In 2001, the International Community did something right. The came together and created the Stockholm Convention, devoted to removing the 12 deadliest compounds polluting our world. These horrors are all members of the same class of compounds, Persistent Organic Pollutants or POPs. Within a short time every member of the United Nations, including the US, had either signed or ratified (or both) this agreement. They had committed themselves to getting rid of these incredibly dangerous chemicals. These chemicals have names like aldrin, chlordane, dieldrin, DDT, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, and furans. These chemical are extremely widely used and, among the hundreds of thousands of bad chemicals which disrupt endocrine function, lead to birth defects and cancers, cause serious harm to the environment in every corner of the globe, accumulate in food and degrade the ability of people to lead long, healthy lives, these are the worst of the worst.
The report on POPs in Chile starts with a quote: “The future will depend on our wisdom not to replace one poison with another.” Well, as lovely as that sentiment is, it never reached the people in Codex land. Of the 12 worst POPs in the world, 9 are pesticides. Of those widely used, and wildly toxic POPs, 7, yes, 7, have are permitted by Codex in our food. Sure, you can put these poisons on crops: no problem. Codex has set allowable pesticide residues for 7 of them.
Do any of those names sound familiar to you? How about Aldrin and Dieldrin? They are bio-concentrated by children eating the apple a day we used to eat to keep the Doctor away. Have you ever had your house treated for termites with a foundation treatment? Then you probably already know chlordane pretty well since you’ve been breathing it for a while. How about apples and Aldrin? Heptachlor? The official heptachlor fact sheet says that it should not be permitted to enter the environment and that it is really toxic to people, the aquatic environment and fish. But Codex says we can put it on our food. How about Mirex? It’s been described as “one of the most chronically toxic and slowly degrading compounds ever produced on an industrial scale” But it’s OK to use on food. Codex tells me so.
Can’t you see the hand of the Big Chema in this one? Industry-friendly Codex must have been all too happy to agree to the standards they were asked for by their Big Chema handlers. And the workers who use these pesticides which are so deadly that every member of the UN has agreed to end their use and ban them? And we, who will eat the food from all over the world contaminated with this deadly brew (and hundreds of other poisons? What happens to us and our children and our other loved ones when our food is contaminated with compounds so deadly that every single country in the UN has decided they are too dangerous to use?
But wait! The World Trade Organization uses Codex standards in trade dispute resolution. What happens if a country elects to follow the Stockholm Convention Guidelines and not the Codex ones? Trade sanctions for protecting your people from poisons? What kind of madness are we observing unfold when the interest of industry overwhelms the entire international community’s will?
Is this what we want for ourselves? If not, take action. Go to our legislative action page and let Congress know what is important to you. I’ll bet not one member of Congress has thought about the conflict between the Stockholm Convention and Codex. Tell them. Better yet, make an appointment and take a bunch of your friends to go see your Congressmen and women in their local offices (or in DC if you’d like) and let them know that people with faces and families, voices and votes are rallying around health and health freedom. “Work with us and maybe we’ll let you go back to Congress. Oppose us and your DC days are over. We are the people and we are that strong!”
Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
At the present