Codex

[Marlina E]

The newest on Codex from the NHF:

NEW FILM ON CODEX ALIMENTARIUS

October 16, 2010

 
            (Los Angeles) In his latest film, international award-winning filmmaker Kevin P. Miller (The Promised Land, Generation RX) examines the possibilities of a future where international government bureaucracies like the WTO and Codex Alimentarius — working in league with multinational corporations, control the food and medicine supply worldwide.

           “SHADOWS OF THE FUTURE was produced to help consumers understand the threat Codex standards and ‘guidelines’ present to them,” Mr. Miller explained.  "People need to know how 'Free Trade' deals with the WTO have tied us into a strange bureaucratic alliance, and how it imposes restrictions on our lives and freedoms."

          In this 10-minute film, Miller outlines why the Codex Alimentarius Commission, working under the auspices of the United Nations and the Food and Agricultural Organization, has become such a dangerous and bureaucratic nightmare, and why consumers need to educate themselves pabout what will happen if Codex standards are adopted worldwide. But he also states that people need to know that there is something they can do to fight this international movement — and that there is an organization they can trust to fight on their behalf. “By supporting the vital work being performed by the National Health Federation at the actual Codex meetings, consumers can aid the NHF as they truly do speak to power. NHF is the only health-freedom organization at Codex that is promoting medical freedom of choice, all the while they combat the deceitful agendas that Big Food and Big Pharma are pursuing through Codex Alimentarius.  And they are doing so in clear public view before the World.”

          Founded in 1955, the NHF is the World's first and oldest health-freedom organization.  They are the only health-freedom group to be accredited and allowed to speak and present evidence at Codex meetings.  Since Codex is where the political and economic battles are being waged for the future of the food and medicine supply, NHF is playing an increasingly vital role in fighting for those who demand access to safe water, non-GMO foods, dietary supplements, and inevitably alternative medicines of all kinds.

          "I felt it was important to produce this update about Codex and feature NHF’s role in fighting for millions of consumers because it's important for people to know that we have a powerful, true voice standing against the international bureaucracies and their multinational corporate partners that want to usurp our freedoms.  More people need to be aware of the threats – and realize that if they pitch in and support the NHF’s work at Codex meetings, it will benefit all of us — now and for decades into the future."

         You can learn more about their ongoing efforts and achievements at www.TheNHF.com.  The film can be seen online at http://www.thenhf.com/article.php?id=2576.

 

 

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

[Marlina E]

Newest from Dr. Mercola:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/10/26/drug-companies-win-big-and-eliminate-medical-herbs-from-europe.aspx

[blujay]

What happened to this issue, it just seemed to drop off the radar...I heard that Obama signed it into law...now what?!

[Marlina E]

If you mean Codex, no that was not signed into law, that was an internet rumor. Codex proceedings are ongoing though....

[Marlina E]

Some recent reports from the National Health Federation (NHF) attending two recent Codex Committee meetings:

The National Health Federation (NHF) attended two recent Codex Committee meetings on opposite sides of the planet.  The Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA) met in Xiamen, China from March 14-18, 2011, and debated, among other things, aspartame and aluminum food-additive maximum levels.  The following week the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food (CCCF) met in The Hague, the Netherlands, from March 21-25, 2011, to debate melamine and other contaminant permissible limits.  The NHF was at both meetings to speak out for the individual consumer’s interests.

     The Chinese Codex meeting saw both victory and defeat on the two main issues there.  Still hopelessly enamored with the artificial sweeteners acesulfame potassium, aspartame, and sucralose, the CCFA unfortunately endorsed Acceptable Daily Intakes for these three substances at high and unhealthy levels.  These endorsements ignored the arguments and evidence presented by NHF to the Committee that the levels – if they were to be allowed at all – should be almost 40 times lower!

