ADVOCATE GENERAL FINDS FOOD SUPPLEMENTS DIRECTIVE INVALID UNDER EU LAW

[Guest guest]

This is a topic we've been concerned about . . .

Apparently the U.S. was going to be subject to the

same laws as the EU regarding supplements this summer.

Why? I don't know!

Rogene

=============================

From: Alliance for Natural Health

[mailto:info@...]

Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 5:48 AM

Subject: Advocate General recommends in favour of the

ANH landmark case!

A FANTASTIC DAY FOR HEALTH FREEDOM!

The European Court of Justice's Advocate General

Geelhoed has provided his opinion today. His opinion

was read out in the European Court in Luxembourg at

08.30 h this morning.

Please find our Press Release on the subject below.

We wish to thank all of you who have contributed,

financially and in other ways, to this landmark

challenge that has the potential to rock the entire

agenda on ever-tightening restrictions worldwide on

natural health.

We will be giving you further updates in due course.

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release

5 April 2005

ADVOCATE GENERAL FINDS FOOD SUPPLEMENTS DIRECTIVE

INVALID UNDER EU LAW

ALLIANCE FOR NATURAL HEALTH SET TO WIN ITS LANDMARK

CHALLENGE TO THE EU FOOD SUPPLEMENTS DIRECTIVE

There was tremendous news today for the millions of

people in Europe who choose to use food supplements.

Following a landmark challenge in the European Courts

of Justice (ECJ) brought by the Alliance for Natural

Health and Nutri-Link Ltd to the contentious Food

Supplements Directive, which effectively proposed to

ban 75% of vitamin and mineral forms, Advocate General

Geelhoed, the senior adviser to the ECJ, gave his

Opinion in favour of the Alliance’s case.

What does this mean? That the chances of consumers

being able to continue using the natural food

supplements they believe are beneficial to their

health are now greatly increased. There has been

uproar about the proposed EU ban, and maybe, against

the odds, the consumer is going to come out on top in

what is a remarkable modern day case of and

Goliath.

In a statement released in Luxembourg today at 0830

GMT, the Advocate General concluded that:

The Food Supplements Directive infringes the principle

of proportionality because basic principles of

Community law, such as the requirements of legal

protection, of legal certainty and of sound

administration have not properly been taken into

account.

It is therefore invalid under EU law.

It should be stressed that the Advocate General’s

pronouncement is not a ruling. That will come from the

ECJ judges, later - probably around June. But

typically, in the vast majority of cases, the Court

Judgment follows the recommendations of the Advocate

General.

If the Advocate General’s recommendations are adopted,

in effect, the ban on vitamin and mineral forms not

included on the EU’s ‘Positive list,’ due to come into

effect on 1 August 2005, will be declared illegal. In

essence, the positive list of allowable nutrient forms

will be deemed to be too narrow, too restrictive, and

based on flawed science.

This would avoid the totally irrational situations

that the Food Supplements Directive would otherwise

create. For example, synthetically produced selenium

would have been allowed on the positive list, while

the natural source found in Brazil nuts would not;

synthetic forms of Vitamin E (often used in ‘adverse’

vitamin studies reported in the media) would be

allowed, but the natural, most beneficial food forms

would not.

An outstanding moment for the Alliance for Natural

Health

The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) is a Europe-wide

professional organisation dedicated to ensuring that

good science and good law are applied to regulation

affecting the leading edge of natural health. If the

Advocate General’s recommendations are endorsed by the

ECJ judges, it will represent the culmination of three

years dogged determination, dedication and hard work

on the part of ANH and its many supporters around the

world.

‘It is commendable that the EU Advocate General has

seen through the flawed science and law of the Food

Supplements Directive and reached his recommendations

today,’ said Dr. Verkerk, Executive Director of

the ANH. ‘All that ANH is campaigning and working

cooperatively for is the right for consumers to have

access to safe natural healthcare and for legislation

to be based on good science and good law. This is a

great day for the tens of millions of people who

believe passionately in the benefits of natural,

preventative healthcare.’

