COSTCO & U.S. Dept. of Commerce... This is worth reading in my opinion--Steve
Adler (No wonder every other spam email I get is for allopathic medications! Also,
the other than cosmically downloaded margins and names are beyond what this little
ol' mind can comprehend)...Of course, my opinion is to stay away from these substances
as much as possible. It may cost a lot to bring these things to market (I don't
really know), but at least we can see why the drug companies and distributors
have so much money! I love the Xanax markup!

_________________________________________________________

Let's hear it for Costco!! (This is just mind-boggling!) Make sure you read
all the way past the list of the drugs. The woman that signed below is a Budget
Analyst out of federal Washington, DC offices.

Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredient
in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many
drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshore chemical
synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the
FDA. As we have revealed in past issues of Life Extension, a significant percentage
of drugs sold in the United States contain active ingredients made in other
countries. In our independent investigation of how much profit drug companies
really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some
of the most popular drugs sold in America.

The data below speaks for itself:

Celebrex: 100 mg

Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27

Cost of general active ingredients: $ 0.60 Percent markup: 21,712%

Claritin: 1 0 mg

Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17

Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71 Percent markup: 30,306%

Keflex: 250 mg

Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39

Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88 Percent markup: 8,372%

Lipitor: 20 mg

Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37

Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80 Percent markup: 4,696%

Norvasc: 10 mg Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14 Percent markup: 134,493%

Paxil: 20 mg

Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27

Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60 Percent markup: 2,898%

Prevacid: 30 mg

Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77

Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01 Percent markup: 34,136%

Prilosec: 20 mg

Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97

Cost of general active ingredients $0.52 Percent markup: 69,417%

Prozac: 20 mg

Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47

Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11 Percent markup: 224,973%

Tenormin: 50 mg

Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47

Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13 Percent markup: 80,362%

Vasotec: 10 mg

Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37

Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20 Percent markup: 51,185%

Xanax: 1 mg

Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79

Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024 Percent markup: 569,958%

Zestril: 20 mg

Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89

Cost of general active ingredients $3.20 Percent markup: 2,809

Zithromax: 600 mg

Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19

Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78

Percent markup: 7,892%

Zocor:/B 40 mg

Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27

Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63

Percent markup: 4,059%

Zoloft: 50 mg

Consumer price: $206.87

Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75

Percent markup: 11,821%

Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought everyone should
know about this. Please read the following and pass it on. It pays to shop around.
This helps to solve the mystery as to why they can afford to put a Walgreen's
on every corner. On Monday night, Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for
Channel 7 News in Detroit, did a story on generic drug price gouging by pharmacies.
He found in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs were marked
up as much as 3,000% or more. Yes, that's not a typo.....three thousand percent!
So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs, and usually
rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lies with the pharmacies
themselves. For example, if you had to buy a prescription drug, and bought the
name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills. The pharmacist might tell you
that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80, making you
think you are "saving" $20. What the pharmacist is not telling you
is that those 100 generic pills may have only cost him $10!

At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or not
there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and he said
that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs.

I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get its online
price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the online prices.
I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own experience, I had to
use the drug, Compazine, which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients.

I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. I checked
the price at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of
my pain pills, I paid $72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08.

I would like to mention, that although Costco is a "membership" type
store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there, as it is a
federally regulated substance. You just tell them at the door that you wish
to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in. (this is true)

I went there this past Thursday and asked them. I am asking each of you to please
help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your own e-mail, and send
it to everyone you know with an e-mail address.

Sharon L. Davis

Budget Analyst

U.S . Department of Commerce

Room 6839

Office Ph: 202-482-4458

Office Fax: 202-482-5480

E-mail Address: sdavis@doc.gov

By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Erin O'Neal has two daughters and a fridge stocked with
organic cheese, milk, fruits and vegetables in her Annapolis, Md., home.

She is among the increasing number of parents who buy organic to keep
their children's diets free of food grown with pesticides, hormones,
antibiotics or genetic engineering.

"The pesticide issue just scares me - it wigs me out to think about the
amount of chemicals that might be going into my kid," said O'Neal, 36.

Sales of organic baby food have jumped nearly 18 percent since last year
- double the overall growth of organic food sales, according to the
marketing information company ACNielsen.

As demand has risen, organic food for children has been popping up
outside natural food stores.

For example, Earth's Best baby food, a mainstay in Whole Foods and Wild
Oats markets, just reached a national distribution deal with Toys R Us
and Babies R Us. Gerber is selling organic baby food under its Tender
Harvest label. Stonyfield Farm's YoBaby yogurt can be found in
supermarkets across the country.

The concern about children is that they are more vulnerable to toxins in
their diets, said Alan Greene, a pediatrician in northern California. As
children grow rapidly, their brains and organs are forming and they eat
more for their size than do grown-ups, Greene said.

"Pound for pound, they get higher concentrations of pesticides than
adults do," said Greene, who promotes organic food in his books and on
his Web site, http://www.drgreene.com.

New government-funded research adds to the concern. A study of children
whose diets were changed from regular to organic found their pesticide
levels plunged almost immediately. The amount of pesticide detected in
the children remained imperceptible until their diets were switched back
to conventional food.

