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UK Parliament SMASHES Big Pharma...
Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
Thursday, April 7th, 2005
Just two days ago, in my newsletter article The Coming "US Health Movement v. Big Pharma" Codex War..., I announced the demise of Big Pharma's attempt to shut down the supplement industry. But little did I know at the time that that day, Tuesday, April 5th, 2005, would go down in the annals as a double-whammy of Big Pharma's murderous intent. Wait 'til you read this.
Sit up straight. For, this story you are almost NOT going to believe. I'm going to have to convince you with data. To do that I'm going to tell you that you are going to have to do what I just did - you're going to have to read a 126 page report just issued by the British government titled "House of Commons Health Committee - THE INFLUENCE OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY"
The British government is setting up the "guillotine." There's going to be a "Bastille Day" in London. Sell your pharmaceutical stock - quick.
This morning I received an e-mail from health freedom advocate Larry Hanus (ljhanz@yahoo.com) who said:
Dear Friends,
This is a most important document. I encourage you to read it in it's entirety. Please make time to do so. You might want to read through the conclusions and recommendations beginning on page 97 of the report, then go back and read the entire document.
Please ensure that your legislators have a copy of this. The UK has provided an excellent blueprint of what can and MUST be done here in the United States with regards to restoring the proper balance between the pharmaceutical industry, it's regulatory agency, our political leaders and the public trust. As those who worked on this document conclude - the welfare and health of the people is of paramount importance. All decisions made should ultimately be to benefit the public health.
I did just what Larry said to do - and he was absolutely right. This report is dynamite. The conclusions and recommendations are ASTOUNDING. They sound like they came out of the mouth of the North American Health Freedom Movement. For example:
The commercial success of the industry is not in doubt, nor is its ability to produce excellent science and important drugs; however, its ability to put the health of the nation consistently before the needs and expectations of its shareholders may be questioned. The evidence to this inquiry indicated that, in recent years, large pharmaceutical companies have become ever more focused on a marketing-based approach. In our view, this is the source of many of the problems we have identified. However, these problems are global and we received no evidence that the situation in the UK was worse than in other countries.
In Chapter 8 we examined the overall influence of the pharmaceutical industry. It is widely welcomed and relied on, but it is also pervasive and persistent. Our over-riding concerns are about the volume, extent and intensity of the industrys influence, not only on clinical medicine and research but also on patients, regulators, the media, civil servants and politicians.
The failings we have described have consequences, in particular: The unsafe use of drugs; and The increasing medicalisation of society. These problems have existed in many countries. The UK may have a better record than many others. Drugs have been used unsafely in every country and we have no doubt that the drift towards medicalisation is a global phenomenon.
I won't go into what the report said about "the unsafe use of drugs" - for the Vioxx scandal, et al, are common knowledge. Read the report about those findings. But what I find terribly enlightening is their section on "The increasing medicalisation of society." For example:
A major and recurring issue raised during the inquiry is the increased medicalisation of our society the pill for every problem.
The belief that every problem may be solved with medication seems particularly relevant in the context of antidepressants. While we readily accept that antidepressants can be effective medicines and have been successfully used by many patients,... Unhappiness is part of the spectrum of human experience, not a medical condition.
This trend has not been created by the pharmaceutical industry but it has been encouraged by it. The industry has acted, in the words of some witnesses, as a disease-monger, with the aim of categorising an increasing number of individuals as abnormal and thereby requiring (drug) treatment. This process has led to an unhealthy over-reliance on, and an over-use of, medicines. It also diverts resources and priorities from more significant diseases and health problems.
The "Conclusions" section of the report reads like one of my opinion pieces. But, what will stun you is the report's "Recommendations." There were forty eight (48) of those, all told, which, basically, would shut down Big Pharma's pervasive influence and control, and provide attention to non-drug therapies. These included: (1) removal of most drug advertising, (2) tighter monitoring of drugs before and after launch, (3) government funding for non-drug alternatives, (4) monitoring of funding of "patient" groups, (5) training in medical schools on how to evaluate drugs versus non-drug therapies, and much, much, much, much, more.
