To: IAHF List
Subject: Urgent Action Alert: See Form Letter Below-Send In Now!
From: John Hammell jham@iahf.com
Date: Sat, 03 Aug 2002 12:53:02 -0400

IAHF List: URGENT ACTION ALERT:
SEE FORM LETTER BELOW-SEND IN NOW!
Anyone Know how to reach Peter Barry Chowka?

Peter Barry Chowka is a well known alternative medical writer who partially grasps that the dietary supplement industry is in a process of being taken over globally by pharmaceutical interests, and that this threat extends even to the USA. I am trying to reach him. Here is why:

At the end of his article "The Failure of Orthodox Medicine Revisited" http://www.naturalhealthline.com/ Chowka presents ample evidence of Orthodox medicine's failure, and at the end he has a section titled CODEX ALIMENTARIOUS under which he presents Christopher Bookers recent UK Telegraph article which documents the UK's current dilemma as the EU is attempting to force the UK to harmonize its domestic vitamin law to a grossly restrictive EU standard.

Chowka ends his piece by saying:

Maybe the people who were challenging the "Codex Law or Codex Alimentarius Attempts to Outlaw Access to Vitamins, and Other Nutritional Supplements" in the mid- to late-1990s were on to something after all. (he gives a link to http://www.all-natural.com/codex-4.html which presents my Codex information, with an out of date link to IAHF at a several years old Florida Address.)

Chowka then says: "Can it happen here? Stay tuned for developments."

I emailed Chowka at pbchowka@hotmail.com in an effort to fill him in on current developments and asked him for his phone number so I can be in closer contact with him about what is going on. So far, I haven't heard back from him and don't know if the email address I have for him is current or not. If anyone happens to know how I can reach Chowka by phone, please let me know- his articles are widely published, and we need his help badly right now because too many people in America and around the world are sound asleep on the Codex vitamin issue.

SEND COMMENTS TO FDA AND TO CONGRESS BY AUGUST 22 DEADLINE

Every summer the FDA figures they can catch the "sheeple" off guard while many are on vacation, and they hold public meetings to go over the draft US Codex Comments on the vitamin issue for the next Codex meeting in Germany, (which isn't til November).

But FDA doesn't want people to attend their public meeting, so they hold it at the end of July. I just went to it at their offices in College Park, Maryland. As usual, they are trying to pull another fast one on us by inserting language into the draft US Codex comments intended to "medicalize" dietary supplements world wide.

When I objected strongly to Dr.Beth Yetley of the FDA about the offending language (see below) she clearly indicated that she does not give a damn how I (or any of us) feel.

It is therefore important to send the following comments in to the FDA and to cc them to your Senators and Congressmen, and to urge all your friends, family, and people who shop at your favorite health food store to do the same. IAHF is asking other organizations and people with big newsletters to also help with this, and urge you to do the same.

HEALTH FREEDOM ALERT! The FDA and their pharmaceutical cronies at the National Academy of Science are attempting to medicalize dietary supplements in order to limit your access to these safe products. The FDA has an August 22 deadline on a comments period regarding their Draft Comments to the UN's Codex Alimentarius Commission's Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Use. FDA is attempting to make an end run around US dietary supplement laws and to set us up for harmonization to very restrictive international vitamin standards, but with your help they can be stopped!!

Please send the following comment to: ncrane@cfsan.fda.gov, with a cc to your Senators and Congressmen. [for email addresses of your Senators and Congressmen see http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov also cc your comment to jham@iahf.com You can sign up for health freedom updates at http://www.iahf.com

To: Beth Yetley, FDA c/o Nancy Crane : ncrane@cfsan.fda.gov, FDA
Re: Comment on FDA Draft Proposal to Codex CCNFSDU on Dietary Supplements

Dear Dr.Yetley:

Re FDA proposed language: item 5.9, which states: "We recommend the following revision: 'All labels should bear a statement that a supplement should be taken on an advice of a nutritionist, a dietician, or a medical doctor"

Dr.Yetley: When is the FDA going to STOP attempting to medicalize safe dietary supplements which are regulated in the USA as FOODS? We do not trust your current attack on melatonin, chromium picolinate, glucosamine, shark cartilage, or chapparal via the pharmaceutically dominated National Academy of Sciences so called "Safety Framework" and inform you now that if you think you are going to start banning any of these products based on these phony safety studies, you better think twice! We are calling on consumers to make comments to the NAS and to Congress about your ongoing attempts to hide behind the fact that NAS is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act so we can't get their raw data on these biased attacks: See NAS's "Framework for Evaluating the Safety of Dietary Supplements": http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10456.html?se_side

You have no legal mandate to attempt to go beyond the firm dictates of US law when you are at Codex meetings in Germany.

FDA has lost on first amendment grounds in the Pearson decision, and when FDA refused to obey the court's decision, FDA was sued again and lost. FDA has no choice but to allow health claims to be put on labels pertaining to folic acid and the prevention of neural tube defects and other similar matters.

This is as it should be, not only in the USA, but throughout the world. Consumers have a RIGHT to learn about the beneficial health properties of dietary supplements on the label, at the point of sale. By putting the above language on the label (that supplements should be taken on the advice of a nutritionist, dietician, or an MD) you are attempting to violate the spirit of DSHEA in an international forum, and you have no legal right to do that. You are attempting to waste valuable space on the label that can be put to better use directly informing consumers regarding the beneficial properties of these safe food substances, you are attempting to medicalize dietary supplements, and you are attempting to go through CODEX to make an end run around US domestic laws by attempting to set us up for harmonization to restrictive international standards.

I therefor INSIST that you STRIKE the above proposed revision in item 5.9 and replace it with the following language instead: "item 5.9 we recommend the following revision "All labels should bear scientific structure function health claims similar to those provided for under the American Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 to directly assist consumers in making positive health decisions for themselves and their families at the point of sale while reading the label on the product. The USA again reiterates its desire that all attempts to continue creating an international standard for vitamins and minerals cease at Codex and that this matter is best left up to national authorities to decide."

Dr.Yetley: I remind you, and Congress, that you lost the Pearson court decision, and when you attempted to ignore the Judge, you were sued and lost again on this issue. Do not attempt to get around US law when you are in Germany representing the USA at Codex meetings. You have no legal right to make the statement in item 5.9 'All labels should bear a statement that a supplement should be taken on an advice of a nutritionist, a dietician, or a medical doctor"

I INSIST that you replace that language with "All labels should bear scientific structure function health claims similar to those provided for under the American Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 to directly assist consumers in making positive health decisions for themselves and their families at the point of sale while reading the label on the product. The USA again reiterates its desire that all attempts to continue creating an international standard for vitamins and minerals cease at Codex and that this matter is best left up to national authorities to decide."

I am copying this letter to you to my Senators and Congressmen and am asking them to oppose all efforts to erode US sovereignty via FTAA. The last thing we need in this hemisphere is a version of the EU dictatorship given the way the EU is attempting to ban consumer access to dietary supplements. See Pearson v Thomson http://www.emord.com Practice Areas-Also see Recent Complaints, because you are going to keep losing in court, and we will not tolerate your ongoing efforts to make an end run around US law by trying to set us up for harmonization to a grossly restrictive international standard.

Sincerely,
[Your Name and Address]

cc to your senators and Congressmen and to jham@iahf.com
for Senators and Congressmen's email addresses go to http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov if they don't give those addresses but require you to use a form on their websites, copy and paste this message into it and send it to them. Follow up with a phone call to educate them on this issue.
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