Codex Alert

Don't let Codex block consumer access to critical vitamin therapies and natural treatments. In an unprecedented protest, over 100 million people sent this message last November to the United Nation's Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting of pharmaceutical executives and international delegates and succeeded in warding off a worldwide attack on natural remedies.

Codex proposals to ban information concerning the health benefits of vitamins, minerals and other natural products and restrict their sale with arbitrary guidelines were stalled at step three (step eight is completion) and won't come up again for one more year.

The protest campaign the largest public health referendum in history was headed by Matthias Rath, MD, a renowned doctor and scientist who identified long-term vitamin deficiencies as the primary cause of heart disease, cancer and other modern diseases.

Vitamins and natural remedies prevent illness and threaten the pharmaceutical market. Concerned citizens believe that the pharmaceutical industry is using Codex to discredit the effectiveness of natural therapies and prop up its trillion-dollar market for beta-blockers, calcium antagonists, cholesterol-lowering products and other pharmaceutical drugs.

In Canada, almost one-half (42 per cent) of the population age 12 and older in 1996-97 reported taking medication and seven per cent were using three or more types, at an estimated annual cost of $14.7 billion. Worldwide restrictions on natural treatments will directly affect the 200,000 Canadians who take vitamins to improve health and the 21 percent of women and 15 percent of men who seek natural alternatives to mainstream health care, such as homeopaths and naturopaths (Statistics Canada, 2001).

Don't let Codex compromise your health and that of millions worldwide. The Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses meets again on this issue November 2002. Having free access to information about the benefits of vitamins and natural therapies is the key to a healthy, long life. Take action now and keep
the momentum going. Log on to www.health4us.org or vitamins-for-all.org and vote for your right to natural health.

What is Codex?

The Codex Alimentarius Commission was established in 1962 by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to develop international food standards to protect consumer health and facilitate fair trading practices in foods. For more information on Canada's participation in Codex, see hc-sc.gc.ca/foodaliment/english/codex/.