Read the report - "House of Commons Health Committee - THE INFLUENCE OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY"
We are heading for a health care "Nuremberg..." And, it's about time...
Stay tuned...
Tim Bolen - Consumer Advocate
A News Alert Sent To Us From Good Health Supplements. . .
CODEX A SERIOUS WAKE UP CALL!
CODEX now applies to Norway and Germany, among others, (our Good Health Supplements are now banned in these countries) where zinc tablets rose from $4 per bottle to $52. Echinacea (an ancient immune-enhancement herb) rose from $14 to $153 (both of these supplements are now allowed by prescription only). They are now drugs.
In a May 21, 2004 Health Matters Minute article titled URGENT! Don't Lose YOUR Right To Purchase Nutritional Supplements! CRITICAL WARNING!!! United Nations Codex I discussed the tragic possibility that new nutritional supplement regulations, of which the United States has agreed to obey when finalized, could go into effect which is pushed by The United Nations Codex Alamentarias Commission and members of the EU.
After reading every word of this article please copy the following and pass it on to as many people as your can. Email it, fax it, snail mail it, get on the phone and talk about it.
Time is running out! Why? Because if we dont stand up to the destructive forces of Codex now, your right to choose your vitamins, minerals and other nutritional supplements may end in June of this year (2005).
After June, U.S. supplements will be defined and controlled by WTO (World Trade Organization) and the WHO (World Health Organization) unless we put a stop to this incredible rip off of our rights and freedoms.
The standards for supplements are being set by the Codex Alimentarius (Food Code) for all countries in the WTO and will be enforced by the WTO and will override U.S. nutritional laws (such as the DSHEA Law was passed in 1994) unless we get our government to put a stop to this outrageous money grab by international drug companies who become the major beneficiaries.
What does that mean and how will it affect you and me?
Heres The Bad News:
1. No nutritional supplement will be allowed to be sold for preventive or therapeutic use.
2. Any potency higher than RDA (minimal strength --- a ridiculously low dosage for most health problems) now becomes a drug requiring a prescription and must be produced by drug companies. (You know a $20 bottle of vitamins will become a $60 bottle of vitamins. The drug companies will have no competition.)
3. Over 5,000 safe nutritional supplements now in health stores and on the Internet will be banned, terminating health stores as we now know them. Nutritional programs that keep us healthy strong and alive will also disappear.
4. CODEX regulations become binding internationally for all members of the WTO.
5. New supplements will be banned unless given very expensive CODEX testing and approval, which only the drug companies can afford.
The U.S. President and Congress agreed to this take-over when the WTO Treaty was signed. Violations are punished by WTO trade sanctions. CODEX drastically restricts vitamins, minerals, herbs and other supplements.
CODEX met secretly in November, 2004 and finalized Step 8 (the final stage) to begin implementation in June, 2005.
CODEX now applies to Norway and Germany, among others, (our Good Health Supplements are now banned in these countries) where zinc tablets rose from $4 per bottle to $52. Echinacea (an ancient immune-enhancement herb) rose from $14 to $153 (both of these supplements are now allowed by prescription only). They are now drugs.
Vitamin C above 200 mg, niacin above 32 mg, vitamin B6 above 4 mg...all are banned over-the-counter and are now classified as drugs.
No amino acids (arginine, lysine, carnitine, etc. These are essential amino acids!), essential fatty acids (omegas 3, 6, 9, etc.), or other essential supplements such as DMEA, DHEA, CoQ10, MSM, beta-carotene, etc. are allowed to be sold without a prescription.
The medical profession is going to love this! Youre going to have to pay a doctor to get a prescription in order to buy your vitamins! Think about the adverse effect this is going to have on Medicare.
