incorporated into your food.

Critical health freedom choices this summer mean making sure that your country does not harmonize with Codex Alimentarius and that your national scientists and legislators follow the Codex Two Step Process to make pro-health choices where Codex makes pro-industry ones and to protect your right to clean, unadulterated and healthy food.  If you are a United States citizen, that also means signing the Natural Solutions Foundation Citizens Petition to force the US Government to comply with US law, rather than Codex standards and Guidelines, with reference to vitamins and minerals.

In the last days of the year the President signed the Adverse Event Reporting Act that requires supplement sellers to report reactions to their products; we view this law as potentially beneficial to consumers. At the same time the Food and Drug Administration - the FDA - issued a draft "CAM" Guidance (complementary and alternative modalities) that Congressman Ron Paul, MD, called "an abuse of FDA power..." This is and attempt to grab power over our remedies traditionally overseen by state law by an agency that has show itself unable to effectively implement its confused and contradictory authority over foods and drugs.

The FDA issued the draft Guidance on December 26th, but did not bother to give the public notice until February 26, 2007. Then the public had its turn to comment.  nearly two hundred thousand people did so, telling the FDA to leave our alternatives alone.  This same grassroots movement has swelled the ranks of NSF supporters. We've joined Dr. Paul in condemning this blatant power grab and have called for meaningful reorganization of the FDA. The FDA needs to  focus on its core mission of protecting the public from dangerous, side-effect causing prescription drugs that, these days, have much more in common with chemical toxins than natural materials. To do that, the agency's food jurisdiction should be shifted to the US Agriculture Department or other existing agencies.

Every Federal agency, however, is capable of causing great harm to the public and the USDA is no exception.  early June, the Department approved the addition of 38 more non-organic source materials to products that can continue to mislead us by pretending to be truly organic. This continues a general and disturbing trend to dilute organic standards.  The NSF supports strong organic standards and supports the disclosure of conditions, such as irradiation and genetic modification, that allow the public to make informed choices.

Late in June the FDA, 14 years after being instructed to do so by Congress, finally issued what are called "Good Manufacturing Practices" regulations to the dietary supplement industry. This 467 page document has capacity to reduce consumer access to high potency nutrients and admits that many small companies will be driven out of business as a result.  We are very concerned about this increase in regulation. Just previously, the US Senate adopted the FDA "Revitalization" bill which would "solve" the problem of FDA failures by granting it more power  to abuse.  When the public rose up against that bill, it was amended to protect dietary supplements from its new powers.  But the House must now consider it, as HR.1567, which ought to be further amended to further protect  natural remedies. We note that Dr. Paul has introduced the Health Freedom Protection Act, HR.2117, that would do just that.  Our Representatives need to hear from the public so they support our freedoms with Dr. Paul instead of the new restrictions proposed by Sen. Kennedy.

At the same time, various regional and international agencies continue to threaten market access to wholesome foods, natural remedies and dietary supplements. As always, the FDA's announced intent to "HARMonize" our  freedoms to international rules (even where that decreases our access to safe products), operating through the North American Union, Codex and the new US/EU cooperation agreement, remains an ever present threat. Codex Alimentarius -  the world food code - still remains too much a creature of big governments and big commercial interests, although a nascent alliance of health-friendly countries, inspired by information from NSF is making inroads and recently protected healthy babies from being exposed to fluoride in their formulas.

This is an especially exciting time for the Dietary Supplement / Natural Products market. While stricter regulations seem on the way, scientific advances and ongoing clinical studies point the way to better and more effective products. The problem is not in the science or the production; the problem is in the politics. These products are generally recognized as safe  when used as directed, like any food. We therefore need to reject the big government notion that tells us we will only be safe if bureaucrats have more control over us.  That nostrum is provably wrong, as we see from the failure of government, with plenary power over approving drugs (as to efficacy and safety) to protect the public from what some estimate to be hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths each year from lawful and correctly used prescription drugs.

The wise people who wrote the Declaration of Independence told us, "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right,  it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security..."

It is now time for people concerned with natural solutions to our health care crises to declare our independence from the failures of the bureaucratic  system and to demand new freedoms to offset and correct the old failures of the regulators.

Ralph Fucetola, JD
Trustee


Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director

Natural Solutions Foundation
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org

Citizens Petition: www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=184

HR. 2117: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/healthfreedomusa/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=11754 

 
HR. 1561:

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/healthfreedomusa/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=11344 

Just Can't Keep A Good Health Freedom Organization Down!

