Codex Alimentarius

[MargaretR]

"Codex Alimentarius". This is a World Health Organisation/UN-sponsored international agreement which is (depending on your point of view):

(a). A genuine and honest attempt to set reliable, universal food and medication standards across the globe. Or:

(b). A cynical, calculated attempt by the international pharmaceutical industry (aided and abetted by idealistic and/or acquisitive politicians) to have vitamins, minerals, and all other forms of supplements declared (by law) "medications" in all countries - thereby:

(1). Increasing the price.

(2). Ensuring that these things would be "prescription only" medications, to be manufactured only by "licensed producers" ie themselves.

So the days ...when you can take vitamin C pills for a cold, cod liver oil capsules to ease your arthritis, calcium tablets to prevent osteoporosis, or any vitamin/mineral food supplement.... are numbered.

Your doctor will decide whether you should have them. They will only be available on prescription.

Since disease prevention (which is what supplements are) has second place to disease diagnosis & cure it is not likely that your doctor will be cooperative.

Their control by the pharmacutical companies is ominous.
Perhaps too many of us have been avoiding illness by using herbs/vitamins/minerals and so their sale of drugs has reduced, so they want in on the money from it.

This Codex Alimentarius has already been adopted in Australia and some Scandinavian countries - the date for our government to decide is December 2009.
In Australia it is not even possible to import supplements - they are impounded as illegal at customs

Why do we need nutritional supplements or food supplements?
Since the 1920s, Western Governments have known that the majority of our food crops have been grown on mineral-depleted soils, which makes them not only more susceptible to plant diseases and insect attack, but also nutritionally worth less.

Animal feeds have changed from the natural foods they eat in the wild to highly processed, chemical laden concoctions that are designed to maximise growth rate, muscle mass and therefore value whilst minimising cost and the time it takes to turn them into a healthy profit. The result is meat that is high in chemicals and lacking in the natural nutritional elements that have kept us healthy for so long (until the 20th century!).

If this weren't bad enough, the modern reliance on pharmaceutical medicine to remove all symptoms of disease instantly has led us away from the traditional cures that sought to replace what was missing in the body. Indeed, many modern drugs, such as diuretics actually make us lose the very minerals we require for health at an increased rate.

The vitamin content of your daily 5-a-day reduces for every day it takes to ship it around the world and every day it sits on a supermarket shelf.

As a consequence, virtually everyone in the Western World (many "primitive cultures" are much better nourished than we are) needs to supplement their diet to a greater or lesser extent.

Be aware - if you value the preservation of health you have, fight for your right continue to have access to food supplements.

[steeljack]

Just another example of the 'New World Order'. at it again

New World Order - TinWiki.org

[MargaretR]

I have just compiled an online 'petition to number 10'
and wait for its approval

[BERNADETTE]

I will sign it if you get approval Margaret, I take some supplements as does my Mum and my sis. The NHS is struggling to afford life saving drugs so why can't they just leave vitamins and such like alone?

[jambutty]

The spectre of Soylent Green grows ever closer.

[MargaretR]

In case you think I'm just being paranoic (again)
here is a Guardian article on the subject
Health supplements: R.I.P. | Society | The Guardian

[Bonnyboy]

I don’t think increased regulation or control is a bad thing.

Why would anyone want to bump up their calcium intake to prevent osteoporosis just on the off chance that the disease may develop for example. Bad enough that you have to take these pills if you actually have such a health issue. Had I such an illness I would sooner I got my medication via my G.P. rather than Holland & Barret. If there is a market for something there is generally a bandwagon to be jumped on. Who supplies these “ Health shops”. Probably some third world sweatshop ( which they know about but will deny knowledge of if asked “officially” )

So maybe the drug companies are right but they also have to be brought to book. Some Cancer drugs run into the 10’s of thousands of pounds per month per individual. Once the initial research has been paid for, the rest is virtually clear profit. No wonder the NHS have to charge parking fees to make ends meet when they are being fleeced to such an extent.

I hope it turns round an bites the big drug companies in the backside. Forced to reduce the cost of medication. Then we can all have free prescriptions not just the Welsh and Scots ( dunno if the Scots actually get it, not surprised if they do tho )

[emamum]

holland and barrat smell bad and i cant go in.......

[WillowTheWhisp]

If you get that petition up and running I will sign it. I think it's ludicrous that we are losing so much control over what we can and cannot do. I want to be able to use my herbal remedies and supplements.

[Bonnyboy]

Originally Posted by emamum23

holland and barrat smell bad and i cant go in.......

Never noticed the smell ( maybe you smelled the druids or soothsayers or summat ) only ever bought some face cloths from the place.

If I'm ill I go to my doctor, whereby I end up at a proper chemist.

[emamum]

went to get some peppermint tea like flashy said but the smell made me feel sick.

[BERNADETTE]

A lot of women prefer to take natural remedies for things like hot flushes etc. Why should they feel that HRT is the only option given the negative press it has had? If we prefer to pay for natural remedies why should that choice be taken away??

[MargaretR]

Originally Posted by Bonnyboy

Never noticed the smell ( maybe you smelled the druids or soothsayers or summat ) only ever bought some face cloths from the place.

If I'm ill I go to my doctor, whereby I end up at a proper chemist.

Food supplementation with vitamins and minerals is not an 'illness cure', it is a 'health preservation' measure. Although when the health service fails to cure, it sometimes can.

If you read the blog I posted today you will gain insight into WHY I feel strongly about the subject.

I have just mailed one of our MEPs, since it is the European Parliament who are considering complying with this World Health/UN directive.

PS they accept petitions too

[cashman]

i'm with margaret on this n i dont take em, but i have seen first hand how conventional things prescribed do nothing fer instance over a couple of years, docs trying different pills, paris was clutching at straws by trying herbal, she was really suffering, much much better within a couple of months using alternative, if conventional don't work fer me sometime, i would not think twice.

[polly]

Oh if only one could rely on the NHS!!
Personally i have always found that GP's want to calve me up into easy tomanage little bit e.g. a skin problem is seen as making me in need of a visit to Dermatology and a stomach problem means I need a referral to gastro department.
Alternative health practitioners are more open minded and see the skin rash as a result of the stomach problem.
Infact when my stomach problem first started the GP wanted to fob me off with an alternative medicine - Pepermint capsules !!

We have to remember that most conventional medicines have their origings in alternative medicine (natural medicine) for example Asprin started life as part of a tree.

I tend to think this move to so called regulated vits and minerals is not just an effort by the pharmaceutical companies to increase their profit margins but also a move by conventional medicine to regain their control as they know so many of us have woken up to the idea that we are responsabile for own health