Archive for July, 2005

Pharmaceutical Industry vs. American People?

Thursday, July 28th, 2005

Matthias Rath, MD, is a highly successful physician from Germany. He has produced breakthrough medical research (such as actual cures for heart disease), published respected books on preventive medicine, and is actively campaigning to bring better health to the world through his research findings in nutritional medicine.

Dr. Rath is also a fierce opponent of CODEX ALIMENTARIUS. He has openly declared that CODEX ALIMENTARIUS is the “brainchild of the pharmaceutical cartel”.

According to Dr. Rath, America stands as one of the greatest barriers to the greed of the pharmaceutical industry. He commends the resolve of millions of Americans, who lobbied hard to get DSHEA passed by unanimous Congressional assent in 1994.

Here’s an excerpt from Dr. Rath’s web site:

1993 was the year that my book, Eradicating Heart Disease was published in the U.S.A. It summarized the medical breakthrough in vitamin research and heart disease in popular language. Tens of thousands of Americans used this book and other studies on the health benefits of vitamins to convince their political representatives not to give in to the unethical plans of the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA. Newsweek described this fight for free access to vitamins as “the largest movement since the Vietnam war”. Again, the interests of the people prevailed over apparently overwhelming economic interests.

In August, 1994, the US Senate and House of Representatives unanimously passed the Nutritional [Dietary Supplement] Health and Education Act, a monumental law preserving and guaranteeing free access to vitamins and other natural health products. This law did not simply maintain the status quo, it also allows truthful health information in relation to vitamins to be distributed. From a historical point of view, a popular movement of millions of Americans had just inflicted the worst defeat in their history upon the pharmaceutical companies and their interest groups. More importantly, millions of Americans had won a historic victory from which all of mankind will benefit.

Dr. Rath continues:

Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical companies did not give in, even though America, the most powerful country in the world, had started to liberate itself from the yoke of the pharmaceutical interests. Led by the German pharmaceutical companies and under the political auspices of the German government, the international pharmaceutical consortium started its latest offensive. They activated a so-called expert commission of the United Nations with the mysterious name, “Codex Alimentarius.”

The German government had taken precautions in case the activities of this clandestine “Codex” Cartel were revealed prematurely: the presidency of this Codex Commission was assigned to Dr. Somogyi: the head of the German federal agency for consumer protection. The politicians in Bonn were well aware of the explosive power of this commission, and therefore decided to cover up this enterprise as “ consumer protection” in order to deceive the public about the true nature of the “Codex” Cartel.

So there you have it. A German Medical Doctor exposing the true intentions behind CODEX ALIMENTARIUS: to further the economic interests of pharmaceutical companies by way of deception. That should shake awake the nay-sayers among us (or those who are bamboozled by CODEX propaganda here in the U.S.A.).

Folks, what’s happening is that the corrupt players in a corrupt industry are trying to take away our hard-won pro-health law of 1994 (namely DSHEA), and silently replace it with anti-health laws of 2005. It’s been more than 11 years since the victory of DSHEA. They probably assume we are now all too docile to do anything (how else can you explain the sheer audacity of these bills?).

Will we sit back and do nothing?

Or will we, this time armed with the grass-roots organizing power of the Internet, take massive action and protect our laws from becoming cannon fodder in the unwholesome quest for conquest by the profiteers of disease?

The choice belongs to We, the People! You and me.

Yours in Health and Freedom,

Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation

P.S. Feel free to discuss anything I publish on this blog whether you agree or disagree. You can discuss via the commenting system built into the blog page. You are welcome to speak your mind so we can make this a conversational blog and share information between us.

Don’t forget to listen to FREE U.S./FREE US! on Internet Radio at www.FICAA.com every Wednesday, 7 – 8 PM for the latest in health freedom news. Check out the archives, too!

Thousands of Visitors to HealthFreedomUSA.org Can Make a Big Difference

Wednesday, July 27th, 2005

Many letters have already been sent. Excellent!