C. Hinde, Solicitor and ANH Legal Director,

added: ‘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. Advocate General Geelhoed is the most senior

Advocate General at the ECJ and his considered

reasoning vindicates ANH’s legal analysis and

position. We are very optimistic that the Court will

adopt his recommendations.’

Supporting safe supplements

ANH supports many aspects of the Directive, and firmly

endorses the banning of ingredients that are patently

not safe, stating that existing UK and EU food law

already provides perfectly effective protection from

unsafe products getting onto the market. Furthermore,

ANH says that it is not scientifically rational to

classify an ingredient as being unsafe without taking

dosage levels into account, something that was not a

condition of being admitted onto the positive list.

ANH believes that a far more appropriate system for

banning any substances that might pose a risk to

health would be to produce a ‘Negative list’ for

ingredients where there was proper evidence of lack of

safety. The system proposed by the EU was going to ban

ingredients on the basis that companies did not have

the financial capacity to meet the high data threshold

required for the scientific dossiers demanded by EU

authorities. In this way, ingredients that have been

part of the human diet for thousands of years, and

which are increasingly difficult to derive from

conventional foods, would be lost, and would not be

able to be supplemented.

The future of the leading edge of natural health

secured

Drawing its support European-wide from consumers,

manufacturers, retailers, practitioners and some of

the leading experts in nutritional medicine, ANH has

taken on the Goliath of the European Commission and

those that support the unscientific and unlawful ban

in the Food Supplements Directive, to protect the

interests of everyone concerned with the leading-edge

of food supplements and natural healthcare.

‘None of the major EU countries felt the need to

oppose our application for a declaration that the ban

on vitamins and minerals in the Food Supplements

Directive was unlawful,’ added Haynes,

Technical Director of Nutri-Link Ltd., a UK food

supplements company that brought the legal challenge

jointly with ANH. ‘It’s bizarre how this regulation

got this far.’

A wide welcome across the industry if the ban is

overturned

Greg Watts, Chief Executive of Ultralife, a

manufacturer of leading-edge food supplements, said:

‘This is very encouraging news. If the ban came into

force we would have to reformulate down to simpler,

more basic products that consumers and practitioners

find are less effective.’

Dr Damien Downing, a medical doctor and one of the

UK’s leading practitioners in nutritional medicine,

said: ‘Practitioners of nutritional therapy, and there

are thousands of them in the UK, largely use

leading-edge food supplements. If these nutrient forms

remain, we can continue to treat our patients with

meaningful solutions and provide the products that we

know are so beneficial. A ban would in one fell swoop

remove the vital tools of practitioners’ trade.’

Sara Novakovic, owner of Oliver’s Wholefood Store in

Richmond, Surrey, said: ‘At last it is now highly

likely 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.’

The end of the beginning

This is just the beginning for the Alliance for

Natural Health. Regulatory and industry pressure

through the EU Food Supplements Directive was always

likely to translate globally, particularly to the US,

through Codex and the World Health Organisation.

Without having to justify any health hazard, and

without considering any benefits, safety has been used

as a reason to restrict the availability of natural

food products.

‘Yet food supplements are the safest things that

people put into their mouths – considerably safer even

than conventional foods’, said Dr Verkerk.

‘With rapidly declining vitamin and mineral content in

fruit vegetables and other foods, and continuing

increases in degenerative diseases such as heart

disease and cancer in the West, this has always been a

very big issue worth fighting for.’

‘Fundamentally, an amended Directive would help to

slow down the agenda of the Codex Alimentarius

Commission to export worldwide an onerous, EU-style

regime for food supplements.’

