Archive for June, 2006

Day 16-19: June 27-30, 2006

Friday, June 30th, 2006

First of all, let me thank you for your warm response. You have donated nearly $2000 since my last email. Please keep your health freedom battle which we are fighting in mind and, if you haven’t done so yet, support the Natural Solutions Foundation generously. This is your battle, too, if you care about your health and your natural health choices. When was the last time you could fight the good fight and get a tax deduction on it, too!
Dr. Rima

Day 16: June 27, 2006
Today was an email and phone day: since I could not use my cell phone (stolen or lost last weekend) to get emails or make calls, I used the hotel facilities to confirm and solidify our pro health strategy for the Codex meeting. What that meant was internet at more than $10 per hour and phone calls to Africa, Asia, etc. and the US at European hotel rates! Whew! But the reason for the calls and internet connection is a very positive one: we are in the process of making sure that our pro-health allies from around the world are consolidated and coordinated, ready for action at the Codex meeting next week.

You know, some say that Codex cannot be changed from within. But they are wrong. I anticipate that Codex and the Bigs will respond to us if we are effective. I doubt that they will say, “Why thank you! How very nice of you to put things in perspective for us so that we can see how poorly we are serving health!” Rather we can expect some sort of vigorous and unpleasant response. After all, they have the money and have bought themselves the alliances which have allowed them to get this far. But as one of our legal team put it, “People with inconsistent values do not prevail. It is the ones whose values are more consistent who prevail. And the Codex forces want to appear to serve health and human well-being while not doing so. We want to serve those values in a consistent way and so we will prevail!” He is right. But our side is building momentum so we can expect a response which we will have to counter. We don’t know what it will be, but we know that it will come if we are effective.

On a personal note, it is hot and sunny here in Geneva and we found a great Swiss restaurant right next to the ancient armory in the Old City which lies in the middle of Lake Leman (Lake Geneva to everyone but the French). We had Swiss food in a Swiss outdoor bistro (at Swiss prices, I am afraid) and the experience was delightful.

Geneva is home to hundreds of international organizations so the population is richly mixed with people from all over the world enjoying the same lovely atmosphere and physical delights while speaking every imaginable language and wearing every sort of dress. Only 34% of Geneva’s population is ethnically Swiss these days so the city is remarkably cosmopolitan. When I was here 30+ years ago that was not the case and the change is fascinating.

Our hotel is, in itself, a small version of the global community which Geneva serves while a walk around the block takes you past the Kuwaiti, Canadian, Korean, Russian, Croatian permanent missions, headquarters of the WHO, International Labor Organization, World Intellectual Property Organization, UN High Commission for Refugees, the International Red Cross and dozens more. Breakfast (included as it usually is in European hotels) is totally, thoroughly and completely Swiss, though. There is muesli, eggs and meats, cheeses and about a zillion types of bread plus fruit and yoghurt. Every day.

Day 17: June 28, 2006

OK. I’ll admit it. We took the day off. After only 3 hours devoted to phone and emails, we went on a tour of Monteux and the Castle at Chillon made famous by George Gordon, Lord Byron (“My head is white, but not with years, Nor grew it white in a single night As men’s have grown from sudden fears….”

Chillon, built on the site of an older castle by the Bernese a very, very long time ago, does contain a (rather sanitized) dungeon where Byron carved his name in a sandstone pillar and a gallows. It also provides a breathtaking glimpse of military dominance in a rugged and difficult country since it was placed to defend its position from both the lake side (the Bernese had longboats with 110 rowers which could load more than 600 fighting men) and the mountain side and succeeded in doing both for many hundreds of years until the Bernese simply decided not to defend their position any longer and left, freeing the prisoners and departing Geneva forever. Perhaps that’s a model we could suggest to Codex but somehow I don’t think they are quite ready to take it.

Just as the Bernese left Chillon only when it became clear to them that they were presiding over a crumbling and grumbling empire for the order to change radically, the Natural Solutions Foundation is helping those who value their food and health freedoms to become an effective force for change. In the US we are supporting the development of a legal and an intellectual challenge to a contaminated food supply. Internationally, we are helping nations to apply protective strategies to the serious health problems posed by Codex.

