Codex Alimentarius Commission (28th Session) Rome, Italy
NHF Update on Codex Proceedings Currently in Session
July 5, 2005
The Codex Alimentarius Commission is an international body,
operating under
the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
and the World Health
Organization (WHO), that is charged with establishing food
standards that will be
implemented worldwide. One of the food standards being set
is for vitamin-and-mineral food supplements, overseen by one of the
Commission's Committees that
meets annually in Bonn, Germany. That Committee had just
last November
prepared and sent to its parent Commission a draft
Guidelines for Vitamin and
Mineral Food Supplements that would greatly restrict
consumer access to vitamins
and minerals.
The National Health Federation, a U.S.-based
international nonprofit organization of health consumers
seeking to preserve health freedom in their various
countries has attended Codex meetings for years and is the
only health-freedom organization with a voice at the Codex
meetings. In its efforts to oppose harsh and restrictive
Codex standards,
the NHF has been supported at these meetings by many
other organizations and individuals, including the
Danish-based MayDay, the Canadian-based Friends of Freedom
International, the Italian-based La Leva, and the UK-based
Alliance for Natural Health.
On Independence Day 2005, the Codex Alimentarius Commission,
meeting in
Rome, Italy for its 28th Session, quickly went down a list
of many Codex guidelines
for approval. It was obvious to all that the Chairman, a
Swede, was hell-bent for
leather to get every single one of the guidelines approved
by the Commission. A
rhythm of approval was quickly set.
When the Chairman reached the draft Guidelines for Vitamin
and Mineral Food
Supplements, the momentum slowed just for a moment as the
Chairman dealt
with some last-minute revisions sought by Australia,
Venezuela, and China. The
first two countries' revisions were deemed technical while
China's was determined
by the Chairman to be substantive. The last ruling was
important because if a
change sought by a country was substantive, then the
guideline could not be
approved and must be sent back to its Committee for
re-review.
After these countries were heard, the Chairman recognized
the National Health
Federation. NHF's head delegate and General Counsel, Scott
Tips, then spoke out
as the sole voice against adoption of the draft Guideline by
the Commission.
Arguing that they were defective and must be sent back to
Committee, Mr. Tips
gave three main reasons: (1) According to Codex's own
Procedural Manual,
guidelines must state a purpose for those guidelines in the
Preface and the draft
Vitamin-and-Mineral Food Supplement Guidelines do not
contain a purpose, (2)
The Guidelines fail to define what vitamins and minerals are
covered by the
Guidelines since they refer to an FAO/WHO list of approved
vitamins and minerals
that does not even exist and therefore it is unclear as to
what would be covered by
the Guidelines; and (3) The comments made by China, and the
changes sought by
China to the Guidelines, were substantive and according to
the Codex Rules of
Procedure as stated on page 27 of the Manual of Procedure,
any substantive
amendment must be sent back to the Committee and dealt with
at the committee
level.
After the NHF spoke, a so-called organization of supplement
associations, called IADSA, then argued in favor of the
adoption of the Guidelines.
Ignoring the blatant procedural defects, and with all of the
countries silent on the
issue of health freedom, the Chairman simply acted as he
wished. He brushed
aside the substantiveness of the Chinese-requested changes,
completely failed to
address the issue of those defects, and decided on his own
that the Guidelines
were adopted.
In doing so, the Chairman made a complete mockery of the
Codex Alimentarius
Commission. He ignored and mocked its own rules of procedure
and he showed
that the Commission is being run as an autocracy and not a
democracy. At least
now, it can be clearly seen by the World that the Commission
needs to be
completely reformed before it continues any of its important
works.
P.O. Box 688, Monrovia, CA 91017 USA ~ 1 (626)
357-2181 ~ Fax 1 (626) 303-0642
