Other News
Health news and comment from around the world.
March 13, 2010
Judges uphold ban on Bayer pesticide
A federal appeals court refused to delay a ban on the sale of a pesticide that some environmental groups claim is killing honeybees. The decision prevents Bayer CropScience, from selling its pesticide, Spirotetramat, while the company appeals a lower court ruling that halted sales. "Bayer has demonstrated neither that it will suffer irreparable injury absent a stay, nor that it has a substantial possibility of success on the merits of its appeal," U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood and U.S. Circuit Judge Joseph McLaughlin said in the ruling this week.
Read article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (USA)
Comment: This is by no means the first time that a pesticide produced by Bayer CropScience has been implicated in the deaths of bees. In May 2008, Germany suspended sales of the company’s pesticide clothianidin after 700 beekeepers along the Rhine reported that two-thirds of their bees had died following its use. Tests on dead bees showed that 99% of those examined had a build-up of the chemical. In France, another Bayer CropScience pesticide, imidacloprid, has been banned on sunflowers since 1999 and as a sweetcorn treatment since 2003, after a third of honeybees were wiped out.
March 10, 2010
DSHEA Repeal Legislation Delayed, Not Dead
For the time being, on the Senate side of Congress, the bill has apparently been delayed. However, unless and until McCain formally pulls his bill, the DSSA bill is still alive in the Senate for the rest of this year. The Hatch-McCain understanding does not, under Senate procedures, preclude any other Senator like Dorgan, or the anti-supplement, DSHEA-hating Dick Durbin (the Assistant Senate Majority Leader), from filing a Motion to Discharge S.3002 from the Senate HELP committee, where it currently is. If this happens the bill can be sent directly to the full Senate for a passage vote.
Read press release on the website of the National Health Federation (NHF) (USA)
March 10, 2010
Nurse Practitioners to Patients: Can We Talk?
New Survey Shows NPs Want to Educate Patients About Dietary Supplement Usage
WASHINGTON -- Eighty-five percent of nurse practitioners agree that one of the roles of healthcare professionals is to provide their patients with information about dietary supplements, according to new research from the "Life...supplemented" 2009 Healthcare Professionals (HCP) Impact Study. "Supplements can be overlooked, but they shouldn't be," says Barbara Dehn, RN, MS, NP with Women's Physicians in Mountain View, Calif. and advisor to the "Life...supplemented" program. "Nurse practitioners are very interested in integrative healthcare options, looking at the overall wellness picture, and figuring out how we focus on health maintenance and preventive approaches. I recommend my patients start with the basics: eat right, incorporate vitamins and other supplements, and exercise regularly." Nurse Dehn is not alone. According to the study, nurse practitioners are personally incorporating the three pillars of health into their own lives: 84 percent said they try to eat a balanced diet, 95 percent take dietary supplements, and 64 percent exercise regularly. Ninety-six percent of nurse practitioners recommend supplements, and their reasons are varied—most often for bone health (63 percent recommend for this reason), overall health and wellness (47 percent) and to fill nutrition gaps (44 percent).
Read press release at prnewswire.com
March 9, 2010
Low vitamin D may mean fatter, weaker muscles: Study
Insufficient blood levels of vitamin D may be associated with the accumulation of fat in muscle tissue, leading to lower muscle strength, says a new study. A study with 90 young women aged between 16 and 22 found that almost 60 per cent were vitamin D insufficient, and that muscle fat levels were higher in these women, compared with women with normal vitamin D levels, according to findings published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Read article at nutraingredients-usa.com
March 9, 2010
80,000 Children May Die of Vitamin A Deficiency
No fewer than 80,000 Nigerian children are prone to die annually from Vitamin A deficiency related ailments if concerted efforts are not made to control and prevent the deficiency amongst growing children in the country. Country Director of Helen Keller International, HKI, Dr. Omo Ohiokpehai, who said this in Makurdi during an advocacy visit on the Benue State Ministry of Health and Human Services noted that the World Health Organisation, WHO, had identified Nigeria as one of the Category One countries with the highest risk of Vitamin A deficiency in the world.