The Bernese didn’t leave without a struggle but today Chillon (and this part of Switzerland) are no longer occupied territories. The Prisoner of Chillon, Francois Bonivard, was thrown into prison for speaking his mind and then freed by the Bernese in 1536. We need to be freed, too, so that we can pursue our own paths to health and make our own choices in how to stay there. It’s a matter of health and of civil liberty as well.

Day 18: June 29, 2006

Well, don’t say I didn’t tell you to anticipate it! Today we learned that a brilliant voice for health, the environment and freedom has been personally blocked by the hierarchy of Codex from coming to the Codex meeting here in Geneva next week!

Corporations sponsor delegates all the time. For example, all three of the delegates from India to the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) last November in Bonn, Germany, were sponsored by the Nestle Corporation. They represented India but they were heavily influenced by their sponsor’s views on the baby food and formulas of which Nestle is a major manufacturer. IBFAN, the Non Governmental Organization (NGO) focusing on breastfeeding and infant breastfeeding substitutes sponsored delegates to the same meeting who were influenced on the opposite side of the fences to be dealt with at that meeting.

So sponsorship of delegates from countries with limited funds to participate in Codex is an accepted practice and an excellent way to make inroads at Codex since only national delegations have an effective voice. True, NGOs (which may be either industry or civil organizations), if recognized by Codex, may speak, but their voice is very small compared to the voices of countries. Only countries may introduce items, and only countries may call for a vote or carry out other important procedural maneuvers. So friendly national delegates are very important to change occurring.

Thus, we were delighted when a leading African scientist with a long history of fearlessly speaking out for health, the environment and consumer choice agreed to accept Natural Solutions Foundation sponsorship to attend the Codex meeting next week. We were even more delighted when the head of the department for which he works agreed to allow him to attend as a sponsored delegate.

And we were shocked, but not surprised, when we learned today that an absolutely unprecedented event had occurred: the 2006 Chairman of the Codex Alimentarius Commission had written a personal letter to the scientist’s Department Head and FORBIDDEN him to allow the scientist to come as a sponsored delegate since the Natural Solutions Foundation was his sponsor. That means several things:
1. Bulls eye! We are definitely having an effect and our strategy is the correct one. Otherwise there would have been no need for the hierarchy of Codex to try to interfere with it. We are clearly on the right track. Thanks, Mr. Chairman, for that confirmation.
2. Codex has just publicly declared itself to be precisely the repressive, autocratic and pro-illness organization the Natural Solutions Foundation has identified it as being. It strikes out to thwart moves to change its direction toward a health-supporting one using primitive and heavy handed interventions and attempts at limiting both debate and information. Thanks, Mr. Chairman, for that confirmation.
3. Codex plays dirty. Debate and discussion are not what it wants. Therefore, debate and discussion are most valuable tools. Sharing information inside of, and outside of, the confines of Codex is extremely valuable since it is what Codex fears most. The Natural Solutions Foundation has been providing options and accurate information to decision makers and grass roots in the US and abroad. This is a strategy which builds the constituency for health and health freedom at the national and at the international level. Thanks, Mr. Chairman, for that confirmation.
4. We had, of course, Plan A.1 (and have Plans B, C and D) in our vest pockets, so to speak. We anticipated that, if we were on the right track and our Estimate of Situation were correct, Codex would strike out to try to limit or eliminate our effectiveness. Codex has shown us how very important strategic planning and adherence to the Principles of War are (and will be) to win this health freedom campaign. Thanks, Mr. Chairman, for that confirmation.

We will miss the intelligent, articulate and consistently audible voice of our scientist friend at this meeting. He is a fearless leader and a deep thinker. His absence will leave a hole. However, we have other delegates who are alerted to the issues and prepared to speak with equally compelling and intelligent voices. Mr. Chairman has not been able to stifle dissent so easily. What each country does remains, like a jury trial, a crap shoot. But we have worked diligently to help build the constituency which can back pro health options inside Codex and beyond. Next week will be another set of milestones in the health freedom battle but this battle will continue regardless of the direct intervention of the Codex hierarchy.

