INQUIRY: Codex Alimentarius and EEC6565

Hello All

having being rather concerned about the above codex, i sent off an email to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) here in the UK, Below are my questions and then the reply i received which includes hyper links. As I'm as bright as a one watt bulb i would be grateful if you could have a look and suggest any parts of the reply that could be misleading or if you have any questions i can add to my reply email to the FSA i would be grateful.

Otherwise some general comment would we grateful.

1) my email to the FSA

Hello

I am interested in Codex Alimentarius and EEC6565


Could you please tell me if any, or all, of the following statements are
correct and that they are Part of the goals of the Codex Alimentarius or
not?

Dietary supplements could not be sold for preventive (prophylactic) or
therapeutic use.
Potencies would be limited to extremely low dosages.
Prescriptions would be required for anything above the extremely low doses
allowed (such as 35 mg. on niacin).
Common foods such as garlic and peppermint would be classified as drugs or
a third category
(neither food nor drugs)

Codex regulations for dietary supplements would become binding
All new dietary supplements would be banned unless they go through Codex
testing and approval.
Genetically altered food would be sold worldwide without labeling.

Will any part or all of Great Britain/uk/England be adopting any or part
of the Codex Alimentarius agreement? If so when? If so what parts?

Do codex regulations intend to include or currently include fruit and
vegetable juices?

Do codex regulations intend to include or currently include seeds sold in
packets in garden centres? If so what varieties are included?

Do codex regulations intend to include or currently include a provision to
prevent individuals from growing their own crops in either a total or
limiting capacity? If yes please could explain further including the
limitations.


If Codex Alimentarius is in a consultation phase, please can you state the
date the consultation period ends?

An agreement called EEC6565 equates selling herbs as foods to selling
other illegal drugs.

Will any part or all of Great Britain/uk/England be adopting this
agreement? If so when? If so what parts? If so please could you list the
foods that are, or will be, effected.

If it, EEC6565, is in a consultation phase, please can you state the date
the consultation period ends.

Many Thanks for your time

David

2) the reply from the FSA

Dear Mr Revill

You express concern about the imposition of limitations on the levels of
vitamins and minerals in food supplements by Codex Alimentarius, and the
possibility of genetically modified food being sold without being labelled
as such.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is not aware of any plans on the part of
Codex Alimentarius that would make it illegal to recommend food
supplements, or enable genetically modified food to be sold without being
labelled as such. The Agency is also not aware of any plans on the part of
Codex Alimentarius that would place restrictions on common foods such as
garlic or peppermint.

I would begin by clarifying that Codex texts are not legislation. Codex
guidelines are recognised by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as the
basis of international trade standards and are used by the WTO as a means
of resolving international trade disputes. Such texts are not enshrined in
UK law as a matter of course. Indeed, the area of food supplements is
governed by EU legislation, although it is true to say that Codex
documents, where they exist, are often taken into account during the
development of EU food law. You may find guidance entitled, ‘Understanding
the Codex Alimentarius’ of interest. The guidance document provides
background information about Codex Alimentarius, and explains how the Codex
system works, and is available at:

ftp.fao.org...

Codex Alimentarius have not issued any legislative limitations for vitamins
and minerals in food supplements. However, Codex Guidelines for Vitamin and
Mineral Food Supplements were published in 2005 (copy attached). These
specific guidelines are in line with discussions on food supplements at a
European wide level. Codex Alimentarius are not carrying out any work on
setting dosage levels for nutrients in food supplements. The vitamin and
mineral content of food supplements is covered in Section 3.2 of the text
and suggests (a) 15% of the FAO/WHO recommended daily intake (RDI) as the
minimum level for each vitamin and / or mineral present and (b) an approach
for manufacturers to take when deciding the levels of vitamins and minerals
they put in their food supplements. No dosage levels are suggested.

(See attached file: cxg_055e.pdf)

The EC Food Supplements Directive 2002/46/EC was agreed in 2002, and has
applied in full since 2005. The Directive was implemented in England by
the Food Supplements Regulations 2003. The Directive sets out requirements
for setting maximum levels of vitamins and minerals in food supplements
through scientific risk assessment based on generally accepted scientific
data, taking into account, as appropriate, the varying degrees of
sensitivity of different consumer groups.