Hinde added. ‘The ANH is now going to be working

on getting a proper procedure in place for the Food

Supplements Directive and in addition, the next

challenges will be on legislation proposing to reduce

dosages to ineffective levels, and to restrict other

nutrient forms such as amino acids, enzymes and plant

nutrients. Traditional herbal remedies are also under

threat. In its work, the Alliance for Natural Health

will continue its thorough, professional approach

based, as always, on ‘good science, good law.’

ENDS

For enquiries and further information contact:

Alliance for Natural Health

www.alliance-natural-health.org

Dr Verkerk, Executive Director

Tel. +44 (0)1252 371 275

E-mail: robv@...

C. Hinde, Solicitor, Legal Director

Tel: +44 (0)20 7738 1640

E-mail: davidh@...

IKON Associates

(PR advisers to the Alliance for Natural Health)

Shaw

Tel: +44 (0)1483 535102

Mobile: +44 (0)797 990 0733

E-mail: adrian@...

Donkersley

Tel: +44 (0)1483 535101

Mobile: +44 (0)796 764 6046

E-mail: paul@ikonassociates

Notes for editors:

1. The Alliance for Natural Health is a

Europe-wide association of manufacturers,

distributors, retailers, consumers and complementary

practitioners who have an interest in food

supplements. More information, including details of

members, will be found at

www.alliance-natural-health.org

Good science and good law underpin all of the ANH’s

work, and the scientific reports produced by the ANH

are endorsed by many of the world’s leading doctors

and scientists working in the field of nutrition.

2. If the ban on vitamins and minerals is

implemented there is much at stake:

· Over 5000 products will disappear from the

shelves of UK health stores as a result of the ban

removing access to over 300 vitamin and mineral

ingredients (out of a total of about 420). These

include, amongst others, the main natural forms of

Vitamin E, several forms of vitamin C, the key natural

form of folic acid, MSM and a range of minerals such

as vanadium, silicon and boron, all being products

which millions of consumers choose to take as part of

their regular health regime and have done so without

any ill effects for many years.

· An individual’s freedom of choice to take

safe natural health products will be removed – 40% of

the UK’s population take vitamins and minerals.

· Products are to be banned with absolutely no

scientific justification. Many of the world’s leading

scientific and medical experts in nutrition support

the absence of any proper basis for the proposed bans.

· Although the proposed bans related only to

vitamins and minerals, unless overturned, the

‘Positive list’ system will most likely be transferred

to other nutrients used in food supplements, such as

plant extracts, amino acids and enzymes. The precedent

set by an ANH victory will drastically reduce the

chance of future bans on these other nutrient forms.

· Further legislative proposals by the EU are

due to be considered by the European Parliament later

this and next year. These include restrictions on

maximum dosages of vitamins and minerals and

restrictions on health claims of foods. Again, the ANH

is working to help positively shape such legislation

using its mantra of ‘good science and good law’.

In health,

Verkerk PhD

Executive Director, ANH

Hinde, Solicitor

Legal Director, ANH

and the rest of the Core Team of the ANH in the UK,

Sweden, Ireland and Denmark.

E-mail: info@...

Web: www.alliance-natural-health.org

To unsubscribe, please go to

www.alliance-natural-health.org/index.cfm?action=unsub

[Guest guest]

Dearest Rogene:

Thank you for this. I will send it to my daughter, who is a very tenacious

environmental advocate, her brother-in-law owns several health food stores

here in Edmonton. She does not believe in traditional medicine and does not

trust the pharmaceuticals. She has traveled quite a bit and is an excellent

speaker, she ran for the Green Party. Her letters are never ignored, I wish

that she would help me with this breast implant issue. My children are angry

that I had breast implants, they have lost their support. I had my children

before I had my implants, but they were still damaged because of what has

happened to me.

Love you....Lea

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~```

Advocate General recommends in favour of the

> ANH landmark case!

>

> A FANTASTIC DAY FOR HEALTH FREEDOM!