Revolutions are like that. There is a prisoner waiting to be freed here in Geneva. The day? July 4. or thereabouts. The name? Miss Freedom, Miss Health Freedom, to be precise. Let’s wish her well and support the struggle for her freedom all over this green world of ours, shall we?

Day 19: June 29, 2006

This was a strategy day with hours and hours and hours of tactical implementation to support next week’s Codex meeting from our side. After a hard day at the computer and on the phone, we took a walk to the edge of Lake Geneva for a bite of dinner: an interesting amalgam of Swiss and Chinese food concepts rolled into one Peking Duck. It was really very good and quite interesting and made a welcome change from a day inside the hotel room working on documents and options for next week and beyond.

Yes, whatever happens next week, there will certainly be a beyond! Codex is complex and health freedom is even more complex. So the Natural Solutions Foundation will be working on pro-health issues and options for a long, long time to come.

Day 19: June 30, 2006
Today was the start of the Montreux Jazz Festival and, since it is only just a few miles down the lakeshore, I had hoped we would have the time to get there today for some local experiences and some music. However, the actions of the Codex Chairman required a good deal of planning and effort so we did not have the time to get to the opening festivities today. Phone, email, creation of documents, contact with colleagues and more of same. The issues are just too important to leave to chance!

We did go out for dinner to a Singapore restaurant, though, quite close to the bus station. Across the street, next to the bars and bistros, is “The American Market” which sells all the foods we have exported to a receptive world: chips fried in fake and poisoned oils, sodas, endless artificial drinks in colors food never even thought of being, dozens and dozens of candies and cookies and cereals devoid of absolutely any nutritional value and an endless array of other food fakes. And all at a premium since they are high status “foods”. The place was packed with fast food (aka fast death).

Pay the price to eat this stuff and, in the end, you will pay the price of having eaten this stuff.

And who benefits? Why, the people who brought you the fake food and the people who are right there to collect the immense profits your preventable illness and death brings to them. You know their names: I don’t have to tell you who they are.

“The American Market” is, in fact, a prelude of things to come for the entire world’s food supply if Codex wins. That’s why we won’t let it win.

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

Posted in Activism, CODEX Consequences, Medical Hazards, Miscellaneous | No Comments »

Days 12- 15: June 23 -26, 2006

Monday, June 26th, 2006

Day 12: June 23, 2006
Today we had another full day of meetings and had the same level of success at each of them in this bustling African commercial capital. What a day! For reasons that you will instantly understand, we cannot tell you exactly where we are but you can be assured that it is hot, difficult to arrange anything, complicated and thrilling. Today, in addition to the editors and reporters from two of the largest newspapers in this country we have seen people who know either nothing or quite a lot about Codex but who have not thought about it from our view point. Each one listens with great interest since each one appears to genuinely care what happens to the nutritional status of his or her countrymen. This is a unique and thrilling aspect of these countries: there are problems which we in the US cannot even begin to comprehend, poverty at breath taking levels, corruption in many places at a level we almost never contemplate and yet civil servents and public advocates, activists and business people, Members of Parliament and Ministers of Health are truly interested in listening to what we are saying and in making changes to further public nutrition!

Of course, we shall see what the actual actions their delegates take are during the Codex meeting. At this level, however, we are dealing with people who genuinely seem to want their countries to do the right thing. We think American can learn a thing or two!

Day 13: June 24, 2006

A major newspaper in this country runs a full page story on the importance of our stand on Codex and health freedom! We will scan it and share it with you AFTER the Codex meeting. It urges the country to take care to protect its access to healthy and natural options! In color, no less!

Then we get word that a major African country has apparently shifted its position to support South Africa’s superb initiative for the implementation of the WHO Global Strategy at Codex. Again, we shall see, but it would appear that the shift is because of the work that we have been doing! We are thrilled: hot, tired, exhausted but thrilled!

I have gotten bitten by at least 3 mosquitoes (all of which are presumed to carry malaria) and so I begin taking Artemesia annua and ionic silver to prevent the development of malaria. No one else got bitten who was near me. That’s the way it usually is, by the way.

