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NZ
Health Trust - Newsletter
No 16 - 31st May 2005
Hello to all
our subscribers.It's
time for another update
about what has been
happening in the fight
to defeat the proposed
Trans Tasman Joint
Agency to regulate
all therapeutic products.
In this email
we cover
- Our
view on Codex
- An
urgent call for your
support
CODEX
Many
people have been asking us
about Codex - what impact
it will have on us in NZ
and how the Codex situation
may be affected by the Joint
Australian therapeutic Goods
Agency (TGA) proposal.The
fact is Codex is providing
another very real example
of how the TGA proposal would
mean a worrying loss of control,
particularly to NZ but also
to Australia
This
is an area we have been
spending more time looking
into and we will continue
to come to terms with
it in the next few weeks. Here's
a brief overview to help
us understand what Codex
is all about and how
it only serves to highlight
our concern about the
future for the Natural
Health Industry.
The
Codex Alimentarius Commission
is an international
group formed as an off-shoot
of the World Health
Organisation (WHO) and the Food
and Agriculture Committee
of the United Nations
(FAO) and is designed
to provide international
standards for food products. Although
the focus is food this
has been taken to include
nutritional supplements
and in July of this year
Codex will meet in Rome
to ratify the international
standards they have developed
for nutritional supplements.
These
standards include limiting
allowable ingredients
and setting maximum
permitted levels for
remaining ingredients.
As currently drafted
the standards are predicted
to seriously reduce the
effectiveness and availability
of natural products.The
standards, if ratified,
will not automatically
bind the member countries,
like Australia and NZ, and
in the usual course it
would be for the individual
Governments to decide
whether or not to adopt
them as law and furthermore
they relate to foods
not medicines. That
doesn't sound too bad
but consider 2 vital
points:
- Once
these standards are
set as international
best practise it
becomes almost impossible
for governments in
a practical sense not
to follow them. They
take refuge in the
wisdom of supposedly
greater minds and hide
behind those decisions
whereas to decide not
to adopt them, forces
them to make decisions
for themselves and
be held accountable
for it and few politicians
or regulators have
that sort of courage. Furthermore,
our obligations under
the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) oblige us to
follow and adopt international
standards wherever
possible. In
practical terms then,
the Codex standards
will bind us even if
they don't do
so technically. Codex
can pass the buck to
local regulators saying "it
is their decision whether
or not to adopt the
standards" and regulators
say "we are obliged
to follow international
standards" - once again
no-one is accountable
and the net result is
that the consumer suffers.
- The
second matter concerns
the TGA proposal. It
is true to say that
Codex relates to foods
and the TGA covers
medicines. As the recent
fact sheet put out
by the TGA says, the
TGA will not be bound
by any standards published
by Codex. We do not
necessarily disagree,
our concern is what
we see as a very real
likelihood that once
international standards
are published determining
supposedly "safe" ingredients
or "safe" levels of
various ingredients,
it is highly likely
that a medicines regulator,
charged with controlling
dietary supplements
will, although not
formally adopting those
standards, closely
reflect them.
If
the Joint Trans Tasman
agency were to proceed,
that would be the body
that would make decisions
about types of ingredients
and safe levels of ingredients.
It then would be the
body that decides how
closely its own permitted
levels would reflect
the "international standards" for
the same ingredients
put out by Codex. New
Zealand wouldn't be able
to make this decision
for itself. To the NZ
Health Trust it seems
almost certain that we
would find the TGA permitted
levels etc would in practise
mirror those announced
by Codex. So immediately
we begin to see the practical
effect of giving away
control of therapeutic
products to this Australian
agency. Rather
than NZ having the final
say about what ingredients
and levels are safe,
the TGA would make this
decision for us, whether
we like it or not!
When
we finally get rid of
the threat of the Joint
Agency, New Zealand may
still have to deal with
the Codex standards but
at least that is a decision
we as New Zealanders
can have some influence
over.Overall, the way
the Codex standards are
shaping up makes it look
to be just another angle
from which the independent natural
health industry is being
attacked worldwide and
forced to be assessed
against a toxicology
standard rather than
a nutritional and effects
based standard.
Unless
the general public
becomes extremely vigilant
and requires accountability
from our politicians,
the natural health
industry will be the
innocent victim and consumer's
health will be the
poorer for it.
The
NZHT is continuing to
consider this issue in
depth and will keep you
advised.All this just
shows how important it
is to be heard. This
is why we are continuing
to work so hard to
raise public awareness
and why we want to get
as much support as possible
using our "Urgent Support" forms
on the web site. If
you are concerned about
these continued international
attempts to decimate
the natural health
industry you need to fill
out the form linked
below and then send
this message
to your friends.
An urgent call for your support
“URGENT
SUPPORT”
If you want to have your
say without going to Wellington
yourself to tell
the MPs of your concerns and
wishes, click this link
to add your Support to
NZ Health Trust.
http://www.nzhealthtrust.co.nz/urgent_support.php
Many thanks to those of
you that have already done
so.
It is vital for MPs to
understand just how many
people do not want this
Australian based Joint
Agency making decisions
for New Zealand.
Click
here http://nzhealthtrust.co.nz/support_forms.html
to Order pre printed
Forms in bulk – Order
forms for distribution
on mass to friends, colleagues,
customers or clients.
Kind
regards
Dave Sloan
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