Nexus - 0402 - New Times Magazine-pages

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... GL@BAL NEWS ... NEWS THE WHO, THE FDA, THE CODEX & THE CARTEL The Threat to Freedom of Choice in Healthcare n 4 December 1996, the World Health Organization's Collaborating Center for Or: Monitoring announced the development of PharmaPrinting technology, and announced a worldwide effort to standardise information about herbal medi- cines, working with the University of Exeter and the Royal Botanic Gardens in the UK. Several other individual international experts are involved; and other countries, notably South Africa and Kenya, are starting programs that link with WHO's. In September 1996, PharmaPrint obtained the first patent for a multi-molecule herbal medicine that has immune-stimulating properties in laboratory tests. It is derived from mistletoe. In October 1996, I attended the 20th meeting of the Codex Alimentarius Commission's Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses. This hor- rendous German proposal, that threatens to become the International Reference Standard under both NAFTA and GATT, advanced from step 3 to step 5 like a knife through but- ter, moving it dangerously close to finalisation at step 8, when the committee meets again in Bonn during 21-25 September 1998. This German proposal threatens to destroy the dietary supplement industry, enabling the pharmaceutical industry to take over all natural products as expensive, patented drug analogs. At the October 1996 meeting, the Canadian delegate, Dr Mary Cheney, initially backed off from a proposal that a negative list be created to ban the sale of many herbs from international trade. This proposal was first made at the Third Session of the Codex Collaborating Committee for North America and the South-West Pacific at a meeting in Vancouver in 1994, where Canada submitted a report, "Sale of Potentially Harmful Herbs and Botanical Preparations as Foods". Cheney initially made a big show of backing off from the ‘negative list’ proposal, cit- ing the "outrage expressed by consumers" as the reason, but then, a few days later toward the end of the meeting, she very sneakily attempted to reverse this position by making a motion that a "Special Panel" be formed amongst FAO/WHO personnel to address the issue of whether or not to form a negative list for herbs. Suzanne Harris, JD, of the Law Loft, with whom I work closely, predicted months ago that this would happen. Harris predicted that a shell game would ensue in which the drug cartel would attempt to shift the regulation of herbs and dietary supplements away from the Codex Commission—where they are at least being regulated as "Foods"—and move them under WHO jurisdiction where they would be regulated as "Drugs". What Dr Cheney did at the meeting was to begin this shell game. Her proposal was quickly seconded by Dr Beth Yetley of the US Food & Drug Administration, despite the fact that she totally failed to consult with anyone else in the US delegation. Her hand just shot right up there to second Cheney, and, following her, the German and French delegates quickly raised their hands as well. What we are witnessing here is nothing less than a con job on a global scale. Americans, and people in other countries, are urged to let Dr Cheney know what they think of her action, and should send copies of these letters to local Senators, Congressmen and Members of Parliament so that this can be nipped in the bud. Lurge you to call and discuss this gross attack against consumers of supplements with: 1. Dr Mary Cheney, Chief, Nutrition Evaluation Division, Food Directorate, Health Protection Branch, Tunney's Pasture, Postal Locator 2203A, Ottawa, Ontario KIA OL2, Canada; phone +1 (613) 957 0352, fax (613) 941 6636. 2. Dr Elizabeth Yetley, Director, Office of Special Nutritionals, HFS-45, US Food and Drug Administration, 200C St S.W., Washington, D.C. 20204, USA; phone +1 (202) 205 4168, fax (202) 205 5295. Be sure to send copies of your faxes and letters to your Senators, Congressmen and Members of Parliament. John Hammell, Political Coordinator Life Extension Foundation, USA (For more information, and to get a copy of the Codex Report from Bonn, visit the Life Extension Foundation's website at: http:/vww.lef.org) when a fishing trawler snagged its nets on the Resurgam, the world's first powered submarine, that the accuracy of Geller's advice emerged. It was in 1988 at a charity function in Leeds that Geller had been shown a sea chart covering 800 square miles and had indicated the exact spot where the Resurgam was eventually found. (Source: The Sunday Telegraph, UK, 10 November 1996) LANDMARK ORDINANCE ON PESTICIDES lhe San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed one of the toughest pesticide ordinances in the US on 15 October 1996, providing increased protection for public health and the environment from exposure to dangerous pesticides. The new legislation immediately bans the worst pesticides, and will ban all pesti- cide use by 2000. It provides for an Integrated Pest Management program spe- cialist to work with City employees in the transition away from toxic pesticides. The ordinance also requires a four-day notification to be given of pesticide use prior to spraying, and improved reporting of any pesticide use. (Source: Journal of Pesticide Reform, vol. 16, no. 3, December 1996) NEW THEORIES ON DEMISE OF TWA FLIGHT 800 document about the fate of TWA Flight 800, posted on the Internet by a high-level official "inside the government", hit the headlines last November. The document alleges that "TWA Flight 800 was shot down [accidentally] by a US Navy Aegis missile fired from a guided missile ship which was in area W-105, about 30 miles from where TWA Flight 800 exploded." Several reliable eyewitnesses to the explosion of 17 July last year, reported see- ing an orange streak of light descending toward the aircraft—which has led to spec- ulation about a missile being responsible. However, a new theory contends that the "streak of light" was an "electromagnetic- temporal ribbon", created in conjunction with several top-secret government scien- tific experiments involving warping the atmosphere with high-frequency waves. (Sources: The Australian, 11 November 1996; Internet newsgroups: usenet.alt.con- spiracy, 20 December 1996) NEXUS -9 FEBRUARY - MARCH 1997