Then a large and festive meal with our supporters in this country and off to the airport for a flight to Geneva.

Day 14: June 25, 2006

The flight started out fine but sometime during it I became sicker than I have ever been. Every orifice which could empty itself did so repeatedly. And then again and again. I assume that the problem was food poisoning since I recovered after many, many hours of sleep both in the airport waiting for connecting flights and then in the hotel room. UGH! Bert was fine. Go figure.

Oh, by the way, someone stole my Blackberry from our hand luggage so if you wanted to call me, you can’t!

Day 15: June 26, 2006
After some more extended recovery (that equals sleep), we had a leisurly day during which I went through several thousand emails. If I have not gotten to you, please be patient! We are preparing a White Paper on the Codex issue of national options to hand to the delegates whom we will be continuing to meet with with the help of our outstanding legal team.

Let me tell you, even sitting in a hotel room in Geneva is easier, but the work that we have done in Africa has gone so well that I would gladly do it all over again! Thanks for your letters of support and your donations.

This is a very expensive proposition and if you have not given generously yet, please, please do so.

We have a lot to do before us, but what we have done so far on this trip can, just possibly, change the world!

Yours in health and freedom,

Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director

Don’t forget to sign the Citizen’s Petition and visit www.EatSafeEatSmart.com! REL

Posted in Activism, Buy-Cott, Citizen's Petition, Miscellaneous, Promising Developments | No Comments »

BINGO: Africa Journal -Days 4-11

Friday, June 23rd, 2006

Day 4: June 15, 2006

Today we are in the commercial capital of this bustling city meeting with government officials. We meet the Food and Agricultural Number 2 man (who comes from this country) and watch his body language: “I need to entertain these useless people because my boss is too busy to do it. Let’s get it over with!” We listen to his take on Codex (“Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful”) and wonder whether he really does not think about the policies he participates in implementing or if he is masking his reality with balsamic platitudes. It is hard to tell since he is closed emotionally and verbally.

None the less, we plunge ahead and tell him what we believe Codex has in store for the land that he loves. We tell him about the results of an adulterated food supply and the impact of chronic under nutrition on the already nutritionally vulnerable people of his country. He is shocked and argues with us saying that is not what HIS Codex will bring. Citing specific examples we note that his body language and verbal language as well have changed: he is now leaning forward in his chair seeking more information and asking probing questions. His forehead is deeply furrowed now where before it was smooth. His expression is deeply concerned, too, where before it was smug.

By the time we leave, Mr. FAO is asking how he can help us to protect his country. We give him a hard copy of the Codex eBook (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/resources/books.shtml) and a copy of Nutricide: the DVD (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/aboutcodex/dvd.shtml) and leave with his fervent handshake and promise to spread the word in the government and FAO circles he works in.

Next, the head of the Codex Committee of this country. He is also the head of the Bureau of Standards. He is going to Codex but he does not care about it. He listens to our presentation while looking at his watch, accepts our materials (still looking at his watch) and makes it clear that he is not really interested in much of what we have to say. He will be the Codex Delegate from his country at the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) meeting coming up in Geneva next month (July 3-7, 2006). We leave. He is relieved. So are we.

That afternoon we visit the head of a major humanitarian Foundation in-country who is also a significant cattle rancher and farmer. Codex, food purity, domestic and international standards are of great significance to her. We discuss options and receive her enthusiastic support for our program. She suggests high ranking people whom she will contact on our behalf.

Our guide and networking support person (a beautiful, talented young woman who is working on transforming both women and her country in an inspiring way), tells us that a scientist whom we met at Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (November, 2005, Bonn, Germany) and whom we admired for his intelligence and determination to make his points despite the hostility and intimidation of the Chair) has agreed to meet with us over dinner.

This gentleman had previously not replied to any of our emails and we had given up hope on having him as an ally. When we meet with him that evening he tells us that he was watching to see what we could accomplish without his help. Now that we have made major strides in our goals, he is willing to work with us.

In fact, not only is he willing to work with us, he is willing to bring together a team of countries to support our positions at CAC! And he is in the process of doing just that! Day 4 was a breakthrough day.

