The Codex Conspiracy

Article Tools

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

These rules were originally proposed by a German Codex delegation sponsored by three drug companies: Hoechst, Bayer, and BASF. And, in fact, elements of the Codex proposals already exist as law in Germany and Norway. In Germany, a number of high-potency agents are available only through pharmacists, and the prices are exorbitant. As recently as 1996, for example, one could buy vitamin C in 500 mg tablets. Today the highest concentration available is 200 mg; only pharmacists can sell the higher dose supplement. Vitamin E capsules cannot exceed 45 IU; vitamin B1 cannot exceed 2.4 mg.

Supplements are even more restricted in Norway. There, any nutrient supplement that exceeds the RDA is considered a drug. As a result, a vast number of natural agents are either not available or available only by prescription, at great cost. "In Norway, you must pay very high prices for supplements that otherwise can only be found on the black market," says John Hammell of the International Association for Health Freedom.

In Canada, earlier Codex proposals pertaining to herbal supplements are already in place. Such common herbs as garlic, ginger, and licorice are considered to be foods when they're sold as spices, but they become drugs once any claims are made for a therapeutic or health-promoting effect. Herbs with medicinal effects that have been extensively substantiated in the biomedical literature include aloe vera, echinacea, gingko biloba, ginseng, goldenseal, and milk thistle. All these agents are now branded by Canadian officials as either "a drug," "a drug even in the absence of claims," or "a new drug with claims."

To understand how the Codex reforms could play out in the United States, you need only to recall the case of tryptophan. Once sold as a natural sleep aid for under $20 a bottle at health food stores, tryptophan was banned by the FDA in 1990 after a contaminated batch from a Japanese company caused 1,550 cases of a blood disorder known as eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome. Today, the same tablet (in the same dose and quantity) is available only by prescription at a cost of more than $120. Under new Codex guidelines, other currently harmless supplements would be replaced by themselves, but sold as expensive, over-the-counter prescription drugs.

Codex opponents admit that we need a regulatory system that ensures public access to safe, effective, and pure supplements. But, as Fleisher notes, "Such regulatory oversight, both national and international, will only be effective if it is undertaken in a spirit of cooperation and with the full representation of all parties affected. This should include the natural health care product industry, the pharmaceutical industry, conventional and alternative/complementary medical organizations, government agencies, consumer interest groups, and the general public.”

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print