Reading the Fine Print to Get It Right!

IMPORTANT HEALTH FREEDOM INFORMATION.  PLEASE FORWARD VERY WIDELY GO TO www.HealthFreedomUSA.org to sign up for the Natural Solution Foundation's Free Health Freedom Alerts Reading the Fine Print to Get It Right! As Gilbert and Sullivan noted in their satirical operetta "Things are seldom what they seem, Skim milk masquerades as cream."  It takes a good deal of work to figure out what´s skim milk and what´s cream in the health and health freedom areas and sometimes conflicting information can be confusing. The purpose of this email is to provide much needed information on two important areas currently filled with a good deal of needless confusion. The first is a piece of seemingly good news that is really bad while the second is a piece of seemingly bad news that is really good.  Skim milk and cream, indeed!  Nano Victory A recent internet announcement trumpeted what is at best a minor victory in Europe, in which supplements, which are under a major assault by the restrictive and destructive European Food Supplements Directive (EFSD) garnered a legal victory such that natural source of supplements are no longer in danger, now that they are considered as foods. We agree with the basic principal: supplements are foods and therefore considered safe. First, the background.  You probably already know that the European Union (EU) is on a path to eliminate all high dose nutritional supplements.  They passed the EFSD which gives the central government the authority to remove supplements which do not conform to their restrictive limitations on which supplements may be sold (very few) and which dosages are permitted (very low). This Directive was challenged in the European Court system.  In fact, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) received arguments including scientific dossiers on the issues in this case in January, 2005.  The Natural Solutions Foundation as an organization and I as a physician and scientist were proud to be signatories on a scientific dossier supporting the use of high dose nutrients for health maintenance and promotion.  This document also made the point that natural source nutrients were biologically and biochemically superior to, and different from, synthetic source nutrients.  Natural source nutrients are safe, beneficial and extremely important to the health of people eating modern industrialized foods and living in a toxic world.  Synthetic ingredients are not the same as natural ones, although our FDA has taken the unscientific position that they are the same. As an aside, the Natural Solutions Foundation feels so strongly about this that we provide an online store, www.Organics4U.org , where you can access totally organic, all natural nutrients for yourself and those you care about. You may also recall that on July 4, 2005, to the exuberant jubilation of the US Codex Manager, Ed Scarbrough, PhD., the restrictive and dangerous Vitamin and Mineral Guideline was ratified by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.  This documents literally mandates deadly under nutrition in the international trade of nutrients since, for example, permitted maximum doses of nutrients may be only 15% higher than the amount of that nutrient found in unprocessed food.  A 1000 mg Vitamin C tablet would be illegal in international trade.  So would a 500 mg one.  So would a 250 mg one. A few days later, the ECJ gave its ruling on the legal challenge to the EFSD and ruled that it would remain intact meaning that only those permitted nutrients would survive, so effective nutritional therapy would be eliminated in the EU.  It did rule that natural source supplements might still be used, but that the doses were still far too small to satisfy the biological diversity of each person´s individual needs. At the time, one of the organizations involved in the suit touted that as a great victory and, while congratulating the President of the organization, I questioned the meaning of a ¨victory¨ in which micro doses of natural sources were still in, but meaningful doses of either natural or synthetic nutrients were out.  His answer was "We´ll figure that out later." Now It´s Later and the Europeans are faced with a real challenge to Health Freedom So when an associated organization recently sent out an email trumpeting the ¨Victory¨ that allows natural source nutrients to be treated as foods, not drugs, we share their delight.  After all, we helped bring about this ruling.  The highly significant US 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education  Act (DSHEA) pioneered the critically important idea that nutrients are foods and, like foods, generally regarded as safe so we can have as much of them as we like, just as we can have as much lettuce or lamb or lasagna as we like.  This idea is under significant attack in this country as you will see when you read the second part of this email. What we don´t share is their interpretation of the meaning of this confirmation. It´s kind of like when Moses came back from Mt. Zion with the tablets and all the Israelites crowded around him, eager to know what had happened. Moses said, ¨Well, I´ve got some good news and some bad news for you¨.  The good news is that I got Him down to 10.  The bad news is that Adultery is still in.¨ The Bad News The good news, of course, is that natural source ingredients are in.  The bad news is that nutrients, foods or not, are still limited to micro doses.  Those micro doses are intended to make sure that people eating a Codex compliant, corrupted and toxic food supply will become sick and that they will have no recourse or resource other than dangerous, expensive, ineffective pharmaceuticals.  To see more about how that works, watch my Codex lecture at www.HealthFreedomUSA.org or at www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org. Now for Some Good News that Looks Bad Everybody is entitled to make a mistake.  Congress makes them all the time.  Consider: on May 9, 2007 the Senate overwhelmingly passed the misnamed, wrongheaded, dangerous and irrational FDA Revitalization Bill, S. 1082.  By throwing power and money at an out of control, deadly and corrupt organization, the bill supposedly would curb and correct these problems.  Members of the US Senate attached some amendments to protect dietary supplements from this huge mistake of a law.  In fact, Senators Harkin, Hatch and Durbin inserted language which specifically exempts products covered by DSHEA, that is, dietary supplements, from this law. (608 - Rule of construction: nothing in this title "shall be construed to affect..." regulation under DSHEA or AER [Adverse Event Reporting] law). The same law was railroaded through the House last month with no amendments permitted so that this vitally important protection for supplements against the determined attack of the FDA is lacking. Natural Solutions Foundation Takes Action You may recall that we headed for Washington to help assure that your right to chose to take dietary supplements would not fax to the ax of this really bad bill.  