Know that the CODEX rules are not based on real science.
The rules are made by a few people meeting in secret who are not necessarily scientists.
In 1993 the FDA and drug corporations tried to put all supplements under restriction and prescription. But over 4 million Americans told Congress and the President to protect their freedom of choice on health supplements. We need to do this again!
The DSHEA Law was passed in 1994, giving us freedom of supplement choice. But this will be over ruled by CODEX and the World Trade Organization.
Virtually nothing about it has been in the media. What the drug corporations have
failed to do through Congress they have gotten by sneak attack through CODEX
with the help of a silent media.
If any of you know media people, you need to bring this to their attention and ask for their help!
What Can Be Done At This Late Hour?
1. Spread the word as much as possible. Inform yourselves fully at: www.ahha.org, www.iahf.com, www.alliance-natural-health.org.
2. Oppose bills S.722 and H.R.3377. These support the CODEX restrictions with U.S. laws, changing the DSHEA law.
3. Support H. R.1146 which would restore the sovereignty of the U.S. Constitution over CODEX, etc.
4. Express your wishes to the President, Senators and Representatives (They got us into this!) ASAP.
5. Contact multi-level health marketing groups that can get their members to inform the government.
CODEX and the FDA wish to protect us by controlling supplements in the same way they do prescription drugs.
Here is how the FDA is protecting us. A study by three medical scientists was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, April 15, 1998Vol., No. 15, p. 1200
Incidence of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) was found to be extremely high.
Covering 30 years (1966 to 1996) it was found that in the U.S. an average of 106,000 hospitalized patients per year (290 per day) die from ADRs and 2,200,000 need more hospitalization for recovery.
These were FDA approved drugs, properly administered by competent professionals in hospitals...none were considered malpractice. This was the number four cause of death in the U.S. at the time. When combined, these account for 7% of all hospitalized patients. This is equivalent to a 9-11 attack every ten days.
Todays latest statistics now raise hospital and medical related death to number one in the U.S. passing heart disease.
There are very few fatalities from supplements or the news would be on every front page.
We need to stay out of hospitals and only nutritional supplements help us do that, not drugs!
There is no need for more FDA control of supplements than is already in place, which is substantial. Instead of drastically restricting supplements, why doesnt the FDA better control and restrict the extremely dangerous pharmaceutical drugs which are now killing us at the rate of a major airline crash per day?
Wallace G. Heath, Ph.D.
1145 Marine Drive Bellingham, WA 98225
»» From the International Advocates for Health Freedom (IAHF)
VITAMIN CONSUMERS BEWARE!
Your Freedom of Choice is on the Brink of Extinction
AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN HAMMELL
Founder, International Advocates for Health Freedom (IAHF)
John Hammell is an internationally renowned advocate for health freedom. In this interview, he exposes the current draconian international effort, masterminded by the pharmaceutical cartel, to restrict our freedom of choice of dietary supplements and vitamins.
The centerpiece of this effort is called CODEX, which is a United Nations program to impose global trade standards in this area. The European Union (EU) is the most influential power block in the CODEX scheme, and the most pressing issue right now is the Food Supplements Directive passed by the EU, which is being challenged in a British Court on January 25 by the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH). If this domino falls, America is not far behind.
Note: Were waiting for the results from this hearing but that should not have any bearing on the need to get H. R.1146 passed.
We cannot stress enough the URGENCY of this matter! Our inherent right to choose what natural substances we put into our bodies is at stake. For Health Freedom,
John C. Hammell, President
International Advocates for Health Freedom
556 Boundary Bay Road
Point Roberts, WA 98281-8702 USA
http://www.iahf.com
jham@iahf.com
800-333-2553 N.America
360-945-0352 World
Your good health is at stake. Dont sit on this. Do something! Email, snail mail, or call your Congressman/woman, Senator and the President.
Your Freedom of Choice is on the Brink of Extinction
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