Day 5: June 16, 2006

We fly to South Africa to visit with a dear friend and catch up. Dinner, loving conversation, a home cooked meal. Life is good tonight!

Day 6: June 17, 2007

More catch up and dinner with a South African doctor and his lovely wife who believe that Natural Medicine is the answer to his country’s major health problems. He has formulated a spectacular meal in a pouch for HIV positive patients with outstanding results. However, the unscrupulous activities of a German MD in South Africa have made any natural health option highly suspect and his effort is meeting with knee-jerk opposition to its deployment. We discuss possible strategies for developing his advance in clinical nutrition and the significant threat to the needy that harmonization with Codex (for example, the Vitamin and Mineral Guideline) would mean to his people.

Also at dinner: a microbiologist and her husband. Her work is on the benefits and importance of probiotics and we discuss her struggle to get recognition for their central role in health and recovery from illness. She, too, has developed a remarkable set of products and we talk about how important these two advances are for all immunocompromised patients, HIV/AIDS and other and, as usual, the impact of Codex on them internationally and, through harmonization, within South Africa unless both are modified.

Our materials leave after dinner in their hands and it is clear that we have new allies in the health and health freedom struggles! And they are people you really want to have dinner with!

Day 7: June 18, 2006

Another dinner, this time with a husband and wife who are representatives of a very large, very influential Chinese nutrient company. We discuss in some detail how their company and our Foundation see our challenges and opportunities with Codex and realize that we have very close alignment. The Chairman of this company will now receive our materials and will be informed of how close our visions and issues are so that we can talk together about developing a common communication strategy either by our going to China or by our coming back to South Africa if his visit and our schedule coincide. Another set of materials walks out the door and we have new comrades in arms (and dinner companions for the future, too).

Day 8: June 19, 2006

We wake up at 4:30 AM to leave the house so that we can catch a very early flight to Capetown, South Africa. We make the plane but the plane doesn’t make the landing. Hours later, we have circled long enough to use up our gas and landed to refuel because Capetown sits in a bowl surrounded by steep mountains on all sides but the sea and, although the surrounding area is totally clear, Capetown is socked in by thick fog. I fell asleep during this circling in a holding pattern and woke up when we landed. I asked where we were and the lady across from me said, “East London”. I was terribly confused: How could I have been asleep long enough to fly to the UK and not know it? No, no! East London, South Africa, only halfway back to where we had taken off!

More fuel, more circling and then we are in Capetown, only half a day late along with 12 other plane loads of people who could not land until then, too. Bags? Luggage carts? Not easily had.

Finally we emerge with our luggage and meet the people who have come to collect us: a farmer with a passion to feed his country with supplemented, healthy, clean food and a highly influential traditional healer who is also an MD (or perhaps an MD who is also a traditional healer).

We detail exactly what Codex is and what it means to them and their people. They are appropriately concerned and, material in their hands, the day ends with new friends and new allies. These are influential decision shapers and are important in our efforts to spread the word about health and health freedom into new communities. Both understand that Codex is a threat to nutrient based health strategies and are willing to work hard to protect their people and their families. And they are a delight to have dinner with, too!

Day 9: June 20, 2006

We are still in Capetown and we are picked up from the in-town home of the farmer by a brilliant analytic chemist who is also an MD (or is it the other way around?). He is an expert on the precise evaluation of food components which are related to allergies like genetically modified DNA from GMO foods and we have a tour of his lab and meet his staff. Over lunch we discuss Codex and its allegedly “Science Based” standards and guidelines. We agree that under nutrition and an adulterated food supply are major health threats presided over by Codex although we also agree that there are aspects of Codex which can be utilized to help humanity (which as the appropriate upgrading of lab standards and facilities).

The proprietor of the lab drives us to the airport and agrees that he, too, needs to spread the word of what is happening to health freedom. This time the air portion of the day is uneventful.

We are met by the representatives of the Chinese company from two days before and returned to our host’s home bone weary, but enlivened from the excellent conversations and commitments we have participated in.

