EU Medicine Directive - from Connect Magazine

EU Medicine Directive

AROUND 40 per cent of people in the UK currently take some form of supplement - but that could soon change if EU directives are introduced in the UK, as MO MONROE explains.

THE EU is proposing wide changes to controls on diet supplements, with three new directives designed to bring the UK in line with the rest of Europe.

This is not a safety issue. It is merely to level the playing field down to existing EU standards, which are very low when it comes to nutritional food supplements.

More than 300 supplements are due to go from our shelves in the next three years, and many of them are things we have grown to depend on, such as most forms of Boron, Calcium, Chromium, Dolomite, Magnesium, Manganese, Iron, Selenium, Zinc, Glucosamine, and MSM, to name a few.

Also, any herbal product that hasn't been in use for 30 years (and in the EU for 15 of those years), will disappear for ever. This will exclude many common products now on sale, and also any combinations of different herbs and vitamins/foods, such as Echinacea and Vitamin C. Any new herb will not be allowed into the EU unless it is licensed, and only the huge pharmaceutical companies can afford to buy these licences.

Multi-vitamins and minerals will go in their present form, as will colloidal minerals. This will mean that many people who have improved their health on supplements will have to return to their doctors, and further burden the NHS. Vitamins will only be available in very low doses - probably between one or two times the RDA. So, in order to get one gram of Vitamin C you will have to take up to 10 tablets. This will mean big money for the big pharmaceutical and vitamin companies who already do these dosages in Europe, but it will mean we, the British consumer, will be paying a lot of money for very little - if we can still find our product on a shelf anywhere.

The British Government tried to stop the first half of this legislation going through Brussels in March this year, but failed because it was one small voice (with Sweden and The Netherlands) against many big ones in the EU. However, instead of throwing this news open to the general public it has hushed it up since then. It is possible that this news is being kept quiet and out of the media because it affects nearly half the population of Great Britain.

All the more reason to tell us surely?

The reality is that if so many people began to see how easily the EU can just wipe out our right to freedoms we've enjoyed for centuries, they will also see that our own Government is completely powerless to protect us against this kind of invasion of our rights. Then they might wonder about other hidden Directives to follow - which in turn might lead more people to think, 'if that is the sort of powerlessness we already have before we join the Euro, should we join at all?'

And it is that kind of thinking that might bring the walls of Jericho tumbling down.

We have a window of about a year to stop this legislation being finalised. We can't change what has already been decided, but we can do some damage limitation along the lines of 'Sleeping Beauty will not die, but will sleep for 100 years instead'.

If we don't manage that, these three directives, on Vitamins, Herbs and Medicines, will lead to something called Codex Alimentarius. If that sounds like something out of an old movie with a world-wide domination plan, well, you're not wrong. Codex will mean that all supplements will get classified as medicines, so they will then come under the drug Administration laws, and it will then become actually illegal to give health advice on supplements.

What can we do?

The most important thing is to have a united voice. As Visat Kelly said: "Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they do when they stick together."

There will be many demonstrations and protests happening in the coming year, but the best thing we can do now is write to, or ring, our local MP and MEP to object to this change in our freedom to choose the manner of our healthcare. And write to the Prime Minister as well, and the Ministry of Health. A hand-written or typed letter is most effective because they have to receive a written reply. Emails can be deleted on arrival and therefore ignored.

Below is a list of various different points you can make, or just stick with your own personal story of improved health through whatever supplements you currently take. We can stop this happening if we combine forces.

Some points to make:

Your own health story if you use any supplements yourself;
Freedom to choose type of healthcare is a basic right;
We already have safety regulations on food supplements in the UK;
Many people who have found health through supplementing their diets will now get sick again;
The NHS will be more overburdened if the 40% of the public currently paying for their own healthcare have to then turn to the NHS for prescription drugs or vitamins;
Many jobs in the health industry will go - the smaller manufacturers, the mail order companies and the health food shops which depend on supplement sales for staying in business.
If Codex comes into force, jobs will be lost in the entire healthcare industry, including: all therapists who advise taking nutritional supplements; the aromatherapy oil industry, users and manufacturers; Flower essence users, therapists and manufacturers.

Things to ask MPs to do:

Oppose the Traditional Herbal Medicine Products Directive which threatens many longstanding herbal remedies;
Oppose the proposed amendments to the Medicines Directive, which threaten to reclassify food supplements as medicines requiring expensive licences;
Oppose the introduction into the UK law of the Food Supplement Directive which would lead to a ban on many hundreds of safe nutrients and unacceptable limits on the potency of many more;
Fight to make natural healthcare a fundamental right, and a basic human right within the UN charter;
Commit to giving all nations everywhere information on life-saving benefits of vitamins, minerals and herbs

Mention the action you will take:

Consistent protest until we get heard
Voting against any MP who votes for the Directives
Boycotting new lower dose products brought out to replace the old products

Action needed now:

Write to your MP at: The House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.
Write to your MEP at: The European Parliament, Rue Wiertz 0147, Brussels, Belgium.
To find your MP visit: http//www.locata.co.uk/commons;
To find your MEP visit: http//www.europarl.eu.int;
To find out more info, email enquires@healthchoice.org.uk.