     In sharp contrast, CCFA awoke to the health risks of aluminum-containing food additives.  In 2008, only the CCFA Chairman and NHF had any negative words to say about aluminum.  This year it was a whole different ball game, in large part due to the JECFA re-evaluation of the risks of these food additives: sodium aluminum phosphates, aluminum ammonium sulfate, sodium aluminum silicate, calcium aluminum silicate, and aluminum silicate.  The Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI) for aluminum was dramatically reduced downwards from 7 mg/kg to 1 mg/kg bodyweight.  The European Union and other delegations argued forcefully against aluminum in food, welcome support for NHF’s previously lone arguments on this issue.  Eventually, NHF predicts we will see aluminum eliminated as a food additive.

     The Dutch Codex meeting saw melamine, a dangerous food contaminant that has already killed and injured many, recognized for the menace it is.  As Scott Tips, the NHF’s delegate at these meetings, said, “Here the issue was very specific: what should be the maximum levels set for melamine in liquid infant formulas?  The existing limit was 1.0 mg/kg of bodyweight, with the Canadian delegation saying that this should be cut in half to 0.5 mg/kg.  While this Canadian position was an improvement over the existing level, delegations such as Costa Rica, the EU, Kenya, Peru, Nicaragua, Tanzania, Cameroun, the Philippines, the International Dairy Federation, and the NHF were all arguing that it should be lowered to 0.125 mg/kg of bodyweight. The NHF actually argued that the level should be set at zero, but recognizing that the mood of the Committee would not accept a zero-tolerance level, supported the lowest possible level of 0.125 mg/kg.”

     In the end, the lowest level for melamine contamination prevailed, although with a twist: the CCCF Chairman decided to “round up” the number to 0.15 mg/kg.  NHF argued to the Committee that, if anything, the number should be rounded down.  The Chairman stuck to his 0.15 level; but, far worse, the Committee accepted an exemption that made a mockery of even this lowered level.  The exemption does not even count any melamine contamination that comes from packaging materials!  So, infants drinking liquid formula can be poisoned with melamine at far greater levels.  Typical for this Committee, establish a limit on a contaminant and then at the same time create an exemption that you can drive a truck through.

Read a full write-up here:
http://www.thenhf.com/article.php?id=2828

[Marlina E]

Labeling of GMO Foods Moves Forward at Codex Level

After some eighteen years and seemingly interminable debates between two sharply divided camps, the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL), at its 39th session held in Quebec City, Canada, the week of May 9-13, 2011, finally reached a consensus on a watered-down labeling guideline for GMO foods.  No thanks to the blocking efforts of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, and Australia, this Guideline does not require mandatory labeling of GMO foods.  However, what it does accomplish is to provide protection from the World Trade Organization (WTO) for those countries that require genetically modified organism (GMO) foods to be labeled as such.  In that sense, it is a huge victory.

     Or, it will be.  First, the Guideline – which is currently called the “Proposed Draft Compilation of Codex Texts Relevant to Labelling of Foods Derived from Modern Biotechnology” – must first be adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission at its meeting in Geneva this coming July.  NHF will be in attendance there.  While it is likely that the Guideline will be adopted at that meeting, it is also entirely possible that it could be sent back to CCFL for further review.  Nothing is assured.

Read the whole article:
http://www.thenhf.com/article.php?id=2887

[Marlina E]

Ractopamine Almost Shoved Down the Throats of 70% of World’s Pork Consumers Who Don’t Want It


     At the Codex Alimentarius Commission’s 34th session in Geneva, Switzerland this last week of July 4-9, 2011, the Commission met and debated many standards.  But the most hotly debated standard of all was the one in which the Western Hemispheric countries wanted to force virtually the entire rest of the World to accept its ractopamine-tainted meat.

    Ractopamine is a beta-agonist drug given to pigs and cattle to promote protein and weight gain before slaughter.  There is no “wash-out” period so drug residues remain in the meat that is then sold to market.  The United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Australia all contend that this ractopamine residue is safe for human consumption; yet studies and reviews conducted in other countries and regions, such as the European Union, China, Taiwan, and Russia, reveal significant health concerns about its use in both animals and humans.  For this important reason some 160 countries do not allow ractopamine-doped meat to be imported into their jurisdictions.