Day 10: June 21, 2006

We fly to a huge, populous and highly influential African country where we are met by a physician whom we came to know only 1 month ago at a seminar in New York! He said that he would bring us to members of the Government of this country who would take our cause up in Codex and make a difference. In this case, we are deeply concerned about the importance of implementing the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health in a manner consistent with South Africa’s 11 principles for doing just that.

We hope for the best and get nearly no sleep because we have to leave the hotel long before dawn to fly to the capital city to meet with ministers and other high ranking officials tomorrow.

Day 11: June 22, 2006
BINGO!!!!! Ministers, Senators and Members of the House of Representatives meet us. Codex representatives who work for the Food and Drugs Board but who believe in natural medicine as essential to national health meet us. The Chairmen of the House and Senate Committees on Health and Public Health meet us. The most powerful politician in the government meets with us. Virtually all of these men are physicians who, surprisingly to those of us from the US, really understand the crucial role of nutrition and are duly horrified by what Codex can mean to their people.

The Consumer Protection Agency Director General (who reports directly to the highest authority in the country) meets with us along with her legal advisor and really, really get it! They are members of the National Codex Committee and promise to bring our material and our information to that body.

We give them each of them our materials and they all willingly promise that they will take the Global Strategy very carefully at the Codex Committee Meeting prior to the CAC next month. They were unaware of how important the Global Strategy was to them and promised to examine that very carefully.

Then off to the airport to fly back to the commercial capital of this country from its political capital. Well, that’s the theory, anyway. Hours and hours later, we get on the plane (dinner? lunch? breakfast? Don’t be ridiculous! I was packing a few power bars and we shared them as we dashed from one fabulous meeting to another. )

We wait and we wait and we wait. And we sweat. It is unbelievably hot and humid. I hate heat. I hate humidity. It does not really matter. We need to be here doing this and I can get cool next January, if I am lucky, I suppose.

General Stubblebine is wilting, too, in business attire. Hot, sticky, no air conditioning, no food, but a day of nearly unbelievable success.

We get on the plane at last and there is no air-conditioning. In fact, there is no air moving at all. We sit there dripping and wondering what is going on when the pilot cranks the engine. RRRRRR, RRRRR, RRRR, RR, R, no power and the engine dies. More brutal heat and humidity, another series of unsuccessful cranks and, wonder of wonders, it catches. Let me tell you, flying on a plane under those conditions made us all sweat even when the temperature cooled down.

We land, stagger off to our hotel for a few hours’ sleep and begin again: we are up very, very early because we have an interview with the first of the two leading newspapers in the country. We do an interview and the editor and reporter are mesmerized and promise to run the story right away.

(Breakfast? Did I mention breakfast? No? Guess why!)

Then off to interviews with highly significant people (including the Codex Point of Contact of this nation). Her body language (like that of the FAO man in another country) was closed when we began but, by the end of our several hours together, we were laughing, considering, and working together on a profound redefinition of the problems posed by Codex which had never presented themselves clearly at this level because the problem areas are so beautifully wrapped up in shiny gift wrapping with “Science Based, Science Based” printed on it. They are tied up with a bow tied by the PR skills of the multinational interests but, pulling on the strings, we show what is inside and neutrals and enemies reorient to become friendlies and allies.

Tomorrow we fly off again. Stay tuned. Codex will, this year, be attended by national representatives who just might act as a coalition and make a difference that can benefit every man, woman and child on the planet!

Stay tuned! There’s a lot more to come!

Yours in health and freedom,

Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director

Posted in International Cooperation, Miscellaneous, Promising Developments | No Comments »

Africa Journal, Days 2 and 3

Wednesday, June 14th, 2006

Day 2
June 13, 2006

In this hot, dusty Africa country, the seat of government is not the same city as the seat of commerce. One lands at the city where business is conducted for the whole region. But Parliament meets in the other city. And they are 500 km (415 miles) apart.
That’s 415 miles on an unfinished road, by the way, with unpaved detours, no roadside amenities or service stations during most of the run and huge oil and cargo lorries barreling down upon you in the other of the two lanes (which you are in to pass the barely moving car in front of you).