July 2, 2007 PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY  THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK!  You know you are on the right path in the Health Freedom Battle when Codex tries to neutralize you! That's what happened today at the annual Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) meeting here in Rome. Imagine!  The Natural Solutions Foundation is, apparently, such a threat to Codex that they changed the rules and regulations to keep us away from anyone we could influence!  YES!  Validation City!   THEN AND NOW: MINGLE VS. ISOLATE At all previous Codex meetings (including the 2005 CAC in the same building here in Rome) Public Observers have been welcome permitted to mingle with the delegates, sit in the meeting room, have lunch with participants, attend social and other events, etc. And we have been effective in using those precious moments to lobby for our positions (like successfully keeping fluoride out of formula for healthy babies despite the US' wishes), making connections, strategizing with health friendly nations, etc.  Delegates introduce us to their health friendly colleagues in these mingle moments.  We hand out material like Codex E-Books (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=220) and "Nutricide: the DVD" (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=156)  and tell people about the Codex Two Step Process. As you know, we've generated quite a lot of forward movement doing just that. GEE WHIZ!  WHY DON'T THEY LIKE US? But something there is that does not like our success!  This year when we arrived at the FAO Building and signed for the CAC, in we learned that our Public Observer's pass (our usual status since Codex refuses to grant the Natural Solutions Foundation official "Observer" status - which would allow us to speak at Codex meetings!) now did not permit us to: Enter the meeting room Meet with Delegates Enter the FAO lunch room Attend any Codex functions RELEGATED TO THE PEANUT GALLERY Instead, although the galleries on either side of the meeting room had plenty of empty seats, we were relegated to an upper press balcony where the temperature soon became unbearable. Our only company was 4 graduate students studying Codex (no press) and where there were no outlets for computer use.  We did have simultaneous translation devices so it could have been a little worse, I guess. THE FORCE The Force, however, appears to be with us.  Although Darth Vader and his minions tried to isolate and inactivate us, things worked out a little differently!  Delegates who know and value our work sought us out, asked where we were and were appalled when we told them how conditions had been arranged to neutralize us.   You will understand why I cannot tell you which countries they represent, but people we had met in our travels came to us and asked for our input and help (which we, of course, were delighted to give).  Some told us that they were looking for us because they were eager to continue our dialogue. After one such interaction, we had a detailed, productive and highly focused 5 hour discussion about how to implement the Codex Two Step Process and reclaim natural agriculture in the countries concerned. We were asked to provide continuing and expanded support in those countries to help them move toward their goals of implementing the new health paradigm and true health freedom.  Validation City, redux! THANK YOU, CODEX, ONCE AGAIN! So here is the bottom line: We ARE on the right track!  Codex keeps confirming it for  us: In 2006 CAC Chairman Claude Moshe prevented us from sponsoring a delegate from his country.  Validation County!  During the 2006 CAC meeting Moshe publicly attacked the Natural Solutions Foundation. Validation State!  This year the entire structure of participation at the Codex meeting was re-arranged so that we could not meet and mingle! Validation Nation! More trips to more countries are emerging from today's interactions. Stay tuned.  This year's CAC fun is just beginning. Yours in health and freedom, Rima E. Laibow, MD Medical Director   Natural Solutions Foundation www.HealthFreedomUSA.org www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org www.Organics4U.org PS: Health Freedom isn't free!  It's pretty expensive, as a matter of fact.  Please consider making a generous tax deductible recurring donation (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=189) to help the Natural Solutions Foundation defray the costs of doing this work. PPS: Remember to tell Congress to protect your health freedom: Support Ron Paul's Health Freedom Protection Bill, HR 2117 (http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/healthfreedomusa/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=11754) Oppose/Amend the House version of the FDA Revitalization Bill, HR 1561 (http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/healthfreedomusa/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=11344) If the links have been hacked (again), either cut and paste them or send an email to dr.laibow@gmail.com with "Submit" as the subject and your name and address in the body of the email and we will submit for you. One other thing: Your feedback is needed. Please let me know how you like this new type face.  Is this one (Verdana) easier and more pleasant to read or do you like the old one (Times New Roman) better?  Send an email to dr.laibow@gmail.com and tell us your preference.  Dr. Rima

Help Us Stop Codex! Donate Buy Codex DVD Buy Codex eBook Visit the Natural Solutions Store for supplements and natural medicines. All sales benefit the Natural Solutions Foundation. Click here for a quick Codex Summary.

NOTE: If you click on a link and it seems like it isn't working, if it's a really long link and is two or more lines long, you may need to copy and paste each line into your browser's address bar, being sure to delete the space in between each section of the link. To unsubscribe from this CODEX Action Alert, click on the link below and enter your email address: http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/healthfreedomusa/unsubscribe.jsp