    Scott Tips, president of the National Health Federation (a Codex-accredited INGO) and present and arguing throughout this meeting, reports:

    “The United States, Canadian, and Brazilian delegations were so confident of victory that they pushed the Commission into the rarely seen position of having to vote on whether or not to vote on adoption of the ractopamine standards.  A victory by the pro-ractopamine-doping countries would have allowed them to almost literally shove this toxic residue down the unwilling throats of  more than 70% of the World’s pork consumers!

    As usual, the NHF argued strenuously against adoption of this standard, which would permit billions of people to be exposed to a toxic veterinary drug in the meat they consumed.  We pointed out in particular that the science relied upon in creating this standard was highly flawed and should not be used.  NHF urged discontinuance of any work on this standard.

    Fortunately the pro-ractopamine forces lost, albeit barely.  Five votes either way would have swung the decision.  And with another outcome, Codex itself could have easily imploded as its credibility as being representative of all countries would have been severely damaged.

    After this meeting, the ractopamine standard balances delicately on the precipice of adoption, at Codex’s final Step 8.  Next year’s meeting in Rome, Italy will reveal whether the junk science of the pro-ractopamine-doping countries can continue to fool those Codex delegations sitting on the fence.”

Read More:  http://www.thenhf.com/article.php?id=2945

[Marlina E]

CODEX SENDS MELAMINE BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
July 16, 2011

      As our members and followers already know, at the Codex Alimentarius Commission’s 34th session in Geneva, Switzerland this last week of July 4-9, 2011, the Commission met and debated many standards, including that of ractopamine.  But another standard that came up for debate was the one concerning the toxic contaminant Melamine, a man-made chemical used in tableware, food equipment, packaging, and a few pesticides that has poisoned and killed infants and pets alike in the past and which continues to plague all of us as one of many low-level background contaminants.

    This Codex standard was the “Proposed Draft Maximum Levels for Melamine in Liquid Infant Formula.”  As reported previously,[1] the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food (CCCF) had approved sending up this draft Standard for approval by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.  Unfortunately, CCCF had done this over the strong objections of the National Health Federation (NHF) as well as the delegations of Costa Rica, Peru, and Nicaragua.  The main sticking point in our minds had been (and still is) that although the Maximum Levels for Melamine contamination had been lowered to 0.15 mg/kg at the last CCCF meeting, an exemption with no limit had been created for Melamine migration from food packaging material into the formula itself!  As NHF argued then, and once again at the Commission meeting last week, this was an exemption with a hole big enough to drive a truck through!

Read more: http://www.thenhf.com/article.php?id=2947

[Marlina E]

http://www.thenhf.com/article.php?id=3117
Codex Decision on Vitamins and Minerals Put Off Again