>

> The European Court of Justice's Advocate General

> Geelhoed has provided his opinion today. His opinion

> was read out in the European Court in Luxembourg at

> 08.30 h this morning.

>

> Please find our Press Release on the subject below.

>

> We wish to thank all of you who have contributed,

> financially and in other ways, to this landmark

> challenge that has the potential to rock the entire

> agenda on ever-tightening restrictions worldwide on

> natural health.

>

> We will be giving you further updates in due course.

>

> PRESS RELEASE

>

> For immediate release

>

> 5 April 2005

>

> ADVOCATE GENERAL FINDS FOOD SUPPLEMENTS DIRECTIVE

> INVALID UNDER EU LAW

>

> ALLIANCE FOR NATURAL HEALTH SET TO WIN ITS LANDMARK

> CHALLENGE TO THE EU FOOD SUPPLEMENTS DIRECTIVE

>

> There was tremendous news today for the millions of

> people in Europe who choose to use food supplements.

> Following a landmark challenge in the European Courts

> of Justice (ECJ) brought by the Alliance for Natural

> Health and Nutri-Link Ltd to the contentious Food

> Supplements Directive, which effectively proposed to

> ban 75% of vitamin and mineral forms, Advocate General

> Geelhoed, the senior adviser to the ECJ, gave his

> Opinion in favour of the Alliance's case.

>

> What does this mean? That the chances of consumers

> being able to continue using the natural food

> supplements they believe are beneficial to their

> health are now greatly increased. There has been

> uproar about the proposed EU ban, and maybe, against

> the odds, the consumer is going to come out on top in

> what is a remarkable modern day case of and

> Goliath.

>

> In a statement released in Luxembourg today at 0830

> GMT, the Advocate General concluded that:

>

> The Food Supplements Directive infringes the principle

> of proportionality because basic principles of

> Community law, such as the requirements of legal

> protection, of legal certainty and of sound

> administration have not properly been taken into

> account.

> It is therefore invalid under EU law.

> It should be stressed that the Advocate General's

> pronouncement is not a ruling. That will come from the

> ECJ judges, later - probably around June. But

> typically, in the vast majority of cases, the Court

> Judgment follows the recommendations of the Advocate

> General.

>

> If the Advocate General's recommendations are adopted,

> in effect, the ban on vitamin and mineral forms not

> included on the EU's 'Positive list,' due to come into

> effect on 1 August 2005, will be declared illegal. In

> essence, the positive list of allowable nutrient forms

> will be deemed to be too narrow, too restrictive, and

> based on flawed science.

>

> This would avoid the totally irrational situations

> that the Food Supplements Directive would otherwise

> create. For example, synthetically produced selenium

> would have been allowed on the positive list, while

> the natural source found in Brazil nuts would not;

> synthetic forms of Vitamin E (often used in 'adverse'

> vitamin studies reported in the media) would be

> allowed, but the natural, most beneficial food forms

> would not.

>

> An outstanding moment for the Alliance for Natural

> Health

>

> The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) is a Europe-wide

> professional organisation dedicated to ensuring that

> good science and good law are applied to regulation

> affecting the leading edge of natural health. If the

> Advocate General's recommendations are endorsed by the

> ECJ judges, it will represent the culmination of three

> years dogged determination, dedication and hard work

> on the part of ANH and its many supporters around the

> world.

>

> 'It is commendable that the EU Advocate General has

> seen through the flawed science and law of the Food

> Supplements Directive and reached his recommendations

> today,' said Dr. Verkerk, Executive Director of

> the ANH. 'All that ANH is campaigning and working

> cooperatively for is the right for consumers to have

> access to safe natural healthcare and for legislation

> to be based on good science and good law. This is a

> great day for the tens of millions of people who

> believe passionately in the benefits of natural,

> preventative healthcare.'