"We didn't expect that to drop in such dramatic fashion," said Emory
University's Chensheng Lu, who led the Environmental Protection
Agency-funded research. Lu's findings will be published in February in
the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Scientists are still trying to figure out how pesticides affect
children, Lu said, but he notes that it took years to prove the health
hazards of lead.

The uncertainty is driving parents, especially new or expecting mothers,
to switch to organic food. Many are even making their own baby food from
organic ingredients.

"Maybe that has the reputation of being difficult, but it doesn't have
to be, and once you get into the habit of doing something regularly, it
gets to be easier," said Jody Villecco, a nutritionist for Whole Foods.

In a traveling lecture series for Whole Foods and Mothering magazine,
Villecco demonstrates by shaving a peeled banana with a knife to make
mush - "There, we just made baby food," she said. She recommends people
make baby food in big batches and freeze it in ice cube trays.

Eating organic is definitely not cheap. But Green and Lu said parents
have options if they can't afford the food or don't want to search for
it or make it: Buy fruits and vegetables known to have lower pesticide
residues.

The Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based advocacy group, has
produced a guide to the pesticide levels in fruits and vegetables
commonly sold in grocery stores, basing the findings on data from the
Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration.

The guide says the lowest pesticide levels are found in asparagus,
avocados, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn, kiwi, mangos,
onions, papaya, pineapples and sweet peas.

The highest pesticide levels, meanwhile, are found in apples, bell
peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears,
potatoes, red raspberries, spinach and strawberries.

Beyond baby food, dairy and produce, snacks are also a rapidly growing
segment of organic food, according to the Organic Trade Association, an
industry group.

Snacks are a priority for Susan Guegan, 44, a mother of four boys in
Boulder, Colo. Guegan made their food from scratch when they were
babies. Now she buys organic versions of the cookies and hot dogs they
ask for.

"They love Oreos," she said. "They'll say, `Can we get this?' I'm like,
`Can you read me the ingredients?' They'll laugh and try to say some of
them. I'll say, `You can put that back.'"

___

On the Net:

Organic Trade Association: http://www.ota.com

Environmental Working Group guide:
http://www.foodnews.org/pdf/walletguide.pdf

April 29, 2005 Cancer News from Johns Hopkins:

No plastic containers in micro.
No water bottles in freezer.
No plastic wrap in micro.

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This
information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Dioxin chemicals causes cancer, especially breast cancer.
Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles
with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic.

Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program manager at Castle
Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked
about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not
be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This
applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat,
high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately
into the cells of the body.

Instead, he recommends using glass, Corning Ware, or ceramic containers
for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin.
So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be
removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't
bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use
tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some
of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to
paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that Saran wrap is just as dangerous when placed
over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the
high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic
wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.

This is an article I believe you should forward to your family and
friends -- anyone who is important in your life!

By Robert Roy Britt
LiveScience Managing Editor
LiveScience.com
Thu Sep 29, 3:00 PM ET


Your brain never stops working. But it does cease talking to itself when you lose consciousness, a new study shows.

Scientists have long wondered what the brain does and doesn't do during deep sleep. It remains active, they know. So what's the difference between consciousness and the lack of it?

When we're awake, different parts of the brain use chemicals and nerve cells to communicate constantly across the entire network, similar to the perpetual flow of data between all the different computers, routers and servers that make up the Internet.

In the deepest part of sleep, however, the various nodes of your cranial Internet all lose their connections.

"The brain breaks down into little islands that can't talk to one another," said study leader Giulio Tononi of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Tononi's team used a non-invasive procedure to activate select parts of the brain. Subjects had electrodes attached to their heads to monitor how each stimulation triggered reactions elsewhere.

In the early morning, when subjects were dreaming, signals careened around the noggin similarly to when they were awake. But at night, during deeper sleep, the picture was much different.

"During deep sleep early in the night," Tononi said, "the response is short-lived and doesn't propagate at all."

Consciousness has long mystified scientists. The new finding suggests that it depends on the brain's ability to integrate information, Tononi says.

The compartmentalization might also help the brain's synapses, which make all the connections that give us thought, to take a break, according to Tononi's colleague, Marcello Massimini.

"This process would allow cortical circuits to eliminate noisy synapses and renormalize in order to be ready for the next day," Massimini told LiveScience. The reduced activity might also help explain why performance in various tasks improves after sleep, he said.

The machine used to conduct the experiments is new. It generates a magnetic field to provide stimulation, and Tononi's team expects this to be the first of many similar studies that will help researchers better understand the mind and specific disorders of the brain.

The study is detailed in the Sept. 30 issue of the journal Science.