The Conspiracy of Silence is not just limited to the political arena.  For those in the know, it is as obvious as the nose on one’s face that the Mainstream Media ignores top American presidential candidate Ron Paul in favor of their corrupt list of controlled talking-head candidates.  A recently leaked internal memo from CBS News revealed a deliberate policy of sharply restricting Ron Paul’s airtime during the last Republican presidential candidate debate.  Out of 90 minutes of debate, Ron Paul was given 89 seconds to talk!
     So, too, with Codex evidently.  At the 33rd session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU), which just ended its week-long meeting on Friday, November 18th, its new Chairwoman, Pia Noble, has a definite problem in allowing the International NonGovernmental Organizations (INGOs) such as the National Health Federation (NHF) to speak.
Kindred Spirits
     Coming from the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMLEV), Dr. Noble, who succeeded to her Codex position upon the retirement of Dr. Rolf Grossklaus two years ago, finds kindred spirits in her fellow government bureaucratic delegates.  Members of the same club, they share the same secret handshake of delight in crafting people controls.  But INGOs?  Well, those bozos are just gumming up the works and slowing down the adoption of Codex guidelines and standards.  Nuisances, they are, really.  Okay, they can fill up the bleachers at the meetings because it looks good; but they absolutely must behave themselves.  Oh, Dr. Noble’s mind is so easy to read.  After all, actions speak louder than smiling words.
     Dr. Grossklaus, whom NHF had criticized over the long years, actually did the World a favor when he held back the Nutrient Reference Value (NRV) standard at the 2009 CCNFSDU meeting, at the instance of NHF, India, and Iraq.  That was the standard that was to have dumbed down vitamin-and-mineral NRVs to absurdly low levels.  Grossklaus could have allowed those standards to advance, over our stubborn objections; but he didn’t, and he is to be thanked for that.  He also had no problem generally in recognizing all of the INGOs to take the floor and speak.  In that respect, he was not much different than most of the other Committee chairmen and -women.  He might have squabbled with the NHF delegate, but at least its view was often allowed to be expressed.  Not so with Pia Noble.
The Threat
     NHF has already shown itself to be a threat at these Codex meetings.  Acknowledged as being rather outspoken, NHF started off its participation in the meeting on Monday, November 14th, with a bang, speaking out at every turn in favor of broadening the Terms of Reference (i.e., mandate) given to the Electronic Working Group (subcommittee) for establishing NRV standards for nutrients so as to include science other than just FAO/WHO scientific findings.  Most delegates – still uncritically genuflecting at the altar of FAO/WHO pseudo-science – defer to their science in adopting numbers to insert into such standards.  Forgotten is the great World of Science that beckons beyond the narrow cultish confines of FAO/WHO science.  NHF’s view is that when Codex considers adopting any standards, it should look far and wide at all pertinent science, whether it comes from FAO/WHO or not.
     Amazingly, after all, NHF’s near solitary and obstinate opposition to the vitamin-and-mineral NRVs back in 2009 had killed their momentum on the path towards adoption.  But for that opposition, they would, by now, have been well along the 8-step track to adoption by Codex.  The 2010 Committee meeting in Santiago, Chile saw even more opposition and a request by the Committee for FAO/WHO to come up with a report on NRVs, which they did just in time for this November 2011 Committee meeting.
     So, as I sat there on Monday and leafed through the rather impressive 39-page FAO/WHO report, and listened while the WHO representative presented the report and the Committee then discussed it, I suddenly realized that we were all here, spending time on this, because I had reacted so strongly and persistently two years ago.  NHF had caused this.  It felt good.
     The CCNFSDU created an Electronic Working Group charged with reporting to the Committee at next year’s meeting with its recommendations for NRVs for vitamins and minerals.  The NHF will be part of this eWG.  This means that – for a third year in a row – no dumbed-down vitamin-and-mineral NRVs were adopted at Codex.[1]
So Silence the Threat
     Later, the Committee took up the issue of NRVs for Saturated Fatty Acids.[2]  Adhering to the outdated views first espoused by the makers of Crisco in 1911, when they wanted to shove butter and lard off grocery-store shelves in favor of their new-fangled invention, Crisco (a shortened name form for “Crystallized Cottonseed Oil”), most Codex delegates still think that saturated fats are the cause of heart attacks.  That is why the Committee wanted to establish an NRV of no more than 10 percent of daily energy intake for this fat[3] and push consumers towards a higher intake of the “safe” polyunsaturated fatty acids.
     Such nonsense is often what passes for “science” at Codex these days, with no correlation to current research that anyone could pull off of Pub-Med within two minutes.  The delegation of Malaysia, though, cannot be tarred with this tattered brush.  Malaysia clearly and unequivocally stated its views that saturated fats had a role in the diet and were not correlated with the risk of coronary heart disease.  The International Dairy Federation (IDF) supported this view and provided its own defense of saturated fats in a healthy diet.