Ralph Fucetola visited important Congressional Offices to assure that the compromise version of the bill which would be reported out of Conference Committee would contain the protective 608 language. The good news? We were assured that it would and that there was no danger to supplements and were thanked profusely for our diligence in focusing our large and vocal base on this issue.  Astonishingly, yet another health freedom organization got this one wrong, big time.  They mis-read the law and took us to task for the way we read it by saying that the FDA Revitalization Act has nothing to do with Dietary Supplements, that the amendment section 6 (which includes Section 608 quoted above) deals only with pet food and our concerns about this law are unfounded.  Now we know that a lot of people give their pets dietary supplements, but Section 608 is specific and the assertion that our concern is unjustified is not only a mistake, but a pretty big blooper that has confused quite a number of people.  Here´s the Straight Story To quote Ralph´s recent blog on the subject at http://vitaminlawyerhealthfreedom.blogspot.com/, ¨´While there are a number of bad clauses in what we call the FDA "enabling act" because it rewards a failing agency with more power to abuse, the House version of the bill does not mention foods or dietary supplements. The Senate version has an additional section 6 (sponsored by Senator Durbin) which was originally inspired by recent bad food (including pet food) imports. That section is about food safety and establishes an "adulterated food registry." Even after assurances from Senator Kennedy, on the Senate record, that the law would not be used against food supplements, Senator Harkin and the others demanded that language protecting dietary supplements be added to the law. They were supported in this by thousands of constituent messages to Congress through the Natural Solutions Foundation web site.¨ The Natural Solutions Foundation knows that the proposed statutory language was so vague that it actually allowed FDA more room to attack supplements, not less. Thus, while not supporting the bill, we do applaud section 608 since it protects supplements from what bill supporters claim would be an unlikely attack on supplements but which we see as a continuing attempt by the drug industry and their captive legislators and regulators to knock out the opposition to drug use: health, especially in the form of dietary supplements. If the food safety section 6 remains in the final law, we are assured by our friends "on the Hill" the DSHEA product exemption will remain in place. Ralph makes a really interesting point. ¨Those who criticize us apparently trust the FDA rather more than we do. We, on the other hand, agree with Dr. Ron Paul, who earlier this year called an FDA move against alternatives "an abuse of FDA power..." Giving the FDA more power, more money from Big Pharma´s ¨User Fees¨ and more incestuous conflicts of interest will allow it to continue its stated policy of 'harmonizing' our health freedoms to international restrictions.  That means only one thing: Codex.  The EU EFSD is the result of harmonization with Codex.  Is that what we want? We reject that approach and will continue to be a strong voice for freedom of choice in healthcare. That is consistent with the purpose of the Natural Solutions Foundation's: to protect and promote health freedom in the US and around the world. One of the ways we do that is to educate Congress and decision makers about Natural Solutions that will enable people to control their own healthcare decisions. And, with your support, that is exactly what we will be doing in a week or so, with another trip to Washington DC where we will meet yet more health policy aides to more members of Congress. We believe this election season will provide a unique opportunity to educate decision makers on the benefits to be expected from reducing the FDA's power, not enhancing it.  Keep this just between us, but we have good reason to believe that a broad coalition is forming around the idea that the time has come to separate food regulation from drug regulation. We need your help to do this. Your messages to Congress and your donations. A Voice You Can Always Depend Upon You know that you can depend upon the Natural Solutions Foundation to bring you accurate, up to the minute, in depth information on health and health freedom.  You know that we are there for you, working in creative, effective and meaningful ways to protect your health freedom. And we know that we can depend on you to keep us working for you. Tax Deductible Donations are Our Life Blood. Since we owe allegiance only to the truth and to health freedom, your support (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=189 ) is our ONLY support.  The battle is on, the stakes are our freedoms.  Give generously now and, while you are making your gift, why not make it a recurring one?  Knowing what we can count on each month makes waging this campaign easier!  For example, every month our outstanding Congressional Legislative Consultant, Charlie Frohman, costs us $2000*.  Your gifts work hard.  Help us keep on working for you.    Yours in health and freedom,  Dr. Rima  Rima R. Laibow, MD    Medical Director  Natural Solutions Foundation  www.HealthFreedomUSA.org  * Charlie's commitment, skill, knowledge, contacts? even knowing where the tunnels are that connect House office buildings? are invaluable.

A Voice You Can Always Depend Upon  You know that you can depend upon the Natural Solutions Foundation to bring you accurate, up to the minute, in depth information on health and health freedom.  You know that we are there for you, working in creative, effective and meaningful ways to protect your health freedom. And we know that we can depend on you to keep us working for you. Tax Deductible Donations are Our Life Blood.  Since we owe allegiance only to the truth and to health freedom, your support (http://www.health freedomusa.org/index.php? page_id=189 ) is our ONLY support.  The battle is on, the stakes are our freedoms.  Give generously now and, while you are making your gift, why not make it a recurring one?  Knowing what we can count on each month makes waging this campaign easier!  For example, every month our outstanding Congressional Legislative Consultant, Charlie Frohman, costs us $2000*.  Your gifts work hard.  Help us keep on working for you.  Natural Solutions Foundation feels so strongly about this that we provide an online store, www.Organics4U.org , where you can access totally organic, all natural nutrients for yourself and those you care about.