>

> C. Hinde, Solicitor and ANH Legal Director,

> added: '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. Advocate General Geelhoed is the most senior

> Advocate General at the ECJ and his considered

> reasoning vindicates ANH's legal analysis and

> position. We are very optimistic that the Court will

> adopt his recommendations.'

>

> Supporting safe supplements

>

> ANH supports many aspects of the Directive, and firmly

> endorses the banning of ingredients that are patently

> not safe, stating that existing UK and EU food law

> already provides perfectly effective protection from

> unsafe products getting onto the market. Furthermore,

> ANH says that it is not scientifically rational to

> classify an ingredient as being unsafe without taking

> dosage levels into account, something that was not a

> condition of being admitted onto the positive list.

>

> ANH believes that a far more appropriate system for

> banning any substances that might pose a risk to

> health would be to produce a 'Negative list' for

> ingredients where there was proper evidence of lack of

> safety. The system proposed by the EU was going to ban

> ingredients on the basis that companies did not have

> the financial capacity to meet the high data threshold

> required for the scientific dossiers demanded by EU

> authorities. In this way, ingredients that have been

> part of the human diet for thousands of years, and

> which are increasingly difficult to derive from

> conventional foods, would be lost, and would not be

> able to be supplemented.

>

> The future of the leading edge of natural health

> secured

>

> Drawing its support European-wide from consumers,

> manufacturers, retailers, practitioners and some of

> the leading experts in nutritional medicine, ANH has

> taken on the Goliath of the European Commission and

> those that support the unscientific and unlawful ban

> in the Food Supplements Directive, to protect the

> interests of everyone concerned with the leading-edge

> of food supplements and natural healthcare.

>

> 'None of the major EU countries felt the need to

> oppose our application for a declaration that the ban

> on vitamins and minerals in the Food Supplements

> Directive was unlawful,' added Haynes,

> Technical Director of Nutri-Link Ltd., a UK food

> supplements company that brought the legal challenge

> jointly with ANH. 'It's bizarre how this regulation

> got this far.'

>

> A wide welcome across the industry if the ban is

> overturned

>

> Greg Watts, Chief Executive of Ultralife, a

> manufacturer of leading-edge food supplements, said:

> 'This is very encouraging news. If the ban came into

> force we would have to reformulate down to simpler,

> more basic products that consumers and practitioners

> find are less effective.'

>

> Dr Damien Downing, a medical doctor and one of the

> UK's leading practitioners in nutritional medicine,

> said: 'Practitioners of nutritional therapy, and there

> are thousands of them in the UK, largely use

> leading-edge food supplements. If these nutrient forms

> remain, we can continue to treat our patients with

> meaningful solutions and provide the products that we

> know are so beneficial. A ban would in one fell swoop

> remove the vital tools of practitioners' trade.'

>

> Sara Novakovic, owner of Oliver's Wholefood Store in

> Richmond, Surrey, said: 'At last it is now highly

> likely 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.'

>

> The end of the beginning

>

> This is just the beginning for the Alliance for

> Natural Health. Regulatory and industry pressure

> through the EU Food Supplements Directive was always

> likely to translate globally, particularly to the US,

> through Codex and the World Health Organisation.

> Without having to justify any health hazard, and

> without considering any benefits, safety has been used

> as a reason to restrict the availability of natural

> food products.

>

> 'Yet food supplements are the safest things that

> people put into their mouths - considerably safer even

> than conventional foods', said Dr Verkerk.

> 'With rapidly declining vitamin and mineral content in

> fruit vegetables and other foods, and continuing

> increases in degenerative diseases such as heart

> disease and cancer in the West, this has always been a

> very big issue worth fighting for.'

>

> 'Fundamentally, an amended Directive would help to

> slow down the agenda of the Codex Alimentarius

> Commission to export worldwide an onerous, EU-style

> regime for food supplements.'