So there is a good deal of adrenal workout on an ordinary drive.
ital just before that time and walked into a dark, empty set of corridors with heavy padlocks on white painted wrought iron gates over every office door and one open door: the Minister’s.

I won’t tell you about the unbelievable conditions we passed, nor the fact that when we ran out of gas along the way and pulled into a dilapidated and disserted gas station (whose two goats were the only living creatures we could find), nor about stopping by the desolate side of the road and having 4 or 5 men magically appear with a large jerry can and hose and begin to fill up the tank with illegal gas using an illegal and dangerous method: pouring leaking gas into the gas tank while all of them smoked and the engine was running. I won’t tell you how they gathered around us in a frightening demand for money (and more) when suddenly they recognized the NGO Facilitator as the National Beauty Queen and simple smiled to be seen with her. We got back in the car and whizzed off toward the Capital. I also won’t even begin to tell you about the toilets. You really, really do not want to know.

But when we got to the Minister’s office we found a direct, sincere, humble and decent human being, an American trained Gastroenterologist, who had never heard of Codex but listened with deep attention and growing distress as we explained both the past and present, and then added the future of Codex to the discussion. He took our materials (Nutricide, the DVD, which you can have, too, by going to (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/aboutcodex/dvd.shtml) and the hard copy version of the Codex eBook, available at http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/aboutcodex/dvd.shtml). We explained that the eBook demonstrated the application of our International Strategy for correcting every problem raised by Codex and for protecting the health of his people. We explained, too, that we are facing a great opportunity: South Africa’s “Ottawa Beachhead” in which the 11 point guidelines for the implementation of the pro-health “Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health” gave Codex for the first time a potential focus on Optimal Health needs to be supported and adopted at the upcoming Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting, July 3-7, 2006 (Geneva). We asked the Minister of Health to help make sure that his country’s voice was raised loud, clear and firmly in favor of these principles at this meeting.

His answer? “You have caught my attention. I will certainly read your materials but you understand that I am not able to make policy on my own. I will consult with the appropriate people and contact you!” It was a highly successful and positive meeting with a thoughtful and careful policy maker who did not brush us off and took us very seriously. Tomorrow we meet with the Codex Committee of the country to further this effort here.

But wait! There’s more to this adventure! By now it was late and there was no way that it was safe to drive the road back to the commercial center both because of the brigands we did not meet, but were much more likely to meet after dark and because of the sheer physical danger of the road at night. (Shoulders? Don’t be absurd! Road accidents, by the way, are a hugely significant cause of death here.)

But when we started out we were told that there was a very important ceremony in the Political Capital that day and that the one decent hotel in town would be filled with both the Members of Parliament and with the dignitaries gathered for the ceremony. We had clearly seen on the way to the Capital that there was nothing even vaguely resembling a hotel, let alone one that we would consider staying in.

So we left the Minister’s office very pleased for the intermediate term but very concerned for the immediate one. Nonetheless, we drove to the hotel and made inquiries. Yes, there was a double room for the General and the Doctor. Yes, there was a double room for the lovely young lady and yes, the driver and our contact could share a single bed in the last room. “NO!” was the reply from our contact so, magically, although it was unavailable just moments before, the 4th room materialized and we checked in.

During and after dinner, our lovely, capable and well-known NGO facilitator greeted Member of Parliament after Member of Parliament. She introduced us to them and we told them about the reason for our visit. In an hour or so we met a dozen Members of the Parliament of this dynamic nation and introduced them to the Codex issue. Several of them wanted to talk about it more deeply and so we did, leaving our materials with them as well. We lobbied the MP’s to think about Codex and how they could protect their people while preventing trade sanctions from the World Trade Organization while doing so. To say that they were interested is a woeful understatement.

Then, on to our room where we found a triangular frame hanging from the ceiling over the bed with a circle of steel suspended over the bed from which hung a very large mosquito netting which was wound up into a series of knots hanging over the center of the bed and a large table fan attached to the ceiling. Spread the netting out (which did not have fist size holes in it like the netting we encountered in Adama, Ethiopia earlier this year which we stuffed with underwear), turn on the fan because the netting blocks all movement of air which is not very forceful (making sleeping unbearable if the air does not move inside the net) and dropped off to sleep.