By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor

Sunspots are plentiful nowadays. A new analysis shows that the Sun is more active now than it has been at anytime in the previous 1,000 years.
Scientists based at the Institute for Astronomy in Zurich used ice cores from Greenland to construct a picture of our star's activity in the past.
They say that over the last century the number of sunspots rose at the same time that the Earth's climate became steadily warmer.
This trend is being amplified by gases from fossil fuel burning, they argue.
'Little Ice Age'
Sunspots have been monitored on the Sun since 1610, shortly after the invention of the telescope. They provide the longest-running direct measurement of our star's activity.
The variation in sunspot numbers has revealed the Sun's 11-year cycle of activity as well as other, longer-term changes.
In particular, it has been noted that between about 1645 and 1715, few sunspots were seen on the Sun's surface.
This period is called the Maunder Minimum after the English astronomer who studied it.

Ice cores record climate trends back beyond human measurementsIt coincided with a spell of prolonged cold weather often referred to as the "Little Ice Age". Solar scientists strongly suspect there is a link between the two events - but the exact mechanism remains elusive.
Over the past few thousand years there is evidence of earlier Maunder-like coolings in the Earth's climate - indicated by tree-ring measurements that show slow growth due to prolonged cold.
In an attempt to determine what happened to sunspots during these other cold periods, Dr Sami Solanki and colleagues have looked at concentrations of a form, or isotope, of beryllium in ice cores from Greenland.
The isotope is created by cosmic rays - high-energy particles from the depths of the galaxy.
The flux of cosmic rays reaching the Earth's surface is modulated by the strength of the solar wind, the charged particles that stream away from the Sun's surface.
And since the strength of the solar wind varies over the sunspot cycle, the amount of beryllium in the ice at a time in the past can therefore be used to infer the state of the Sun and, roughly, the number of sunspots.
Latest warming
Dr Solanki is presenting a paper on the reconstruction of past solar activity at Cool Stars, Stellar Systems And The Sun, a conference in Hamburg, Germany.
He says that the reconstruction shows the Maunder Minimum and the other minima that are known in the past thousand years.
But the most striking feature, he says, is that looking at the past 1,150 years the Sun has never been as active as it has been during the past 60 years.
Over the past few hundred years, there has been a steady increase in the numbers of sunspots, a trend that has accelerated in the past century, just at the time when the Earth has been getting warmer.
The data suggests that changing solar activity is influencing in some way the global climate causing the world to get warmer.
Over the past 20 years, however, the number of sunspots has remained roughly constant, yet the average temperature of the Earth has continued to increase.
This is put down to a human-produced greenhouse effect caused by the combustion of fossil fuels.
This latest analysis shows that the Sun has had a considerable indirect influence on the global climate in the past, causing the Earth to warm or chill, and that mankind is amplifying the Sun's latest attempt to warm the Earth.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Take two M&M's and call me in the morning?

The Financial Times reports that candy maker Mars Inc. is set to
release research Monday that it says shows that a basic component of
cocoa could help treat ailments including diabetes, stroke and vascular
disease.

The privately held maker of M&M's, Snickers and 3 Musketeers is also
expected to announce that it has discovered how to replicate these
beneficial compounds, known as "flavanols." And the company will tell
scientists meeting in Switzerland that it is in "serious discussions"
with drugmakers about licensing the development of "synthesized
flavanols."

"The mounting scientific evidence on coca flavanols is extraordinary,"
Harvard Medical School professor Norm Hollenberg told the paper. "This
is a scientific breakthrough that could well lead to a medical
breakthrough."

Hollenberg has shared research with Mars, according to the paper.

The paper reports that flavanols have been found in other foods other
than cocoa, including green tea, red wine and tomatoes, and previous
studies have shown the advantages of including flavanols in diet. Still
even a researcher at Mars admits this breakthrough was somewhat
unexpected.

"We are in a position that none of us could ever have imagined,"
Harold Schmitz, Mars' chief science officer, told the paper. "We have a
valuable asset that's not just about food, it's about the
pharmaceutical sector."