>

> Hinde added. 'The ANH is now going to be working

> on getting a proper procedure in place for the Food

> Supplements Directive and in addition, the next

> challenges will be on legislation proposing to reduce

> dosages to ineffective levels, and to restrict other

> nutrient forms such as amino acids, enzymes and plant

> nutrients. Traditional herbal remedies are also under

> threat. In its work, the Alliance for Natural Health

> will continue its thorough, professional approach

> based, as always, on 'good science, good law.'

>

> ENDS

>

> For enquiries and further information contact:

>

> Alliance for Natural Health

> www.alliance-natural-health.org

>

> Dr Verkerk, Executive Director

> Tel. +44 (0)1252 371 275

> E-mail: robv@...

>

> C. Hinde, Solicitor, Legal Director

> Tel: +44 (0)20 7738 1640

> E-mail: davidh@...

>

> IKON Associates

> (PR advisers to the Alliance for Natural Health)

>

> Shaw

> Tel: +44 (0)1483 535102

> Mobile: +44 (0)797 990 0733

> E-mail: adrian@...

>

> Donkersley

> Tel: +44 (0)1483 535101

> Mobile: +44 (0)796 764 6046

> E-mail: paul@ikonassociates

>

> Notes for editors:

>

> 1. The Alliance for Natural Health is a

> Europe-wide association of manufacturers,

> distributors, retailers, consumers and complementary

> practitioners who have an interest in food

> supplements. More information, including details of

> members, will be found at

> www.alliance-natural-health.org

>

> Good science and good law underpin all of the ANH's

> work, and the scientific reports produced by the ANH

> are endorsed by many of the world's leading doctors

> and scientists working in the field of nutrition.

>

> 2. If the ban on vitamins and minerals is

> implemented there is much at stake:

>

> · Over 5000 products will disappear from the

> shelves of UK health stores as a result of the ban

> removing access to over 300 vitamin and mineral

> ingredients (out of a total of about 420). These

> include, amongst others, the main natural forms of

> Vitamin E, several forms of vitamin C, the key natural

> form of folic acid, MSM and a range of minerals such

> as vanadium, silicon and boron, all being products

> which millions of consumers choose to take as part of

> their regular health regime and have done so without

> any ill effects for many years.

>

> · An individual's freedom of choice to take

> safe natural health products will be removed - 40% of

> the UK's population take vitamins and minerals.

>

> · Products are to be banned with absolutely no

> scientific justification. Many of the world's leading

> scientific and medical experts in nutrition support

> the absence of any proper basis for the proposed bans.

>

> · Although the proposed bans related only to

> vitamins and minerals, unless overturned, the

> 'Positive list' system will most likely be transferred

> to other nutrients used in food supplements, such as

> plant extracts, amino acids and enzymes. The precedent

> set by an ANH victory will drastically reduce the

> chance of future bans on these other nutrient forms.

>

> · Further legislative proposals by the EU are

> due to be considered by the European Parliament later

> this and next year. These include restrictions on

> maximum dosages of vitamins and minerals and

> restrictions on health claims of foods. Again, the ANH

> is working to help positively shape such legislation

> using its mantra of 'good science and good law'.

>

> In health,

>

> Verkerk PhD

> Executive Director, ANH

>

> Hinde, Solicitor

> Legal Director, ANH

>

> and the rest of the Core Team of the ANH in the UK,

> Sweden, Ireland and Denmark.

>

> E-mail: info@...

> Web: www.alliance-natural-health.org

>

> To unsubscribe, please go to

> www.alliance-natural-health.org/index.cfm?action=unsub

>

>

>

>

>

> Opinions expressed are NOT meant to take the place of advice given by

> licensed health care professionals. Consult your physician or licensed

> health care professional before commencing any medical treatment.

>

> " Do not let either the medical authorities or the politicians mislead you.

> Find out what the facts are, and make your own decisions about how to live

> a happy life and how to work for a better world. " - Linus ing,

> two-time Nobel Prize Winner (1954, Chemistry; 1963, Peace)

>

>