Keep sending those letters to Congress… and let our elected officials know that we want our health freedoms protected and promoted.

Protecting and promoting health freedom is all about the actions that We, the People, take to preserve our rights.

Dr. Laibow

P.S. The courageous among us can also phone our local Congressional offices and explain why we want our elected officials to vote for bills that protect our health freedom, and against bills that seek to destroy it.

Treating Our Congressional Offices With Effective Communication

Tuesday, July 26th, 2005

Are you aware that Congress (and Congress’ staff) gets tired of the same-old, same-old just like you do? Your personalized but brief email really counts! When the same letter comes in to a Congressional office with no change at all, over and over, mind-fatigue sets in and the staffers who collate these letters pay less and less attention to them. A terrific study which tells us how to communicate with Congress most effectively gives us an inside track on even more effective communication with Congress. Here’s what works for Congress:

1. Indicate what you want your Congress person to do in a line at the top of your letter in large, bold type. It should say something like, “PROTECT MY HEALTH FREEDOM: OPPOSE HR 3156”.

2. Identify the Natural Solutions Foundation Congress appreciates knowing which grass roots organization you agree with enough to write your letter. Include a sentence at the beginning of the first paragraph like, “I am writing to you at the suggestion of the Natural Solutions Foundation to strongly encourage your opposition to [support of] (bill #)” which would [give a single phrase summary of the bill].

3. Personalize your letter Tell your story briefly, briefly, briefly. State who you are, how old you are and why this is important to you. Briefly. One page, no more!.

4. Do not send regular mail to Congress Use our email engine to send your personalized letter to Congress. Regular mail is decontaminated and therefore delayed and often damaged.

5. Identify yourself as a constituent. Include your name, address and email at the conclusion of your email. Congress does not pay any attention to, or answer, communications from people who are not constituents. If you do not identify yourself as a constituent your email is wasted. Don’t waste your effort and your opinion by omitting this crucial information.

OK! Now that we have the rules of the game set out, what do you do with them? I urgently hope that you will take the time to create an email on each of the following bad bills (and the one good one, too) which are listed here. I assure you that if you value your health or your freedom, or, better yet, both, your time will be well spent. And then, when you have finished, tell everyone you know in your personal and professional circles of influence to join you in keeping America CODEX-FREE and health freedom alive in the US, too. Remember, the email engine allows you to edit what Congress receives. Write your own letter following the above guidelines and the engine will deliver it for you. Thanks for making the effort and taking the time!

Click here to take action on all bills that are intended to take away your health freedom – as well as supporting the one that is intended to promote your health freedom.

Is this asking a lot of you? Five separate letters with thought and personal information attached to each one? Yes, it is. Are your health and health freedom worth a lot to you? If they are not, don’t do as I have asked.

America is being dumbed down and drugged up. If that is OK with you, take the easy way and do nothing. Back when Camel Cigarettes were chic and their deadly effect was still a well kept corporate secret, the slogan was “I’d walk a mile for a Camel!” Turn it on its head: would you walk a mile for your health and that of those you love? Would you type a mile for them? Before this is over you are going to have to do more than that, I am afraid! But if we do not become the Health Freedom Force, we will be the Drug Dealers Delight, a country of needlessly sick and dying people, young an old. Come on! Let’s exercise our democratic muscles and make Congress work for us, not the Bigs!

And don’t forget to listen to FREE U.S./FREE US! Wednesday 7-8 PM Eastern tomorrow, July 27 at www.FICAA.com when our guest will be Dr. Doris Rapp, Environmental Physician Extraordinaire! She tells it like it is and takes no prisoners! Join us tomorrow!

Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation

A Thorn Is A Thorn Is A Thorn

Tuesday, July 26th, 2005

CAFTA is almost upon us. The Senate passed it and now the House is waging war within its perimeter as a House divided. The vote will be very close as our elected Representatives work into the final weekend before the August recess to tie up loose ends and decide a major part of our economic and social fate as a sovereign nation. Or not. That’s the issue. The issue is our sovereignty, it is NOT CODEX. CAFTA is a bad idea. Tell Congress in no uncertain terms to defeat it but it is NOT a health freedom fight. I know, I know, that puts me squarely in the minority on this issue. But the facts bear me out and the hype and hysteria, the red 38 pt. italic type does not make a error of analysis true.