URGENT:
The proposed so-called "CODEX ALIMENTARIUS" (Latin for "Food Rules")
legislation now before Congress, if passed into law, will outlaw all
organic, free-range, and bio-dynamic farming and make illegal the
non-medical prescription, availability, and sale of meaningful dosages of
all vitamins, minerals, herbs, and nutritional supplements, and bring about
the extinction of most health-food stores and privately owned nutrient
manufacturers in America immediately following passage of such law. The
others will last a little longer, but will eventually go down.
If you have not yet attained certainty that the above statement is true and
would like to confirm it for yourself, please read the communiqué below from
Dr. Rima Laibow, MD, one of the few people in the world who has read all
15,000 pages of the proposed legislation. FYI: The fatter the proposed
legislative package, the more sinister the measures buried within, and the
greater the danger to any party under its jurisdiction (i.e. YOU).
If you already understand the extreme importance of thwarting the proposed
CODEX ALIMENTARIUS legislation you can get right into action by DOWNLOADING,
PRINTING, SIGNING, AND FAXING each of the ATTACHED THREE SAMPLE LETTERS (MS
Word file) to both of your Senators and your Representative in Washington,
DC, i.e. three (3) letters to three (3) parties, a total of nine (9) letters
faxed (content of letters can be varied; these are suggested samples).
The target is ONE MILLION FAXES to Congress between March 23, 2005, and
April 22, 2005. Please step up and do your part to ensure that the ONE
MILLION FAXES arrive and that our DC representatives get the message that we
do not want anything to do with CODEX ALIMENTARIUS.<>
FYI: FAX is better than email (more substance) and faster than snail mail.
Do your best to fax, but in the event you cannot, please get the message to
DC the best way you can before April 22, 2005.
For the FAX number for your state's Senators and Representatives, click on
the link below and then click on the icon of your state on the map that
appears. The list of fax numbers will appear.
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
*************************************************
This is a very serious situation, but can be overcome with room to spare if
you and those you know will step up to the plate and make it happen. Please
take time out of your day to forward this
email, along with the example letters at the bottom, to everyone you know. Then:
customize each of the three sample letters at the bottom for both of your Senators and
your Representative, print them out, sign them, and fax them to their
respective destinations.
Everyone else is counting on you to come through (whether they know about
this proposed legislation or not).
*************************************************
The communiqué from Dr. Laibow:
ATTENTION:
RE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS
Letter from Rima Laibow, MD
http://www.nmaseminars.com/
March 23, 2005
Dear friends and colleagues,
Each of us is deluged daily with so much information that we are forced to
choose quickly between what deserves our attention and what to throw in the
circular file. I implore you to read the following. Your professional and
personal lives as you know them depend on it.
No doubt you have received as many rambling, lengthy emails about Codex
Alimentarius as I have. I have deleted more of them than I can count that
were either too alarming or too complacent in nature and lacking in
credibility. Now, let me ask you if you know anyone who has actually read
all 15,000+ pages of the working documents of the Codex Alimentarius
Commission? Well, I have. As such, allow me to attempt to put an end to
any confusion you may have about Codex Alimentarius by sharing what I have
learned and what I believe to be a reasonable and appropriate level of
concern.
What's the bottom line for a healthcare professional practicing alternative,
nutritional, natural, or environmental healthcare? The World Trade
Organization (WTO) is poised to take away your right to practice the healing
arts guided by natural laws, scientific principles, and your clinical
expertise and judgment. Through the Orwellian process of harmonization
(forced alignment) with WTO standards that regulate trade, distribution, and
process ing of food, herbs, and nutrients, your professional rights and
options will be eliminated within the next few years. The proposed
standards are extremely detrimental to the environment, your medical
practice, and the food supply.
Okay. I saw that one eyebrow go up and heard that deep sigh. Let me tell
you that alarmism is not and never has been in my nature. I am a medical
doctor, have a wide variety of interests, am passionate about healthcare
freedom, and pride myself in my rational thinking and logic skills. I floss
my teeth regularly and eat a nutrient-dense whole foods diet and, yes,
occasionally sample the more decadent side of the culinary arts. Neither my
family nor I had a bomb shelter during the Cold War era and I did not
withdraw from society or stock up on gasoline, food, or batteries in
anticipation of Y2K. Read on.
The ability of physicians to legally practice environmental or natural
medicine, their access to the substances they rely on to do so, and the
rights of patients to chose these treatments are about to be criminalized in
the United States by a draconian set of international regulations which have
already become law in Australia, Canada and the European Union (EU). These
standards, collectively known as CODEX ALIMENTARIUS, (from the Latin for
"Food Rules") have been promulgated by the Codex Alimentarius Commission
[established for this purpose in 1963 by the United Nations (UN)] in every
area having to do with the production, processing, packaging and use of
food, herbs and food components.
Think that can't happen here? Think again. It can and it will, unless we
take appropriate action and activate each member of our personal and
professional networks. Skillful disinformation would have you believe that
CODEX ALIMENTARIUS (hereafter referred to as CODEX) is a hoax and that, at
the same time, it is beneficial for you and your patients. (The inherent
illogic of this position is obvious to the discerning reader.)
The Codex Alimentarius Commission was empowered to work with other UN-linked
organizations in order to develop and promulgate uniform world-wide
