Codex Report - July 5, 2007
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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
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posted by Whole Food Farmacy | 3:13 PM
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