A call to action: how we can beat the European Food Supplements Directive
Posted Jul 13, 2005 PT by the Health Ranger (Mike Adams)
They actually pulled it off. The protectors of drug company profits have managed to engineer a ban on vitamins across the European Union. The European Food Supplements Directive goes live August 1, and it will instantly criminalize retailers who dare to sell products like vitamin C in "illegal" doses.
The reversal of sanity is now complete. Prescription drugs that kill people remain not only legal, but highly promoted, while vitamins that heal people and prevent disease are being criminalized. Little old ladies who own natural health food stores, who dare to sell you vitamin C, or manganese, or various trace minerals, are now apparently a threat to society. They will be arrested on the spot and incarcerated as criminals.
Meanwhile, the corrupt CEOs of billion dollar drug firms who knowingly peddle prescription drugs that harm millions and kill over a hundred thousand people each year are given the green light to continue operations. Their goal? To continue the chemical assault on the population for as long as it takes to squeeze out another billion dollars in profit. And with vitamins out of the way, keeping the population in a state of perpetual disease will be that much easier.
Outlawing vitamins is not a minor issue. It is a violation of the fundamental laws of nature. To take away a person's right to nutritionally support his or her own body is to condemn that person to a lifetime of pain and disease. It is a blatant crime against humanity.
Now, more than ever, it is obvious that the people need to take grassroots action to overthrow this dark system of organized medicine that has conspired to keep us all in a state of chronic disease. This drug-based system of medicine, with all its influence and political power, is a significant threat to the safety of people everywhere. It is a destructive network of corporations, bureaucrats, and doctors that will only lead us to a collapse of health. It will leave us bankrupt, diseased, and unable to access the very nutrients nature has provided our ancestors for countless generations.
To outlaw vitamins is to criminalize nature. If vitamin C is to be outlawed today, then will oranges be outlawed next year? What about orange extract? Orange juice?
If plants grown in organic soils contain trace minerals that are on the EU ban list, will those vegetables also be outlawed?
That's where all this is headed: the outright banning of anything from nature. One day, you could be thrown in prison for growing broccoli in your own garden. Or if you harvest dandelion root and store it in your pantry, you could be arrested and charged with "possession of outlawed substances with the intent to distribute." You'll be thrown to the dogs like a crack dealer, only your crime was picking dandelions out of your yard. Dandelions are medicinal herbs, you know.
Think this could never happen? Think again: a generation ago, who would have thought vitamins could be outlawed? The ultimate goal of today's global medicine machine -- which is, of course, the force behind all this -- is to separate mankind from nature. That's why sunlight (which prevents cancer) remains discredited. That's why doctors are still not taught the healing power of blueberries, or almonds, or avocados. And that's why your vitamins, minerals and nutritional supplements are now being stripped away. It's all an effort to isolate you from the free cures for disease provided by Mother Nature, thereby forcing you to submit to patent medications (prescription drugs).
If there were ever a time to rise up and stage a health freedom revolt, this is it. This is a cause worthy of a fight, because you're fighting for the protection of the very laws of nature. Basic human biochemistry demands that we intake certain nutrients in order to live. Human bodies simply do not manufacture vitamin C, and thus we must ingest it. Banning this vitamin is akin to outlawing fresh air, clean water or natural sunlight.
Actions you can take right now
With the passage of this European Food Supplements Directive, it is time for the defenders of health freedom in this world to confront this monster of organized medicine and reveal its true nature to the world. There are a couple of things you can do right now.
First off, if you haven't already donated to the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), please do so now. Click here to donate now. This is the group that's fighting the legal battle over the Food Supplements Directive. They are the last great defenders of your health freedoms, and they genuinely need your financial support. If you want to keep vitamins legal -- even in the United States -- I urge you to get out your credit card and make a sizable donation to the ANH.
Secondly, we need more than just legal tactics. We need guerilla publicity tactics. The way this works is simple: get an audio or video recording of something that shows the utter stupidity of the ban on vitamins, and get it into my hands. I'll pay you a pretty penny for the footage, plus I'll get it posted to a million or more natural health readers around the world.
What kind of video footage can you shoot that will make this point? There are endless ideas. Buy a secret spy cam and install it in your vitamin shop (SharperImage.com has one for sale that looks like a desk clock), then wait for the vitamin police to raid your shop. That will make for some nice footage. You can also buy an iRiver MP3 device with a built-in recorder. Put it on record, slip it into a pocket, and you've got ten hours of stealth audio recording.
Or get yourself arrested, on video, for politely selling a bottle of vitamin C to a friend. Hold a press conference and announce that you're going to get yourself arrested for daring to sell vitamin C. And then visibly squeeze a lemon into the bottle right before selling it. See if you get arrested. If so, you'll be famous, and you'll make a very important point. (If this ban were in the U.S., I would gladly get myself arrested doing precisely this kind of thing.)
You could also walk into a police station with a bag full of vitamin bottles, and "turn yourself in" for possessing contraband. If you manage to get it all on video (without the video being confiscated), you'll blow this thing wide open.
If you own a vitamin manufacturing company, just keep making your "illegal" vitamins and wait for the inevitable armed raid. As your spy cams record armed law enforcement personnel raiding your vitamin factory, you'll be making history while providing precisely the kind of images that will stir public opinion to the point of overturning this unjust law.
Some laws demand to be broken
Am I advocating breaking the law? Absolutely. When an idea this unjust manages to become law, it is not only our right to break the law, it is our responsibility to do so. There are some rights that are God-given. There are some rights that belong to mankind and need no legal standing. Your right to access vital nutrients your body needs to live -- for which your DNA is literally programmed to use -- is precisely such a right. It stands alongside your right to breathe the air, enjoy rainwater from the sky, or feel the warmth of healing sunlight on your skin. It is a right you were born with, as a creature of nature, and one that no law can take from you.
