posted July 04, 2003 01:56 PM         

The media has a huge part in this. Nowhere has it been reported in a way that people understand what's going on. There was no mention of the 3,000 of us that marched in London, or that similar marches and protests were taking places in various other parts of Europe, I even believe that one took place in New Zealand.

This issue was supposed to have been debated in the House of Commons, but at the last minute they decided it wouldn't be and appointed a Standing Committee to vote yesterday. We only found out about that at the last minute, and not through the media. We were also told that members of that commitee would be biased towards those who would vote it in. I, and many more, contacted someone at the BBC who assured us he had looked into the matter and it was untrue. I received an email from an MP saying differently and confirming it again when he gave the results. One MP who was known was going to vote against it was removed and one other didn't show up. The vote was carried in favour of the Directive by 8 - 6.

There has been no mention at all in the media. I feel very bitter about this and think the media has shown such a lack of integrity on something that affects each and every person in this nation, by removing the choice of healthy options.

There has been no deaths due to people using supplements, its a shame the same can't be said of prescription drugs.

to be continued

posted July 04, 2003 02:01 PM         

"DARK DAYS: The lights of natural medicine are being put out around the world

We live in dark times, times of spin when political power and profit count more than individual choice, freedom or health.

In the UK the EU's Food Supplements directive was passed on Thursday (June 3) by a whisker-just 7 to 6 in favour-by a select committee, no doubt so-called because the government especially selected it. The original group of 16 had been successfully lobbied by various pressure groups, and a majority of members had accepted the argument that the directive was a wicked piece of legislation that took away freedom of choice.

So what happened? The government de-selected those members who were likely to cause embarrassment to an already embattled government, and replaced them at the 11th hour by MPs who know nothing of the arguments. Even on the day before the meeting, nobody knew who would be chairing the committee! As it turned out, it was health minister Melanie Johnson who took the chair, but who clearly did not understand any of the issues. Tory MP Chris Grayling described the EU and Labour governments as playing "jackboot politics".

So the directive has been nodded through, and, within a few years, thousands of high-dose vitamins and other supplements will disappear from our shelves forever.

Not that you need a directive or a reselected select committee to get your way. In Australia virtually every natural product has suddenly been taken off the health food shop shelves. The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) performed this feat just by taking away the manufacturing licence of one manufacturer that supplies around 80 per cent of the entire alternative marketplace. The manufacturer, Pan Pharmaceuticals, also makes prescription and over-the-counter drugs, and it was one of its OTC remedies, Travacalm, for travel sickness, that aroused the interest of the TGA when people complained the drug was causing hallucinations.

The drug was immediately withdrawn-and then, three months later, the TGA came back and banned all 1363 alternatives remedies also manufactured by Pan.

Similar moves have been happening in South Africa and Canada-and the whole nutritional industry is under attack in America, too. The US nutritional industry thought its products were made sacrosanct under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. But it is under threat again, this time from a new bill, the Dietary Supplement Safety Act, which has been introduced by Illinois senator Dick Durbin.

The new act would give sweeping powers to the FDA, the USA's drug regulator, which would be able to remove any dietary supplement for which an adverse reaction had been reported.

This bill could be voted on in just two weeks, giving consumer groups virtually no time to campaign against it. Dark days indeed-so we, as individuals, must become a light unto ourselves. Watch this space for some good news, and, in the meantime, don't despair!"

This could be one of those things that they slip in underhandly before anyone realise it's happening. You days of being able to choose how you keep yourself healthy is under threat.

posted July 04, 2003 03:28 PM         

yes, I believe it was defeated your way last time, but it also looks like they are trying to do it again. The report is up-to-date.

Until we can reverse this here, we need places like America to obtain our supplements from, when they gone.

I wish our media was on our side in this but apparently they aren't.

I feel sick, angry and betrayed, as do a lot of people over here.

How was it defeated last time, maybe its something we could try.

Love Gladeyes

posted July 05, 2003 05:54 AM         

We all thought we had till the middle of July to lobby MPs against this Law. Then it was found out that a Standing Committee was appointed and we had a week to lobby those MPs, and then we found out at the last minute as in the above information all that was changing. At the last minute we had to email MPs because we only had a day and a half to register our complaint and even then we didn't know if we were email the right MPs. That is how underhanded they have been on this.

I was interested in the information on Dr Henney and the FDA so I looked up this site. I still think the good folks of USA are not out of the woods yet.
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/gro/hgo57333.000/hgo57333_0.htm