VICTORY AT CODEX!!! Anti-Supplement NRV Document Held Back Because of NHF
From the National Health Federation
This week of November 2-6, 2009, the 31st Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) met in Dusseldorf, Germany to continue its work in developing standards for global nutrition. Some 260 delegates were in attendance, comprised of various countries’ functionaries and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) representatives. Never one to disappoint the crowd, Dr. Rolf Grossklaus returned for his final, farewell performance as the CCNFSDU Chairman.
The Committee covered various topics, among them methods of assaying fiber and the establishment of Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs) for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD)./1 At the special Saturday meeting of the CCNFSDU Working Group on Nutrient Reference Values for Non-communicable Diseases, the NHF was represented by its president Scott Tips and was very active in making its pro-freedom views known. (See our previous release athttp://www.thenhf.com/press_releases/pr_01_nov_2009.html.)
At both meetings (that of the Working Group and the Committee), NHF especially took to task the God-like aura given to the “expert consultations” of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO). These are pre-selected groups of experts with a pre-determined outcome to their “consultations” and are hardly scientific. Along with other delegations, the NHF succeeded in retaining language in Codex standards that ensured that Codex would not just look to FAO/WHO expert consultations for scientific knowledge.
Amazing Victory
But the real battle and amazing success took place on Tuesday, November 3rd, during the general session, when the two agenda items covering the NRVs for non-communicable diseases, including the “Proposed Draft Additional or Revised Nutrient Reference Values for Labelling Purposes in the Codex Guidelines on Nutrition Labelling,” were discussed by the Committee.
The CCNFSDU was all prepared to rubber-stamp its approval on the “Proposed Draft Additional or Revised Nutrient Reference Values for Labelling Purposes in the Codex Guidelines on Nutrition Labelling,” which had been pushed by the delegation of the Republic of Korea and others.l
This document was so astoundingly anti-vitamin and mineral it infuriated the NHF representative, who had to restrain himself from using harsh and insulting words when it came NHF’s turn to speak. Appendix 2 of the document is only two pages, but contains already-low values for each of the Vitamins and Minerals listed in the Appendix (except for Fluoride, which of course has an excessively high value). (To see the document, go to www.thenhf.com/press_releases/Appendix2photo11-09.pdf)
For example, the “scientific” values assigned to Vitamin C were being reduced from an already-low 60 milligrams to an even-lower 45 milligrams! The NRV for magnesium was to be cut from 300 milligrams to 240 milligrams. Niacin’s value was to be chopped from 18 milligrams to 15. These were, and are, absurd numbers, based upon nutritional ignorance.
Over a one-hour period, the NHF took the floor repeatedly to lambast the document and to insist that its adoption would be a public-relations nightmare and make Codex the laughingstock of the World. If anything, NHF said, these numbers must be drastically raised. The argument swirled around the room with the NHF holding firm against comments from many other country delegations, especially Australia (which calls harsher standards "an extra bit of comfort"), all of whom thought that these numbers were perfectly normal! Had NHF not challenged the document, there would have been no sustained opposition to its passage.
Instead, NHF kept unrelentingly hammering at the points it had first raised and answered at every chance the counter-arguments of the document’s proponents. Finally, the Chairman, perhaps in exasperation, suggested that the Committee not advance the document to its next step because there was no consensus! This “compromise” was supported by NHF but opposed by others until, with it still hanging in the balance, the Indian delegation firmly stated its support for NHF’s position and against it advancing. India’s timing was impeccable. That was enough for the Chairman, who quickly concluded the debate and held the document back.
But for the National Health Federation, India, and also Costa Rica and Iraq, this document would have advanced towards a more final, fixed form. Now, it remains in a malleable form that will let it be corrected at next year’s CCNFSDU meeting.
Increasingly recognized at these Codex meetings, NHF appreciates the support it has been given by other country-member and INGO delegations. Most of all, though, NHF appreciates the support its membership has given it, financially and morally, that enabled this victory to happen at all.
********************
1 Not to be confused with Maximum Upper Permitted Limits, Nutrient Reference Values (“NRVs”) are nothing more than souped-up RDAs. These are numerical values assigned to each nutrient so as to reflect the mythical typical person’s nutritional needs for that nutrient. By referring to the NRV for, say, magnesium, the consumer is supposed to get an idea of whether he or she is getting an adequate (or in European bureaucratic eyes, an excessive) amount of magnesium. If a consumer, for example, sees that he is getting 100% of his daily requirement for Vitamin C, he will almost certainly mistakenly think that he need look no further to supplement his diet.; he is, after all, getting his full needs met, even though 100% will be defined as 60 milligrams! These values are supposed to be set according to rigorous scientific evidence; but, as NHF has long contended, “science” at Codex levels is far more political than scientific.
********************
*** PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING SO THAT WE MAY CONTINUE OUR FIGHT AT CODEX.
THE NHF EXISTS TOTALLY ON MEMBERSHIP FEES AND DONATIONS. ***
********************
For further information on Codex, please visit the NHF website (Codex):http://www.thenhf.com/codex.html NHF Codex Book -
NHF Codex Overview (May be used as an article or printed as a handout to educate on Codex) -
NHF-UK Codex Overview (May be used as an article or printed as a handout to educate on Codex) -
********************
As the oldest and best-respected health-freedom group on Capitol Hill, the NHF continues to be the credible source of objective assessment of, and proactive actions on, Congressional legislation and FDA matters that have material impact upon our freedom-of-health choices and access to dietary supplements and nutritional foods.
********************
Click here for the permanent link to this press release, use this link to inform others.
National Health Federation: Established in 1955, the National Health Federation is a consumer-education, health-freedom organization working to protect individuals' rights to choose to consume healthy food, take supplements and use alternative therapies without unnecessary government restrictions. The NHF is the only such organization with recognized observer-delegate status at Codex meetings. www.thenhf.com
**************************************
If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, click here.
P.O. Box 688, Monrovia, CA 91017 USA ~ 1 (626) 357-2181 ~ Fax 1 (626) 303-0642Website: www.thenhf.com E-mail: contact-us@thenhf.com