Friends, it's time to get radical. We've got to fight this thing with a guerilla mindset. The legal channel is just one channel, but as you know, the courts are rigged. The judges are corrupt. We'll never win this fight if we fight it on their terms. To beat this grave injustice, we have to go Skywalker on this evil empire. We have to think beyond the legal game and use our technology and global networking to shed light on the truth.
So, please, somebody get me something worth posting. It can be documents, video footage or audio recordings. Let's expose this injustice for what it is, and let's share it with the world. I give you my word that I'll spend whatever it takes on publicity and bandwidth to share this with millions.
Even the Death Star has a weakness
You see, the Food Supplements Directive has a great weakness: this law is so utterly ridiculous that the very act of enforcing it will be its downfall. They simply cannot enforce this law without embarrassing themselves by doing stupid things, like raiding a vitamin company like it was a cocaine bust.
The only way they can get away with this is if all the vitamin companies in Europe roll over and comply. If you voluntarily comply with the ruling, you are giving it power and legitimacy. But if you peacefully resist -- and document your resistance -- this Food Supplements Directive will never stand.
It is time to resist. It is time to stop rolling over and accepting this health oppression. It is time to defend the laws of nature and preserve your health freedoms from this day forward. Grab your light saber, your spy cams, and your stealth audio recorders. Get yourself arrested, raided or shut down by the European Vitamin Police. You'll make a difference, and you'll make history.
Judge Overrules Brussels Ban on Vitamins EU Supplements Directive 9-7-5
A controversial EU directive that could ban thousands of popular vitamin and mineral supplements has been declared illegal by a European Advocate.
The judgment is a victory for health food manufacturers and retailers who appealed to the European Court of Justice to overturn the proposed law.
The new rules governing vitamins and minerals are due to come into effect on 1 August and are designed to improve the safety and efficacy of products sold by the industry, worth millions of pounds. Only named ingredients with proven scientific benefits have been included on an EU "positive" list of approved substances that would be allowed in health supplements.
More than 300 different vitamins and minerals are not on the positive list, meaning that 5,000 supplements will be banned if the proposals become law, according to campaigners, who have been led by Carole Caplin, Cherie Blair's former lifestyle adviser. Popular supplements that will be outlawed include certain vitamin C brands, some calcium capsules and copper tablets.
The legal case against the directive was brought by the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), a Europe-wide association of more than 300 manufacturers, retailers, consumers and doctors opposed to the legislation.
The advocate general at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gave an advisory opinion that the directive, as it stands, infringes basic EU principles.
He said that the current proposals lacked clear rules for the European Commission to follow when deciding whether or not to include an ingredient on the positive list. The advocate general's opinion that the directive is "invalid" is not binding, and the full ECJ will rule on the case in July, but the court normally follows his opinion.
More than 20 million people in the UK spend £335m a year on vitamins and supplements in the belief that they bolster health and well-being. One in three women and one in four men takes supplements, and campaigners said the legislation would lead to inferior ingredients being used because more beneficial ones had been left off the positive list.
David Hinde, legal director at the ANH, said: "This is a very significant opinion in a landmark case. What we want to see in the EU is the food supplements directive doing the job for which it was created, which is to provide a 'safe harbour' for food supplements so that they are not classified as drugs, and to promote their availability across the EU. We are optimistic the ECJ will adopt the recommendations of the advocate general."
Under the directive, manufacturers could apply for products to be added to the "positive" list by submitting scientific evidence about the benefits of the supplements. But the high cost of producing such dossiers - up to £250,000 - would have meant that smaller manufacturers and health stores were most at risk from the new rules.
Sara Novakovic, the owner of Oliver's Wholefood Store in Richmond, south-west London, welcomed yesterday's ruling. She said: "At last it is now highly likely that we can continue to offer the products that our customers ask for and want, rather than have to remove them all from the shelves for no good reason and supply them with inferior quality alternatives."
However, the industry faces a continuing fight against EU legislation over health supplements and vitamins. The advocate general upheld the concept of EU legislation on health supplements, saying that the proposals needed to be reworked rather than scrapped.
Further directives on the maximum doses of vitamins and rules governing herbal remedies are due to be brought in over the next two years.
SUPPLEMENTS REPRIEVED?
BORON
A mineral found naturally in nuts, raisins and leafy green vegetables, and included in supplements such as Boots A-Z multivitamins. It is needed for the absorption of calcium, and deficiency is linked to osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.
VITAMIN E
An antioxidant that can protect against free radicals associated with degenerative disease. Naturally occurring versions of the compounds that make up vitamin E would be banned.
SELENIUM YEAST
Antioxidant that can help boost immune response and improve heart function, and is linked to sperm function. Certain types are on the positive list, but yeast form is said to be the most easily absorbed.
IRON
Vital for the production of haemoglobin, the pigment in red blood cells that transports oxygen around the body. Organic forms of iron that are easily absorbed by the body would be banned.
CHROMIUM
A mineral that balances blood sugar levels and is widely used by diabetics to help control their condition. Chromium picolinate supplement, which is not on the "positive list", is seen by health professionals as a safe and effective nutritional supplement for people with insulin resistance and those at risk of diabetes.
CALCIUM
"Bio" forms of calcium that are the most easily absorbed by the body would be banned. Calcium works with vitamin D and is needed to build bones and teeth, and can help regulate heartbeat.
POTASSIUM
A diet low in potassium can be a factor in high blood pressure, and supplements can help with fluid balance, heart rhythm and nerve impulses. More than 20 forms would be outlawed.
SILICA
All forms would be banned, yet it can help maintain flexible joints, supple skin and strong nails and hair. Silica levels in the body deplete with age, and many elderly people take supplements.
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