NewsTarget.com printable
articleOriginally published December 20
2007 http://www.newstarget.com/022408.html
Group Plans To Protect Global Dietary
Supplement Accessby Michael
Jolliffe
(NewsTarget) UK-based health freedom campaign group the
Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) has outlined a challenge against what it
believes to be a critical process in the global regulation of trade and consumer
access to dietary supplements.
Responding to an 'Orientation Paper'
created by the European Commission on the maximum dosages of vitamins and
minerals allowed in food supplements and fortified foods, dosages set to be
imposed EU-wide within the next two years, ANH has filed its own Position Paper
exposing, it claims, 'a significant number of flaws and inconsistencies' in the
conclusions reached by the Commission.
It is widely thought that the
maximum permitted levels set by the EC will become a template for those set by
the Codex Alimentarius commission of the World Trade Organisation, which will,
in turn, be 'exported' globally through regional free trade agreements such as
CAFTA. The process of deciding on maximum levels, known as 'nutrient risk
assessment', is believed to be one of the most crucial, and potentially
impactful, in the perceived potential restriction of consumer access to dietary
supplements, both in Europe and worldwide.
Citing a connection between
European regulation and Codex international trade guidelines, campaigners point
to the first risk assessment project of its kind being carried out by the German
Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), where studies were led by Dr. Rolf
Grossklaus, who is also the Chairman of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and
Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU).
Describing the current
guidelines as 'flawed' and 'unscientific', a press release accompanying the ANH
Position Paper decried the apparent lack of common sense in the Commission's
recommendations. "You know something is wrong when they are thinking of limiting
the dose of beta-carotene to the amount you'd find in just two carrots, and
restricting selenium to the amount present in less than two Brazil nuts", said
executive and scientific director Dr. Robert Verkerk, "why aren't they screaming
for warning labels to be put on bags of carrots and Brazil nuts?"
Dr.
Damien Downing, medical director of the Alliance for Natural Health, outlined
his concern over the impact of the EC's proposed levels on the future of public
health: 'The resulting maximum levels, should these be implemented in law, would
prevent many consumers from ingesting the levels of vitamins needed for optimal
health and would also greatly interfere with consumer choice.'
As an
alternative, the ANH Position Paper recommends that a new risk assessment model
be created �within an independent and academic setting5533;. The paper also makes
clear that should the current guidelines stand, they may be subject to legal
challenge. The group has had a previous victory in this area, having
successfully campaigned for the removal of natural vitamin and mineral forms
from being potentially banned by the EU Food Supplements Directive in
2005.
The organisation, lead by Dr. Verkerk, has consulted with, among
others, the World Health Organisation and the European Food Safety Authority, as
well as a number of US based health freedom organisations such as the National
Health Federation, the American Association for Health Freedom and International
Advocates for Health Freedom. Working together with physicians, lawyers,
consumers and natural health product manufacturers, the stated mission of ANH
has been to �positively shape the regulatory and scientific framework affecting
natural healthA533;, through �good science and good law�;.
About the authorMichael Jolliffe is a health writer, and an expert on nutritional and
environmental influences on health and disease. He is also a qualified
nutritional therapist, and runs a consultancy in Harpenden, Hertfordshire
(UK).
He is a member of the British Association for Nutritional Therapy,
International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine and the Life Extension
Foundation.
To make contact, email michael healthrevolutions.com or visit www.healthrevolutions.com.
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