Read article at allafrica.com
Comment: Only around $300 million would be needed to eliminate vitamin A deficiency in the developing world. Vitamin A is essential for immune system function and can be provided by micronutrient supplementation or the enrichment of food. The cost of this project would represent a small fraction of the world pharma market – which in 2008 was worth $773 billion. Much of this money was made by selling ineffective drugs to poor nations whose people are suffering mostly from malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies. As such, the fact that the pharma industry does not act to eliminate vitamin A deficiency in the developing world tells us all we need to know about its motives.
March 5, 2010
Low levels of vitamin D linked to muscle fat, decreased strength in young people
There's an epidemic in progress, and it has nothing to do with the flu. A ground-breaking study published in the March 2010 Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found an astonishing 59 per cent of study subjects had too little Vitamin D in their blood. Nearly a quarter of the group had serious deficiencies (less than 20 ng/ml) of this important vitamin. Since Vitamin D insufficiency is linked to increased body fat, decreased muscle strength and a range of disorders, this is a serious health issue.
Read article at physorg.com
March 4, 2010
Traditional herbal medicines in the EU: an update
When the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive was passed in 2004, many herbal producers, including those producing herbs for the great and ancient traditions of Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine, saw the Directive as a ‘godsend’. Here was a piece of law that would give these herbal products a proper medicinal classification, meaning they could actually be used to help make sick people healthier. The food supplements regime, under which most of these products have been sold in Europe, of course doesn’t allow any claim to be made about the treatment or protection against disease. In fact, food supplements are intended only for healthy persons (so they say)! We are now 6 years into the implementation of the Directive, and only there’s only a year before it’s all-important transition phase runs out.
Read update on the website of the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH)
February 26, 2010
EU scientific committee further compromised by conflict of interest on fluoride
Its competence already queried at inception in June 2009 by International Society of Doctors for Environment (ISDE), the EU’s Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER) which is investigating fluoridation chemicals, has now been accused of a conflict of interest. SCHER’s credibility is thus further compromised by one of its members having actively co-promoted fluoridation in Switzerland. Prof Ackermann-Liebrich was involved with others in needlessly prolonging fluoridation in Basel-city for several years until in 2003, the Swiss Canton stopped fluoridation because even after 40 years, no study could prove the caries-preventive effect of fluoridation.
Read press release on the Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment (VOICE) website (Ireland)
February 26, 2010
Vitamin D deficiency likely among some kidney disease patients starting dialysis
Vitamin D deficiency is almost universal among kidney disease patients who have low blood protein levels and who start dialysis during the winter, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).
Read article at physorg.com
February 24, 2010
Senator McCain – Please Read Your Own Bill
On Monday, Senator McCain released a Senate Floor Statement defending his Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010. He lashed out at “opponents of the bill and their well-paid Washington lobbyists” who have “spread false statements and rumors about the legislation”. OK. So what are these alleged “false statements and rumors”? McCain again: “Opponents have stated that the legislation would seek to limit consumers’ ability to purchase dietary supplements, vitamins, or prescription drugs. That is completely false…. If you take a vitamin now, this bill will in no way restrict your ability to take that vitamin.” McCain clearly hasn’t read his own bill.
Read article on the Alliance for Natural Health - USA website
Comment: Under current United States law, the FDA cannot arbitrarily ban a supplement that was sold prior to October 15, 1994, the date that the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) was passed. McCain’s bill would wipe out that protection. The only supplements that would be legal to sell in the US if this bill passes are those “included on [a] list…prepared, published, and maintained by the [FDA]“. In this respect, McCain’s bill bears a close resemblance to the European Union’s restrictive Food Supplements Directive (FSD), which contains specific lists of the only types of vitamins and minerals that are permitted to be contained in supplements sold within the EU. In other words, unless a vitamin or mineral is included on the FSD’s lists, it cannot be sold within EU borders. If you live in the US, click here to contact your Senators and Representatives and demand that they help protect your right to unrestricted access to dietary supplements.
February 24, 2010
The Food, Inc. Horror Movie
A film that exposes how the corporate food industry sickens and enslaves the nation, but leaves many stones unturned.
It looks like a scene from Charlie Chaplin’s 1936 movie Modern Times, only worse. The assembly lines process factory-farmed chicken carcasses, hog carcasses, and gigantic extrusions of ground up cattle to feed the supermarket shelves and the fast-growing fast food industry. The workers are illegal immigrants bussed in from Mexico or elsewhere, paid inhuman wages, and then turned in to the police when surplus to requirement. Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Kenner’s documentary Food, Inc., nominated for the 82nd Academy Awards, is intent on exposing the graphic horrors of the food we eat, starting in the USA.
Read review by Dr. Mae-Wan Ho on the website of the Institute of Science in Society (ISIS) (UK)
February 19, 2010
Official Recommended Intake for Vitamin D is Too Low
2,000 IU/Day or More Needed for Optimal Health
Vitamin D has been a natural part of man's experience forever, and 90% of vitamin D is derived from solar ultraviolet-B (UVB) irradiance. The health effects of vitamin D can be and have been determined from a variety of studies including ecological, observational (case-control and cohort), and cross-sectional studies. Vitamin D helps both to prevent and to treat chronic diseases including many types of cancer, cardiovascular disease (coronary heart disease, stroke, etc.), congestive heart failure, diabetes mellitus (types 1 and 2), osteoporosis, falls, and fractures. It is also effective against infectious diseases including both bacteria and viral infections: bacterial vaginosis, pneumonia, dental caries, periodontal disease, tuberculosis, sepsis/septicemia, Epstein-Barr virus, and influenza type A such as A/H1N1 influenza. The autoimmune diseases include asthma, type 1 diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, and perhaps rheumatoid arthritis.
Read news release at orthomolecular.org
February 16, 2010
Dark-skinned immigrants urged to take vitamin D
Immigrants who come to Canada from sunnier parts of the world are at risk of health problems caused by a lack of vitamin D unless they take supplements, doctors and nutritionists warn.
Read article on the CBC News website (Canada)
February 9, 2010
Bruce Ames: Vitamin insufficiency boosting age-related diseases
It is literally all about living for today. By understanding that nature favours survival today over tomorrow, a theory that vitamin inadequacy is behind the rise in chronic diseases “makes sense… and it is almost certainly going to be right,” says world-renowned scientist Bruce Ames.
Read interview with Bruce Ames at nutraingredients.com
February 9, 2010
Schoolboy proud of vitamin D campaign
A schoolboy who petitioned the Scottish Parliament about possible links between vitamin D and multiple sclerosis has said he is proud of what he had achieved. Ryan McLaughlin, 14, took his case to Holyrood’s Public Petition Committee last summer. The petition called on ministers to produce new guidelines on vitamin D supplements for children and pregnant women, along with an awareness campaign about the issue. The Scottish Government has now agreed to support and host a summit in April on the role of vitamin D and to produce the guidance on supplements.
Read article in The Herald (Scotland/UK)
February 9, 2010
Research warns of risks of low potassium in heart failure patients with chronic kidney disease
New research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) says low potassium levels produce an increased risk of death or hospitalization in patients with heart failure and chronic kidney disease (CKD). In findings reported in January in Circulation: Heart Failure, a journal of the American Heart Association, the researchers say that even a mild decrease in serum potassium level increased the risk of death in this patient group.
Read article at physorg.com
February 4, 2010
RDA for Vitamin C is 10% of USDA Standard for Guinea Pigs
Are You Healthier than a Lab Animal?
The US RDA for vitamin C for humans is only 10% of the government's vitamin C standards for Guinea pigs. Wait a minute; that cannot possibly be true. Can it? The US Department of Agriculture states that "the Guinea pig's vitamin C requirement is 10-15 mg per day under normal conditions and 15-25 mg per day if pregnant, lactating, or growing." Well, that sounds reasonable. But how much is that compared to humans? An adult guinea pig weighs about one kilogram (2.2 pounds). Guinea pigs therefore need between 10 and 25 milligrams of C per kilogram. In the US, an average human weighs (at least) 82 kg (180 lbs). That means the USDA's standards, if fairly applied to us, would set our vitamin C requirement somewhere between 820 mg and 2,000 mg vitamin C per day.
Read news release at orthomolecular.org
February 4, 2010
Don't Let McCain & Dorgan Gut DSHEA
They are at it again! This time, it is Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) who are trying to gut the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 by introducing a new bill (as yet unnumbered) with the misleading title of the “Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010.” This bill has as much to do with safety as pigs with space travel.
Read article on the website of the National Health Federation (NHF) (USA)
Comment: If you live in the United States, click here to contact your Senators and Representatives and demand that they help protect your right to unrestricted access to dietary supplements. To read McCain and Dorgan’s bill, click here.
February 2, 2010
Vitamin B6 may affect heart disease risk: Study
Low levels of vitamin B6 may increase the risk of inflammation and metabolic conditions, and subsequently cardiovascular disease risk, says a new study. A cross-sectional study with 1,205 people found that higher levels of pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (PLP), the active form of vitamin B6, were linked to lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation, as well as lower levels of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a marker for oxidative stress, both of which are related to heart disease risk.
Read article at nutraingredients-usa.com
February 2, 2010
Safety of Radiation Questioned
An expert on uranium and plutonium, Dr. John William Gofman — professor emeritus of molecular and cell biology, at the University of California, Berkeley —is also on the faculty at the University of California Medical School in San Francisco. In the early 1960s, the Atomic Energy Commission asked Gofman to establish a biomedical research division at the AEC’s Livermore National Laboratory, for the purpose of evaluating the health consequences of all types of nuclear activities. In 1990 Gofman declared that “by any reasonable standard of biomedical proof,” there is no threshold level (i.e., no harmless dose) of ionizing radiation with respect to radiation mutagenesis and carcinogenesis, a conclusion supported in 1995 by a government-funded committee studying radiation. Also in 1995, Gofman provided evidence that medical radiation is a necessary co-actor in about 75 percent of recent cases of breast cancer in the United States.
Read article on the website of the Alliance for Natural Health USA
February 2, 2010
How Hard is it to Spell ‘D’?
Each week brings new studies confirming the benefits of vitamin D, and yet there is widespread vitamin-D deficiency in industrialized nations. So why are public-health officials not jumping on the crisis and its remedy?
Read article on the website of the Alliance for Natural Health USA
January 28, 2010
Want to be a MEDLINE Information Censor? The National Library of Medicine Needs You!
Would you like to dictate what nutritional research people may or may not access? Why not join the NLM's Literature Selection Technical Review Committee? We think a good preparatory step is to take the Medline Censorship Aptitude Test (MED-CENT). Not to worry; it's multiple choice.
Read news release at orthomolecular.org
Comment: Joking aside, the serious point here is that Medline – a free service funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars and run by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health – actively censors nutritional research. If you live in the United States, we encourage you to complain to Medline about this flagrant misuse of your taxes. To do so, you can contact Ms Betsy Humphreys, the Deputy Director of the National Library of Medicine, by emailing her at betsy.humphreys@nih.gov or betsy_humphreys@nlm.nih.gov. You can also phone her on 301-496-6661.