As part of the process for setting these maximum levels, the European
Commission issued a discussion document for consultation last year, which
comprised a series of technical questions to ascertain opinions from all
Member States on this issue. A wide range of UK stakeholders were invited
to attend two meetings to discuss the questions raised in the discussion
document and to inform the UK Government response. The discussion document
and Member States responses together with stakeholder responses have been
collated by the Commission and can be found on the Commission food
supplement gateway at:

ec.europa.eu...

The UK response was welcomed by the Commission.

The Commission has said that work carried out in the UK by the Expert Group
on Vitamins and Minerals (recommending safe upper levels for vitamins and
minerals) and the National Diet and Nutrition Survey will be key factors in
the development of future proposals.

As the next step in the process, the Commission published an orientation
paper on setting maximum and minimum levels of vitamins and minerals in
foodstuffs in early August (copy attached). The FSA sent a copy of this
paper to stakeholders inviting their comments and held a meeting with them
to discuss the paper in advance of a Commission working group meeting with
Member States.

cont..........

On genetically modified food, there is a stand-off within Codex between
those countries who prefer no labelling (such as the USA) and the EC and
others who have such lavbelling and want to see it applied world - wide.
In Europe, requirements in respect of GM food and its labelling are set out
in the directly applicable European Union Regulations (EC) Nos. 1829/2003
(GM Food and Feed) and 1830/2003 (Traceability and Labelling of GM
Organisms). Food containing or consisting of GMOs or ingredients derived
from an authorised GM source must be identified on the food label. Where a
food is sold 'loose', the information must be clearly displayed immediately
next to the food. This has the effect of requiring all intentional use of
GM ingredients to be clearly identified on food labels. You may find the
frequently asked questions and overviews on GM Food and GM Labelling on the
FSA website a useful points of reference, accessible via the following
links:

FAQs: www.food.gov.uk...
GM Foods: www.food.gov.uk...
GM Labelling: www.food.gov.uk...
Guidance Notes: www.food.gov.uk...


On fruit and vegetable juices, in 2003 the Adhoc Codex Intergovernmental
Taskforce on Fruit & Vegetable Juices agreed to discontinue work on
revision of the general standard for vegetable juices. In addition it
agreed to recommend the withdrawal of the vegetable juice standard from the
list of codex standards as there was little international trade and tomato
juice was already covered in the fruit juices & nectars standard.

A new codex general standard on fruit juices and nectars was adopted by
Codex in 2003 and which can be obtained from the list of standards at the
codex website www.codexalimentarius.net...

The work of Codex Alimentarius does not extend to seeds sold in garden
centres or to people growing their own food. The Codex programme's main
purposes are protecting the health of consumers and ensuring fair practices
in the food trade.



[edit on 13/6/2008 by drevill]

There are several youtube videos that address many of your questions.

www.youtube.com...

This is one by Dr. Rima Laibow...in two parts.

reply to post by drevill

Dear David,
I must admit that I have been long unaware of the Codex Alimentarius and I have only recently started my own personal research on the matter. The reply you received from the FSA has just only convinced me more deeply that there is something fishy going on.... I am wondering, your initial letter to the FSA/UK is dated 13 June. It is nearly the end of 2008 now and I am curious if you might happen to have any updates on this. Any other oficial responses, reports? How can the FSA claim of being unaware of activities around the EEC6565 agreement (ban of essential vitamins, minerals,..)? Aren't they the ones that should be gathering information and informing the public?

If I understand correctly the Codex Alimentarius is supposed to go into global implementation in 2009 and could result in a minimum of 3 BILLION DEATHS through starvation and from preventable diseases of under-nutrition! (the Codex allows high levels of 7 of the 9 most toxic pesticides in the world in our food; Vitamin C shall be restricted to only a few milligrams per dose... and so on). It is incredible that these issues aren’t discussed in mainstream newspapers. There are so few even among professionals that actually know of the existence of such danger, and that is not mentioning your normal neighbour...

I would highly appreciate any tips on how to help stop the Codex Alimentarius and how to inform more people. There is hardly enough time left!

Thank you
Lacrima