CAFTA needs to go down because it is bad for America, bad for American workers and bad for American society. But why isn’t everybody screaming about CODEX and NAFTA right now? Just because CODEX is mentioned in the CAFTA agreement? Since every country in the CAFTA deal is a member of the World Trade Organization [WTO] (another really bad idea, by the way), why wouldn’t CODEX and other WTO agreed-upon standards get mentioned? It seems obvious to me that every trade agreement or treaty between WTO members will mention CODEX because that is part of the lamentable, but currently all-too-real international trade climate. CODEX is an international trade commission with international trade impact so international trade agreements are going to specify it.

The health freedom issue is what CODEX is, not whether CODEX is mentioned in international trade agreements. If CODEX is pro-illness, as it is now, then pro-illness will be the order of the day. If the Natural Solutions Foundation is successful at changing that stance, then CODEX may become pro-health and THAT is what would get implemented by the WTO and by CAFTA. Far better to have no CODEX at all, of course. And far better to have no sovereignty-busting international trade agreements, too. But given where we are right now, CAFTA is NOT a health freedom issue. CAFTA is a sovereignty issue and should be defeated as such.

As I have repeatedly said, if CAFTA and FTAA go away tomorrow, we still have CODEX as a major problem . CAFTA and FTAA will implement whatever CODEX is. If CAFTA passes it will undermine the essence of America. That’s bad enough without a health freedom threat, to boot.

Because some of the CODEX interest group (the health freedom folks, not the people who are CODEX-friendly like the Council for Responsible Nutrition [CRN], the National Nutritional Foods Association or the International Alliance of Dietary Supplement Associations keep shouting that CAFTA is a health freedom issue since it mentions CODEX, let me ask you a question: Is NAFTA a health freedom issue? Tell me about the impact of NAFTA on our health freedom. Is it a threat to our jobs and financial and domestic conditions? Oh yes! It is a most definite threat. But to our health freedom? No, it is not, even though Canada has made nutrients into drugs and taken more than 60,000 of them off the market through an administrative decision by Health Canada which has had terrible effect on the health of Canada. But take a look at what NAFTA says about CODEX:

NAFTA — Agreement
Chapter Seven
Agriculture
Article 755: International Standards and Standardizing Organizations
5) Each Party shall, to the greatest extent practicable, participate in relevant international and North American standardizing organizations, including the Codex ALIMENTARIUS Commission, the International Office of Epizootics, the International Plant Protection Convention, and the North American Plant Protection Organization, with a view to promoting the development and periodic review of international standards, guidelines and recommendations. [emphasis added]

NAFTA mentions CODEX as every treaty inside the WTO is bound to do. Has it impacted your health freedom? Do you honestly believe that it will?

If NAFTA is not a health threat because it mentions CODEX, why is CAFTA different?
Call Congress. Email Congress. Use our email engine and compose a letter to your Representatives telling them to oppose CAFTA. But oppose it as a sovereignty issue, not as a health threat issue.

Cloudy thinking never illuminated anything.

Yours in health and freedom,

Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director

It’s Eternal Vigilance Time Again!

Monday, July 25th, 2005

Congress is at it again: those who are paid by the people are doing the people’s work. Those who are paid by Big Pharma are doing the drug companies’ dirty work. There are bills that we need to kill and bills that we need to support. This blog is a guide to the current crop of health-related bills

“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance”. Jefferson said it so well! And we need to remind ourselves of it often. There are now bills that we have to support and bills that we must kill. Below you will find a list of the relevant bills which impact health freedom. You can read these bills for yourself by entering the bill number or a keyword or you can do the Cliff Notes version and read my summary below. In either case, it is important that you take the tools of democracy in your mouse and use our email engine to send your Congressional Delegation your strong instructions. You can write your own letter or use the one we provide.