January 28, 2010
UK consumers embrace alternative medicines
Sales of complementary therapies such as traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicines are booming in the UK as increasing numbers of people turn away from prescription drugs, according to Mintel. The market researcher noted the market had grown 18 per cent since 2007 to be worth £213m (€247m) in 2009. By 2013 it would be worth £282m (€328m) – a 33 per cent increase. Mintel attributed the market growth to the increasing acceptance of alternative medicines with many of them being recommended through official channels such as the National Health Service. With increasing numbers suffering from mental ailments such as stress and depression, herbal treatments such as St John's Wort were being used more frequently and by greater numbers of people.
Read article at nutraingredients.com
January 26, 2010
Vitamins and Teenagers: A Personal Statement by Stephen H. Brown, PhD
In our house, vitamin supplements sit on the counter in open bowls like nuts, dried fruits, or jelly beans. Colds, respiratory illnesses, intestinal viruses, mono, and other infectious diseases are constantly present in American schools. In response, my teenage kids have placed four bowls on the kitchen counter - a large one in the middle full of vitamin C surrounded by three smaller bowls of niacin, vitamin D, and thiamine tablets. They help themselves to the vitamins when they feel the need, and many of their friends have adopted the idea as well. Regularly, the kids report that the vitamins actually work. The most frequent comments are, "Wow, I can breath through my nose again!", and "I was sure I was getting sick yesterday but I feel fine today."
Read news release at orthomolecular.org
January 22, 2010
FDA has a month to respond to health claim contempt of court allegations
The parties suing the FDA over its qualified health claims system have filed opposition to the FDA’s own opposition to their suit that accuses the regulator of health claim censorship and distortion of scientific data. The Food and Drug Administration has one month to respond to the statement filed by the Alliance for Natural Health USA (ANH-USA) and others that accuses the FDA of ignoring four court orders dating back to 1999 and thereby breaching constitutional First Amendment freedom of speech tenets. The parties, represented by Virgina-based attorney, Jonathan Emord, assert that the four cases including Pearson v Shalala direct the FDA to allow commercial messaging about nutrient-health benefit relations even when the science is supportive but not conclusive. They accuse the FDA of stubbornly refusing to respect the will of the courts.
Read article at nutraingredients-usa.com
January 22, 2010
50% of UK Vitamin D deficient
Spending too long indoors, applying excessive sun screen and the changing ethnic population is causing precariously low levels of Vitamin D in parts of the UK, warn Professor Simon Pearce and Dr Tim Cheetham at Newcastle University. "More than 50% of the adult population have insufficient levels of vitamin D and 16% have severe deficiency during winter and spring," they say.
Read article at publicservice.co.uk
January 22, 2010
EFSA GMO regulatory chief takes EU ‘secrets’ to biotech industry
Once again, we find that the ‘independence’ of a European regulatory body is being called into question, this time the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). It transpires that the former head of the GMO panel at EFSA, Suzy Renckens, has been allowed by the food safety authority to move directly to a job in the genetic engineering industry. Such a move is not permitted according to EFSA’s own procedures, which are designed to prevent ‘conflict of interest’. The Testbiotech Institute, Germany, who promote independent research and public debate on the impacts of biotechnology, made the information about the move public, and have reported that, only at that point, did the EFSA executive management acknowledge and communicate about the controversial move.
Read article on the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) website
January 21, 2010
Low Vitamin D Levels Associated With Greater Risk of Relapse in Childhood-Onset Multiple Sclerosis
Low vitamin D blood levels are associated with a significantly higher risk of relapse attacks in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) who develop the disease during childhood, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco.
Read news release at sciencedaily.com
January 19, 2010
No Deaths from Vitamins, Minerals, Amino Acids or Herbs
Poison Control Statistics Prove Supplements' Safety
There was not even one death caused by a dietary supplement in 2008, according to the most recent information collected by the U.S. National Poison Data System. The new 174-page annual report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers, published in the journal Clinical Toxicology, shows zero deaths from multiple vitamins; zero deaths from any of the B vitamins; zero deaths from vitamins A, C, D, or E; and zero deaths from any other vitamin. Additionally, there were no deaths whatsoever from any amino acid or herbal product.