standards for food, nutrition and agriculture. The WTO, successor to the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), is empowered to enforce
global compliance with all CODEX standards via trade sanctions across the
entire economic spectrum. Member nations (including the United States)
agreed, upon signing the WTO treaty, to always allow the standards and
regulations of the WTO to supersede and take complete precedence over
national standards, laws, and regulations.
Once accepted CODEX takes on the force of law and cannot be repealed or
changed by the WTO member nations.
Presenting itself as a c onsumer protection strategy, CODEX policies
masquerade as both benign and beneficial while, in reality, they are
neither. Given the medically and environmentally horrific stipulations and
requirements of (See, for example, the urban legend site, www.snopes.com
article "Vitamin See" which promulgates FACTUALLY INACCURATE DISINFORMATION
about the real nature and impact of CODEX and the FDA's Response to
Questions page, http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/dscodex.html, the
implementation of these "standards" will result in incalculable harm to the
healing arts and the patients who depend on them.
Once CODEX is adopted by a nation, there is a "phase-in period" during which
the administrative structure is established according to a strict timetable.
Bear in mind that in the United States, nutrients are currently classi fied
as foods [under the 1994 Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act
(DSHEA)] and that any substance not explicitly forbidden is permitted as a
nutrient in the United States. Under CODEX, any substance not explicitly
permitted by CODEX policy is banned as a nutrient.
The CODEX preamble specifies that supplements and nutrients 'may not be used
to prevent, treat or cure any disorder.' Yet, more than 80 percent of
Americans use supplements for exactly these purposes. Nutritional and
environmental physicians, naturopaths, nutritionists, chiropractors and
other licensed health professionals employ hundreds of natural minerals,
supplements, and herbs precisely because they are effective in preventing,
treating and curing many diseases.
These natural health options will become illegal if the United States is
"harmonized" with the WTO this spring while compliance with CODEX is still
"voluntary" or when t otal compliance becomes mandatory, as it will be the
case after the next CODEX Commission meeting in Rome. Health food stores
will no longer be able to market and distribute nutritional supplements.
Most health food stores and privately owned nutrient manufacturers will, I
believe, no longer be in business after CODEX takes effect.
I know. This is all difficult to believe upon first hearing it. You may
have heard that is easy to get people to believe a lie, particularly an
outrageous lie. In my experience, the opposite is also true: It is
difficult to get people to believe the outrageous truth. Keep on reading,
because this is a truth you definitely need to understand.
Once CODEX is implemented (either through 'harmonization' or mandatory
compliance), we will be forced to follow the European CODEX model in which
it will be illegal to manufacture, buy, sell, recommend, or use any b ut 28
ultra-low dose nutrients whether you are a licensed health professional or
not. "Only synthetic versions of that" short list will be allowed and
natural supplements, herbs, enzymes and other non-pharmaceutical treatments
will be banned. The only legal health option left will be the
pharmaceutical one.
CODEX regulations have been "harmonized" (i.e. approved) in the EU, Canada
and Australia. The United States is next unless we act decisively and act
now. Though CODEX regulations are passed quietly and without effective
public notice in infrequent meetings abroad that are invisible to most
Americans, they have grave and devastating impact on American's health
freedom.
Here in the United States, the 'harmonization' laws which will enact CODEX
policy have been defeated by Congress several times, each time by a smaller
margin. Given the composition of the current Congress, it is virtually
certain t hat it will be passed unless we take swift and immediate steps to
assure that does not happen.
This legislative stealth attack on health freedoms will probably play out in
May or early June of 2005 unless we take effective steps to help assure that
health freedom becomes the "Mother of all third rails" for every politician
in the country.
CODEX is the result of a complex relationship between the UN (which
established the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1962); the WTO (which is
authorized to enforce CODEX through trade sanctions); the World Health
Organization (WHO), which subscribes to the CODEX regulations (despite the
fact that they directly and explicitly conflict with their own findings and
policies such as the FAO/WHO official publication, "Diet, Nutrition and the
Prevention of Chronic Diseases"); the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO), the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA); and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) working in concert with industry
representatives of (and others unofficially representing the interests of)
the pesticide, chemical, pharmaceutical, and dairy industries.
Consumers, health scientists, physicians and other practicing natural
medicine and other health-focused voices have been totally absent from
official CODEX deliberations. A few observers have been present at official
deliberations but they have not been permitted to speak in the sessions.
Full ratification is expected in Rome during the July 4-9, 2005 meeting of
the CODEX ALIMETNARIUS Committee.
Of course, the real work of such a complex regulatory structure takes place
outside of those official sessions. And none of the health advocates have
had access to those meetings, agreements and sessions. Yet CODEX will take
away our health freedoms if we allow ourselves to be "harmonized" or
mandate d to comply with CODEX.
Everyone knows if they have a jar of pickles and they remove the pickle
label and put a mayonnaise label on it, that they're going to find pickles
when they open the jar. The packaging of CODEX policy under the label of
protection of fair trade, public health, and safety does not make it so.
Underneath CODEX's altruistic labeling is a poisoned apple of extremely
adverse global policy that is, in fact, driven by economic concerns of large
corporate interests.
Once implemented, CODEX ALIMENTARIUS does the following:
.
1. VITAMINS, MINERAL, NUTRIENTS AND PHYSIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE SUBSTANCES
(a) The CODEX preamble forbids the use of nutrients to "prevent, treat or
cure any condition or disease".
(b) CODEX defines minimum allowable dosages of permitted nutrients as 15
percent of the amounts naturally occurring in foods, while maximum allowable
doses of any permitted nutrie nts may not exceed the dose of that nutrient
found in food. Supplement values subtract the amount assumed to be in the
daily diet from the maximum allowable dose and the result is the permitted
upper limit of a nutrient. This system is based neither in science nor
clinical requirements.
(c) Higher doses of permitted nutrients and nutrients not explicitly
permitted will be classified as illegal substances (in the same class as
heroin)
(i) Theoretical exceptions exist for natural substances which are
submitted and accepted for testing. A substance successfully tested in this
way may then be prescribed at the tested dosage only. The permission to use
a nutrient in this way, by prescription only, however, expires in 2009.
(ii) The cost of this procedure is staggering, most applications for
such testing have been turned down and, since natural molecules canno t be
patented, potential manufacturers are unable to recoup the costs of testing
through later sales.
(iii) The period for submission of applications for this process ends on
July 12, 2005 and cannot be extended
(d) The European Union (EU), whose European Supplements Directive is the
model administrative agency for CODEX implementation, permits a total of 28
ultra-low dose nutrients. All other nutrients (e.g. alpha lipoic acid,
1-gram doses of vitamin C, Co-Q 10, fish oil, and curcumin) are banned
substances and may not be manufactured, distributed, recommended, sold,
supplied or be in the possession of anyone, including licensed health
professionals. Vitamin C, for example, at any dosage higher than 200 mg per
day will be illegal. A gram of Vitamin C will be an illegal substance! The
dose of Co-Q 10 which has been shown to resolve breast cancer in some
patients (400 mg p er day) will be illegal because Co-Q 10 will be totally
forbidden at any dose (following the European Supplements Directive model).
(e) The allowable maximum upper limits for permitted nutrients have been set
so low that they have little or no clinical impact in keeping us healthy and
none at all in returning us to a state of health if we are ill. Those which
are available will be exorbitantly priced, as current experience in Norway
and Germany reveals, where profit margins of synthetic, permitted nutrients
are being harmonized to match drug profit margins.
(i) On August 1, 2005, 75 percent of the natural substances currently
available in health food stores and pharmacies in Europe will become illegal
as a direct result of CODEX.
(ii) Only synthetic forms of permitted nutrients will be available.
All natural versions will be illegal substances. Only syntheti c nutrients
(at ultra-low dosages) manufactured by pharmaceutical companies will meet
the molecular standards for use in humans or animals.
2. HERBS AND HERBAL TREATMENTS
(a) Herbs, originally part of the CODEX deliberations, were summarily
removed and placed under a closed committee of the WHO where they are held
to be untested drugs and therefore illegal.
(b) The European Supplements Directive, the model agency for CODEX
administration, has produced a very short list of herbs which may be used
and the conditions for which they may be used (another short and very
trivial list).
(c) All other applications of herbs and any other herbs besides those listed
are strictly forbidden.
(d) There is the possibility that a few formulas of well known Chinese
herbal medicines may be exempt (but that remains to be seen)
3. TRADITIONAL HEALING ARTS
(a) CODEX stipulates which conditions may be treated using herbs and allows
only minor, self-limited conditions. Treating any other conditions with
herbal remedies will constitute a crime.
(b) Some complex oriental herbal formulas may be permitted but most will be
lost.
(c) Ayurvedic, Tibetan, tribal and other traditional medicines which use
herbs and natural substances will be forbidden world-wide. Since most people
do not have access to pharmaceutical medicine, this effectively removes the
legal possibility of people legally accessing any form of tribal or
traditional medicine.
(d.) Herbal, shamanic, energy based (e.g. Reiki and acupuncture) medicine
are forbidden forms of treatment.
4) GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS (GMOs)
(a) CODEX makes the un-labeled use of GMOs legal in all foods under all
circumstances, even though there is significant opposition to the widespread
use of GMOs at this time. Farmers in Iraq, for example, must purchase their
seeds from Monsanto and are forbidden from retaining seed crops under the
new Iraqi constitution. Similar laws exist in other less exotic places.
(b) Many GMOs have been genetically engineered so that seeds WILL NOT
GERMINATE without the use of specific pesticides (such as "Roundup" by
Monsanto). In fact, mounting scientific evidence makes it clear that the
incidence of birth defects, chemical sensitivity, chronic fatigue syndrome,
asthma, severe allergies, and a host of other conditions have a causative or
contributory relationship with increasing levels of pesticide exposure that
these crops will require.
(c) GMOs themselves are far from scientifically established as safe for
either the planet or its people by objective, non-industry scientists.
Genetic drift through the spread of GMO genetic material is recognized as a
major threat to the biological integrity of the entire plan et.
5. TOXIC RESIDUES
(a) CODEX sets permissible upper limits for pesticide residues, toxic
chemicals, hormones in food and other environmental contaminants that are
many times higher than levels advocated by chemical and pesticide industry
lobbying groups.
(b) The current acceptable levels of toxins are already responsible for most
of the incidence of cancers, heart disease, autism, chronic degenerative
conditions, and organ failures that associated with mortality and morbidity