And then the phone (which does not work in this country) rang at 4 AM local time. It was a US product manufacturer who wanted me to be a spokesperson for his products. They are not organic. I declined and asked him not to call at 4AM again. After I hung up I realized that he must have been pretty puzzled since where he was calling from (the East Coast), it was 2 in the afternoon!)

Day 3
June 14, 2006

Good news! The Minister of Energy and Mining wants to meet with us about Codex! Be ready at 8 AM because he has a meeting just after that and he can give us only 5 minutes. Right! Ready! Prepared! And frustrated: No car, no driver, nobody but the NGO facilitator and us. About 45 minutes later, a government truck drives up and we are told to get in at once! Off we go to the Minister’s office for a quick cup of coffee and a very quick discussion. Again, the kind and straightforward Minister told us that he had never heard of Codex and it was clearly not his responsibility but he would read our material carefully because when it came to a Cabinet discussion he wanted to be informed to help guide his country to health.

And then back to the hotel, gather our bags up and prepare for the drive back to the seat of commerce for a crucial meeting with the Codex Committee of this country. YES!

No! You have forgotten about the car and the driver, haven’t you? Well, we certainly did. Where were they? Who knows? Certainly not in front of the hotel waiting to drive we back to the commercial city at a reasonable pace (or at any pace, for that matter). MIA: Missing in Action.

So we waited, watching the precious minutes tick away while our crucial meeting began to evaporate. And that is exactly what happened. The bad news is that they could no longer wait for us because we started off so late that no amount of insane speed could make up for the delay (whose cause is still not known to me).

Oh, did I mention that we had air conditioning for about 12 minutes on the trip and then a ball bearing in the air conditioning unit (?) went out on us (don’t you just hate it when good bearings go bad?) and we were back to open windows with no possibility of breathing because of the dust or no possibility of surviving with the windows closed because of the heat. We vacillated back and forth between the two options for that whole long, terrifying drive. Neither option was satisfactory.

So we missed the appointment. Not to worry, though, we will meet with them tomorrow, we are told. We have asked to leave at 9:30 SHARP, SHARP, SHARP. But this is Africa. We will see what time is like tomorrow.

At any rate, we had time (AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHH!) because of the missed appointment so we went into the only store here that is believed to sell organic food. The company is South African so a good deal is imported from there. But the produce is primarily gown in this country. It is not labeled as either organic or not and when we asked the manager, she told us that pesticide and other chemicals are virtually unknown in this country. Farmers use traditional means of growing their crops and, in the main, cannot afford the chemicals. This is a country, after all, where less than 10% of the population has access to electricity, let alone spare cash to buy chemicals.

I also took a look around beyond the produce area. The meat counter had locally gown and produced meats in the same kind of packaging we are used to. It also had meat for which a premium was charged: South African meat. It was grey. It had been irradiated. The local meat was, of course, satisfyingly red.

When I explained to our companions the fact that irradiation of food creates huge free radical concentrations which are, in the absence of sufficient anti oxidants, significantly toxic to human beings and the animals which are also fed these toxic meats. Without adequate anti-oxidants (made inaccessible by the Vitamin and Mineral Guideline and the extention of it by World Health Organization to all nutrients) there is no way to neutralize these dangerous metabolic fires which will damages pancreases, brains, eyes, lungs and the immune system. I also found myself explaining that the fats in meats can be transformed by the irradiation process itself into cancer-causing compounds like benzene.

Together we asked ourselves how many “excess cancer deaths” do we need to calculate before we look at the biochemical information on the dangers of free radical excess whether or not Codex wants it?

Then back to the hotel for an outstanding, and inexpensive, seafood buffet dinner.

Tomorrow, the missed appointments! I hope!

In the meantime, the General is already asleep and I will finish my report to you and join him.

Yours in health and freedom,

Dr. Laibow
Medical Director

Posted in Activism, Declaration of Health Independence, Hall of Fame, Hall of Shame, International Cooperation, The Law & CODEX | 1 Comment »