Read news release at orthomolecular.org
January 15, 2010
NLM Censors Nutritional Research
Medline is Biased, and Taxpayers Pay for It
Did you know that there are "good" medical journals, and that there are "naughty" medical journals? No kidding. The good journals are easy to access on the internet through a huge electronic database called Medline. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed) This wonderful, free service is brought to you by the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. In other words, by you. By your tax dollars. Generally it is money well spent, until you go searching for megavitamin therapy research papers. Then you will find that you can't find all of them. That is because of selective indexing. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) proudly describes itself as "the largest medical library in the world. The goal of the NLM is to collect, organize and make available biomedical literature to advance medical science and improve public health." Hmm. Collect. Organize. Make available. Improve public health. So, after over 40 continuous years of publication, why is the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine NOT indexed by Medline?
Read news release at orthomolecular.org
January 15, 2010
Grapefruit juice may boost CoQ10 uptake: Study
A glass of grapefruit juice may improve intestinal absorption of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) by almost 50 per cent, says a new study from Japan.
Read article at nutraingredients.com
January 14, 2010
Vitamin D levels not enough for winter: Study
Current recommended intake for vitamin D during winter months and need to be at increased by five, says a new study from California. Recommended intakes for people with darker skins should be increased to a whopping 2100 to 3100 International Units per day all year-round, up from the current adequate intakes set at 5 micrograms per day (200 International Units). Researchers from University of California, Davis report their findings in the Journal of Nutrition. The study, led by Laura Hill, represents the latest in a long line of studies calling for increases in the recommended levels for vitamin D.
Read article at nutraingredients-usa.com
Comment: According to the study, people of European ancestry with a high sun exposure need 1300 IU per day of the vitamin during the winter, whilst people of African ancestry with low sun exposure would require much higher intakes, from 2100 to 3100 IU per day throughout the year. In adults, evidence suggests that vitamin D deficiency may precipitate or exacerbate osteopenia, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, fractures, common cancers, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases. There is also evidence that the vitamin may reduce the incidence of several types of cancer and type-1 diabetes.
January 13, 2010
Proposed dose limits on vitamin supplements in Europe found to be scientifically flawed
New study reveals extensive scientific weaknesses in methods being proposed to limit supplement dosages across Europe
A critical study published in the scientific journal Toxicology casts serious doubts over the methods being considered by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Commission to limit dosages of vitamin and mineral food supplements across the European Union (EU). Lead author of the Toxicology article, Robert Verkerk PhD, scientific and executive director of Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) International, considers the proposed methods for determining ‘maximum permitted levels’ as “fatally flawed”. Dr Verkerk and colleagues have made extensive representations concerning nutrient risk analysis to European and international authorities in the past, however, the Toxicology paper represents the most thorough scientific critique undertaken to-date. Dr Verkerk claims that outputs from the models most favoured by European authorities have never been subject to proper scientific validation. The paper reveals that proposed maximum amounts for some vitamins and minerals are so low they may even be exceeded in a single junk meal.
Read press release on the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) website
January 9, 2010
Chemical in plastic bottles 'poisoning us'
A leading toxicology scientist believes tighter regulations are needed to prevent chemicals leaking into the human body from common plastic drink bottles and packaging. University of Canterbury professor of toxicology Professor Ian Shaw says it is crucially important to decrease the amount of the chemical BPA from New Zealanders' diets. BPA, which leaches from food and drink containers into the body, has consistently been found in overseas tests in blood, urine and even the amniotic fluid protecting a foetus. Such chemicals are linked to health problems that can include reduced sperm count in men, early puberty in girls and increased incidence of breast and testicular cancers - and countries such as the US, the UK and Canada have become alert to potential risks.