globally. Increasing the permissible levels of toxins can only accelerate
personal and global suffering.
6. ANTIBIOTICS, GROWTH STIMULANTS AND OTHER HORMONES IN FOOD ANIMALS
(a) CODEX mandates that all animal feed must be treated with antibiotics,
hormones and growth stimulants world wide.
(b) Organic, free-range, and biodynamic farming will become illegal.
7. IRRADIATION OF FOOD
(a.) CODEX mandates irradiation of food under circumstances now hotly
contested by food safety advocates. Allegedly designed to 'protect us from
food borne illness', the irradiation of food is by no means agreed to be a
safe procedure (by non-industry scientists) since there is considerable
scientific evidence that protein structures are modified in unhealthy ways
by introducing ionizing radiation into food before it is consumed.
(b) The irradiation of food produces huge free radical populations. The
only protection against their pervasive damage is high doses of
anti-oxidants (which will be illegal under CODEX).
At this point it will likely come as no surprise to you that there has been
no effective representation from health advocates, nutritional supplement
manufacturers, natural healthcare professionals, or other
non-pharmaceutically oriented group at the Codex Alimentarius Commission
meeting. The Co dex Alimentarius Commission meets every two years, always
offshore (Rome, Bonn, Paris, etc.) and never in Smallville, USA, a fact that
helps perpetuate its opacity to the United States citizenry. The United
States' representatives to the Codex Alimentarius Commission have
well-documented, very unwholesome conflicts of interest with the very
industries that stand to profit and benefit from the wholesale
implementation of the CODEX standards.
CODEX sets international standards for everything from parmesan cheese to
sweet cassava, canned sardines to chicken meat, Echinacea to rice. The
standards which comprise CODEX are virtually complete: final ratification of
the entire package is expected at the Codex Alimentarius Committee meeting
in Rome from July 4-9, 2005.
Before ratification, "harmonization" is "voluntary" but can be enforced by
WTO trade sanctions. After ratification, compliance with CODEX is m andatory
and enforcement by the WTO is a powerful threat to make sure that it is
complied with properly.
It is imperative that concerned health professionals and their patients,
friends, relatives, suppliers, etc., become fully activated to stop CODEX
from being enacted in the United States.
Now that we know more about the boat in which we are adrift, let me hand you
a paddle. This threat to our profession and to our ability to choose the
type of healthcare for our selves demands one of the most powerful tools
available to us: grass roots political action. We can use the Democratic
Process to our advantage by:
1. Getting activated. If you do nothing now, when CODEX is ratified you
will have nothing left of your environmental or nutritional medicine
practice. It is imperative that you alert your colleagues, friends,
patients, relatives, suppliers and everyone else you know to this danger so
they can join you in taking effective action.
2. FAX, do not use regular mail or email, your Congressional Delegation re:
your strong outrage at the limitation of our health freedoms through CODEX
and a group of domestic efforts to reclassify nutrients as drugs and
eliminate them as foods.
3 Visit www.healthfreedomUSA.org to find your Congressional Delegation's FAX
number and three sample letters to Congress. Send each targeted Congressman
all three letters signed by you. We need to have a minimum of one
million faxes to Congress in the next 4 weeks.
3. Provide sample letters and a list of local Congressional District
members' FAX numbers for patients in your office. This information is
available on the Natural Solutions Foundation website,
www.healthfreedomUSA.org . Offer to FAX letters for t hose patients who do
not have fax machines available to them.
4. Become a supporter of the Natural Solutions Foundation, a not for profit
organization (of which I am the Medical Director) to preserve, protect and
defend health freedom in the United States.
In addition to our other activities, the Natural Solutions Foundation has
commissioned a major documentary to tell the story of CODEX to the American
public. Become a supporter of this effort. See www.healthfreedomUSA.org for
details.
We would all like to put our heads in the sand and try to believe that CODEX
would, could and should not happen here. But it can and, unless we take
action now, CODEX will become the law of our land.
5. For a discussion of the domestic legislative assault on health freedoms,
go to www.healthfreedomUSA.org.&nbs p; Whether your motivation is global or local,
professional or personal, I ask that you take action now. FAX letters
supporting health freedom, a safe food supply and a clean world: FAX letters
to Congress and alert your entire network to do that same.
Yours in Health and Freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation
Healthfreedom@optonline.net
www.healthfreedomUSA.org
SAMPLE LETTER 1
[Your address]
[Your City, State, ZIP]
[Date]
The Honorable [full name of your Senator/Representative]
PROTECT MY HEALTH FREEDOM!
VOTE AGAINST the Dietary Supplement Safety Act and all similar legislation
Dear [Senator/Representative] [Surname]:
As your constituent I want to inform you of my very strong opposition to any version of the CODEX ALIMENTARUS regulations (or any other legislation which restricts my health choices and freedoms) becoming law or governing regulation in our country. The draconian regulations of CODEX will do irreparable harm to the health and well being of the entire population of this country since it will make it illegal for anyone, including licensed physicians, to offer, choose, dispense, or use natural health promotion and treatment agents like Vitamin C, Co-Q 10, zinc, and calcium at clinically effective dosages. It will also make the use of ANY nutrient (other than 28 permitted low-dose, natural substances) illegal at clinically meaningful doses. This set of regulations has already become law in Australia, Canada and the EU.