     NHF was given the floor to speak immediately after IDF.  As I told the Committee during this one and only time that I was allowed to speak at the meeting on this issue, and in specific response to the Thai delegate’s mistaken remark that saturated fats were the cause of heart disease, “Actually, NHF disagrees.  There is no convincing evidence that replacing Saturated Fatty Acids with Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids results in fewer heart attacks or less coronary heart disease.  Does it show that cholesterol is lowered?  Yes.  But what it does not do is show that CHD is reduced.  That is a myth and saturated fats have been unfairly demonized.  There are any number of other factors that are more closely correlated with heart disease than cholesterol, factors such as homocysteine and C-Reactive protein levels.”
     I continued, “By pushing consumers into using dietary PUFAs instead of Saturated Fats, more harm to health has resulted.  PUFAs are notoriously unstable and go rancid very easily, generating free-radical damage to the body.  NHF has researched this issue off and on for 50 years and I could provide at least 1,147 references showing that polyunsaturated fats are a major cause of the epidemic of obesity, type-2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and various mental problems. On the other hand, saturated fats fulfill many important biological roles, and, not surprisingly, make up 54% of mother’s milk, while polyunsaturated fats are only a very-small 3%.  So, to limit saturated-fat NRVs to 10% of energy intake is wrong.”
     The WHO representative then took the floor to defend the cholesterol-causes-heart-attacks position, citing 30,900 years (!) of research on this subject proving the saturated fat-heart disease risk connection.   Yes, I’m sure Copernicus was confronted with similar mounds of “evidence” to refute his position that the Earth was not the center of the Universe. In the case of the WHO evidence, these kinds of defenses are illogical through their insistence that since saturated fats “cause” high cholesterol levels, ergo, they must cause coronary heart disease.  Such arguments – because that’s all they really are – invariably fail to account for the fact that calcification of the arteries, oxidized cholesterol versus cholesterol itself, and other health factors are the real culprits.
     But I never got the chance to address this issue.  I pushed my microphone button down and it started flashing, indicating that I had asked for the floor to speak and should have been in line to be recognized.  I waited . . . and waited . . . and waited.
     Meanwhile, the other delegates were all recognized to speak.  Impressively enough, the Canadian delegate, Ms. Nora Lee, must have been moved somewhat by what was said about the risks of polyunsaturated fats.  Showing her open-mindedness, she suggested the Committee look into PUFAs, perhaps even establishing an NRV for them.  No one really spoke out in support of this sensible Canadian position (except perhaps for a favorable but different and equally sensible comment by the U.S. delegate).  I was eager to support Canada; and as the issue was hanging in the balance, there was yet a chance to influence the outcome.  But the Chairwoman still ignored NHF.  I looked down at NHF’s microphone button, which continued to flash incessantly, as I slowly twisted in the wind.
     Finally, the Chairwoman peremptorily announced to the Committee at large that NHF was asking to be recognized but that she was not going to do it!  She then moved on and stated that the Committee had adopted by consensus the NRV for Saturated Fatty Acids at 10% of daily energy intake.  I knew, then and there, how Ron Paul must have felt during those many presidential-candidacy debates when he was passed over and ignored.
The Solution
     This has happened before, and I’ve found the best approach is the direct one.  Speak with the Chairman or Chairwoman, and that’s what I did here, telling her that NHF deserved and expected to be recognized to speak.  We were both polite, and I acknowledged that NHF had spoken at length before but still insisted that we had had additional matters to bring before the Committee and should have been allowed to do so.  She said she understood.  One member of our four-person NHF delegation, Caroline Knight, was there with me as a witness.[4]
     The following day was better. NHF was again recognized; but the moment, of course, had passed.  The Saturated Fatty Acid NRV will come up for debate at the next meeting of the Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting in Rome, Italy, next July, and everyone can be sure that it will again be pounced upon there.  So, this matter is hardly finished.
     On a more positive and important note, the general, dumbed-down NRVs for vitamins and minerals was put off for yet another year as the FAO/WHO Report is considered by an electronic Working Group of which NHF will be part.  This means that the next meeting of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses, to be held in Germany in early December 2012, will be pivotal and perhaps witness the climactic battle on this issue.  Two weeks later, the ancient Mayan calendar stops, which some say means the end of the World.  Maybe the Mayans were just predicting the result of the Codex meeting . . . but we'll see about that.
##########
1 Remember, these proposed, dumbed-down NRVs would have reduced the suggested daily intake of Vitamin C from an already low 60 milligrams per day down to 45 milligrams per day, Magnesium down from 300 milligrams per day to 240 milligrams, and virtually all of the B vitamins (except for folate) down an equal or near-equal percentage.
2 These are actually the Nutrient Reference Values for those Nutrients – such as Saturated Fatty Acids – Associated with the Risk of Diet-Related Noncommunicable Diseases for the General Population, or in Codex parlance, NRVs-NCD.
3 Ten percent energy from saturated fatty acids as a basis for an NRV equates to 20-22 grams based upon the reference daily intake of 8370kJ/2000 kcal.
4 The NHF delegation at this Codex meeting comprised NHF members Petra Weiss, Gudrun Weiss, and Caroline Knight, in addition to me.