Read article in the New Zealand Herald
January 9, 2010
Vitamin D deficiency increasingly common
Today, research suggests that vitamin D does much more than help build strong bones, and the findings come at a time when a high number of people are no longer getting enough of the nutrient, doctors say. "We've become a culture that shuns the sunshine and doesn't drink milk," said Dr. Donald Abrams, chief of hematology-oncology at San Francisco General Hospital. As a result, doctors are seeing a small resurgence of rickets and are concerned about osteoporosis in adults over age 50, especially as Baby Boomers get older. Known for causing bowed legs, fractured bones and poor growth primarily in children, rickets all but disappeared in the United States decades ago as diets improved and vitamin D was added to certain dairy products like milk. To remedy the low vitamin D levels they are seeing, doctors are beginning to recommend supplements to their patients, and more of the vitamin than recommended by national guidelines. That is largely because research over the past decade has increasingly suggested that vitamin D plays a far bigger role in overall health than previously believed.
Read article in the San Francisco Chronicle (USA)
January 8, 2010
US health claims regime under Euro-threat
A powerful, pro-food safety lobby group, known as the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is pushing hard to eliminate the structure/function and qualified health claims regimes that many Americans see as being central to informed consumer choice in the natural health sector.
Read article on the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) website
Comment: The legislation that enabled dietary supplements to include the use of structure/function and qualified health claims in the United States – the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994 – is now under attack from the pharmaceutical investment business. If you live in the United States, click here to visit the Save Vitamin Freedom! website and send a petition to your Member of Congress.
January 8, 2010
Don’t destroy hard-won health claim freedom, says ANH
The Alliance for Natural Health says a recent missive sent to the FDA by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) calling for the abolishment of structure-function and qualified health claims, would favor large companies and decimate the natural products industry. In a statement published today ANH executive and scientific director, Dr Robert Verkerk, responded to the 158-page CSPI document which highlighted examples of claims abuse, by highlighting the devastating effect revoking the claims would have on smaller players in the industry. “It is the hundreds of much smaller companies that will feel the pinch if CSPI gets its way,” Verkerk wrote. “The US health food industry has for many years enjoyed one of the least restrictive claims environments in the world. This regulatory environment hasn’t come by accident. It’s been hard won,” he said, noting the passage of the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. Without it, small and medium-sized companies would have been decimated by drug laws, “leaving only a sprinkling of very large corporations as players in the market.”
Read article at nutraingredients-usa.com
January 4, 2010
Use of potentially harmful chemicals kept secret under law
Of the 84,000 chemicals in commercial use in the United States -- from flame retardants in furniture to household cleaners -- nearly 20 percent are secret, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, their names and physical properties guarded from consumers and virtually all public officials under a little-known federal provision. The policy was designed 33 years ago to protect trade secrets in a highly competitive industry. But critics -- including the Obama administration -- say the secrecy has grown out of control, making it impossible for regulators to control potential dangers or for consumers to know which toxic substances they might be exposed to. At a time of increasing public demand for more information about chemical exposure, pressure is building on lawmakers to make it more difficult for manufacturers to cloak their products in secrecy. Congress is set to rewrite chemical regulations this year for the first time in a generation.
Read article in the Washington Post (USA)
January 4, 2010
December 31, 2009 – Where were you when the Earth ended?
Many of you kept hearing the message for these many months now, “Codex is coming into effect as of December 31, 2009.” Depending on the source, the message either stated directly or implied that your dietary supplements were in danger after that date. And how many of you fell for that false siren cry? Be honest. Raise your hand if you did, and many will, because that false cry of alarm was circulated on the internet for so long by persons who should have known better, who still hold themselves out as “experts” on Codex, and who constantly tap you for donations so that their “expertise” and “important messages” can be spread far and wide. What expertise? What important messages? It’s nonsense; and too many people fell for and bought that nonsense hook, line, and sinker.
Read press release on the website of the National Health Federation (NHF) (USA)
Comment: To learn the identities of the disinformation agents who started the “Codex will go into global effect on December 31, 2009” hoax, click here.
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