I urge you to vote against measures which reclassify food supplements as drugs and increase adverse-results scrutiny in a biased manner while not applying the same standard to known toxic drugs (the fourth leading cause of death in the US when used according to labeling instructions) such as the soon-to-be reintroduced sequel to S722, “Dietary Supplement Safety Act.” Please be assured that I will use every means available to me to preserve and protect my freedom to choose natural treatments and substances when I feel that is in my best interest and look to you, as my elected representative, to protect me from this impending loss of health freedom.
I appeal to you to act as a staunch defender of my interests, and that of other Americans, not those of the special interests which understand that a healthy populace spends less on medication than one with no access to effective natural preventive and treatment strategies. I look to you to prevent our country from being “harmonized” with the destructive and restrictive regulations of CODEX ALIMENTARUS to force ill health on all Americans. Please be assured that I watch carefully and appreciate your staunch support of the health needs of your constituents and the nation at large.
Sincerely,
[Your signature]
[Your name, printed]
SAMPLE LETTER 2
[Your address]
[Your City, State, ZIP]
[Date]
The Honorable [full name of your Senator/Representative]
PROTECT MY HEALTH FREEDOM!
VOTE AGAINST HR 3377, The Dietary Supplement Access and Awareness Act
Dear [Senator/Representative] [Surname]:
As your constituent I wanted to make you aware of my very strong opposition to any version of the CODEX ALIMENTARUS regulations (or any other legislation which restricts my health choices and freedoms) becoming law or governing regulation in our country. The draconian regulations of CODEX will do irreparable harm to the health and well being of the entire population of this country since it will make it illegal for anyone, including licensed physicians, to offer, choose, dispense or use natural health promotion and treatment agents like Vitamin C, Co-Q 10, zinc, and calcium at clinically effective dosages. It will also make the use of ANY nutrient (other than 28 permitted low-dose, natural substances) illegal at clinically meaningful doses. This set of regulations has already become law in Aus tralia, Canada and the EU.
I urge you to vote against measures which restrict in any way my access to food supplements which have an enviable safety record, in sharp distinction to substances which have already passed FDA scrutiny and yet cause irreparable harm and death to many hundreds of thousands of Americans each year. Please vote against HR 3377, the Dietary Supplement Access and Awareness bill or any similar legislation which would roll back the small freedoms we have gained under the DSHEA law of 1994. Please be assured that I will use every means available to me to preserve and protect my freedom to choose natural treatments and substances when I feel that is in my best interest and look to you, as my elected representative, to protect me from this impending loss of health freedom.
I appeal to you to act as a staunch defender of my interests, and that of other Americans, not those of the special interests which understand that a healthy populace spends less on medication than one with no access to effective natural preventive and treatment strategies. I look to you to prevent the free United States from being “harmonized” with the destructive and restrictive regulations of CODEX ALIMENTARUS to force ill health on our citizens. Please be assured that I watch carefully and appreciate your staunch support of the health needs of your constituents and the nation at large,
Very truly yours,
[Your signature]
[Your name, printed]
SAMPLE LETTER 3
[Your address]
[Your City, State, ZIP]
[Date]
The Honorable [full name of your Senator/Representative]
PROTECT MY HEALTH FREEDOM!
PLEASE SUPPORT HR 1146, The American Sovereignty Restoration Act
Dear [Senator/Representative] [Surname]:
I urge you to support HR 1146, which will restore American sovereignty in matters of health and other areas. As your constituent I wanted to make you aware of my very strong opposition to any version of the CODEX ALIMENTARUS regulations (or any other legislation which restricts my health choices and freedoms) becoming law or governing regulation in our country. Based on regulations of the CODEX ALIMENTARIUS Commission of the UN, our health freedoms are in danger of being ripped away, as they have been in Australia, the EU and Canada. The draconian regulations of CODEX, based entirely on junk science, will do irreparable harm to the health and well being of the entire p opulation of this country since it will become illegal for anyone, including licensed physicians, to offer, choose, dispense, or use natural health promotion and treatment agents like Vitamin C, Co Q 10, zinc, and calcium at clinically effective dosages. It will also make the use of ANY nutrient (other than 28 permitted low-dose, natural substances) illegal at clinically meaningful doses.
I urge you to support HR 1146 in order to restore sovereignty to this country. FDA Policy on Standards* states “where a relevant international standard exists, or completion is imminent, it will generally be used in preference to a domestic standard….” Under that standard, the highly restrictive CODEX and European Supplements Directive regulations will be used to control access to essential amino acids, fish oil, and therapeutic doses of vitamins and minerals and great harm will come to the American people as confirmed in vast amounts of research. Please be assured that I will use every means available to me to preserve and protect my freedom to choose natural treatments and substances when I feel that is in my best interest and look to you, as my elected representative, to protect me from this im pending loss of health freedom.
I appeal to you to act as a staunch defender of my interests, and that of other Americans, not those of the special interests which understand that a healthy populace spends less on medication than one with no access to effective natural preventive and treatment strategies. I look to you to prevent our country from being “harmonized” with the destructive and restrictive regulations of CODEX ALIMENTARUS to force ill health on all Americans. Please be assured that I watch carefully and appreciate your staunch support of the health needs of your constituents and the nation at large.
Sincerely,
[Your signature]
[Your Printed Name]
*