[Marlina E]

VICTORY AT CODEX ON THE MELAMINE ISSUE!

 At the first day’s meeting of the 6th Session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food (CCCF) yesterday in Maastricht, the Netherlands, the Committee unanimously agreed to cancel the blank check previously written to the food-packaging industry that would have allowed them to contaminate liquid infant formula with melamine-based packaging without any limits imposed upon such contamination.

          Melamine is a man-made, cumulative toxin used in food equipment and packaging, as well as in an herbicide, which has killed thousands of pets and babies in years past and still continues to be a pervasive background contaminant.  At previous Committee meetings, the food-packaging industry had won an “open skies” exemption from the Maximum Permitted Upper Level of melamine contamination of liquid infant formulas.  (Read about it at http://www.thenhf.com/article.php?id=2947.)

          Scott Tips, NHF president and its Codex delegate, noted after yesterday’s victory,

          “It has been a long journey - not in terms of time as much as in terms of support - to arrive at this result, and amazingly enough with no opposition at the end.  Three years ago, when the National Health Federation (NHF) first began speaking out at CCCF against melamine contamination of our foods, NHF was the absolute lone voice at this Committee.  I was looked at as if I were from the Moon.  In 2010, NHF was again alone – not another delegation supported us.  But by the 2011 CCCF meeting several important and outspoken delegations, such as Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Peru, had joined NHF in opposing melamine contamination.  Over our most-vocal objections, though, the Committee adopted the standard, with the dangerous “sky’s the limit” exemption, and sent it to the Commission for final approval.  Fortunately, a groundswell of opposition had coalesced by that point - some three months later - to cause the Codex Commission Chairwoman to send the melamine standard back down to the CCCF for reconsideration.”

          At this week’s Committee meeting, the groundswell became unanimous as the handwriting was clearly on the wall that numerous delegations were going to fight hard to eliminate the melamine exemption.  First, the powerful EU delegation privately agreed that the exemption had to go.  The United States then joined in publicly, and even New Zealand - formerly a strong supporter of the food-packaging exemption - actually asked the Committee to remove the exemption.  Costa Rica, Ghana, Korea, the Philippines, Nigeria, India, Kenya, Cameroon, Columbia, and of course the NHF all spoke out strongly in favor of removing the exemption, and it was, without dissent.

          The standard now goes to the Commission meeting to be held in Rome this coming July, where it will almost certainly be adopted without the exemption.  But for the NHF’s strong and determined stand all by itself in 2009 and 2010, this exemption would have passed unhindered and would have resulted in a huge loophole for food producers to poison infants with melamine from food packaging.
          For those who claim that a difference cannot be made at Codex meetings, here is yet more proof that positive change has been made, and validation for NHF’s continuing efforts there as your voice for health freedom.

Read more here: http://www.thenhf.com/article.php?id=3260