The reason it is so important for you to take this action now (and take it again when more legislation is introduced, as it will be) is that if the pro-pharma, pro-illness industry can destroy our legal protections, DSHEA (Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act) and FDAMA (FDA Modernization Act), then there is NOTHING at all standing in the way of our harmonization with the deadly CODEX standards and guidelines. That is what they want. We are not about to let them have it. Here are the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good:

Good BillHR 2352 Consumers’ Access to Health Information Act
Introduced by Ron Paul reverses the FDA’s gag action on nutrients and “permits the accurate label and labeling claims of the curative, mitigation, treatment and prevention effects of foods and dietary supplements on disease and health-related conditions”. This is a very important piece of legislation and should be supported vigorously.

The Bad:

Bad BillSA 1379 attached to S 1042
Sponsored by Durbin and Feinstein would create an adverse event reporting requirement for supplements (remarkably safe, no deaths) while none exists for pharmaceuticals (remarkably dangerous, hundreds of thousands of deaths annually). It also bars the sale of stimulants on military bases except caffeine containing liquids! Oppose this bill.

Bad BillS 3 Protecting America in the War on Terror Act of 2005
Introduced by Gregg, First, Sessions, Dewine, Allen, Santorrum, McConnell and Dement is filled with dangerous and harmful provisions including the removal of meaningful restitution for persons harmed by vaccines and shameless immense tax-payer funded corporate welfare for vaccine and drug manufacturers. There are a number of other serious defects in this legislation. Please oppose it.

Bad BillHR 2485 DSHEA Full Implementation and Enforcement Act of 2005
Introduced by Burton and Pallone appropriates $175M between now and 2010 to give the FDA more money to enforce regulations which are highly detrimental to supplement manufacturers and would expose them to more stringent regulatory requirements than those faced by the pharmaceutical industry. This is not a pro-health bill and should be opposed.

Bad BillHR 2510 Dietary Supplement Regulatory Implementation Act of 2005
Sponsored by Pallone is an even worse version of HR 2485. In addition to the above, it provides for the by-now-all-too-familiar adverse event reporting system for supplements, but not drugs, an additional $10M to “educate” physicians and consumers about dietary supplements and forbidding ephedrine alkaloids altogether. This is HR 2510 on steroids and must be defeated.

The Ugly:

Bad BillHR 3156 Dietary Supplement Access and Awareness Act
Introduced by Susan Davis and co-sponsored by Waxman and Dingell is a strongly pro-pharma, anti-health bill that must be defeated. It not only provides for burdensome, expensive and unnecessary post market surveillance by supplement manufacturers, it creates the supplements-only-no-drugs-allowed adverse event reporting system common to so many of these bills, and, most dangerously, permits the FDA to ban any nutrient which has any degree of risk associated with it – no matter how small – even in the absence of any harm from that substance. In other words, it gives the FDA a green light to ban all nutrients. Fascinatingly, Ms. Davis’ bill was introduced on June 30, just days before the Vitamin and Mineral Guideline was ratified by CODEX. This bill excludes vitamins and minerals. Clearly, the assumption was that CODEX would take care of them so Davis would take care of the amino acids, essential fatty acids, etc. This bill must be soundly defeated.

Is this a lot of information? Yes. But it is the most important information of the day for a health-loving American. Folks, these bills are direct attacks against the American people. They have nothing to do with our “protection”, “well-being”, or any other lame excuse. We must take action against these bills. And we will be asking you to take action again because the pro-illness forces will come back with more bills when we defeat these. But that is the price Jefferson cautioned us about: eternal vigilance.

So please click here to tell Congress we are serious about our health freedom.

From where Congress sits, one constituent voice equals the 13,000 others who have not made their identical opinions clear. Speak out now for health freedom and tell everyone you know that they need to speak out now, too!

Yours in health and freedom,

Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation