Archive for July, 2006

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Day 29: July 10, 2006

Thursday, July 13th, 2006

July 10, 2006
We were picked up and taken to the Mangalore Press Club where photographers, journalists and TV crews were waiting for us. Dr. Hegde gave an oration which held everyone in the room rapt except us: we did not understand the Indian language in which he delivered it. So we were introduced by an enthusiastic colleague who set the stage for us … but we could not see the stage setting since it was in a language we do not speak. General Stubblebine introduced our topic, health and health freedom, and our mission here in India and then I spoke. The first thing I told the press was that we deeply honored by Dr. Hegde’s decision to accept the Chairmanship of Natural Solutions Foundation – India and that by having such a distinguished health freedom fighter head our foundation in India we were strengthened and guided by a brilliant and wise man.

I then discussed both the problem (multinational anti-health decisions at Codex and country levels) and the solution (the International Strategy supported by legal opinion and our new Codex White Paper on what Codex really requires of nations (soon to be available on www.HealthFreedomUSA.org). The cameras were grinding and flashing and the reporters were writing madly. Afterwards we took questions for quite a while and departed. By the way, NOT air conditioned. The Hindu, a national paper, had already run a major article on the Natural Solutions Foundation mission in the context of the international food quality and choice problems and the International Strategy which we bring to interested countries. Following the press conference, footage appeared on at least 5 TV stations in support of our information and mission. We were thrilled.

Lunch was at a lovely restaurant which has a delightful and varied buffet. While enjoying a lovely salad, I looked down and saw that an uninvited guest, and a pretty large one at that, had come to join us on, not at, our table: a shiny sub-continent sized cockroach!

After we changed tables (did that really help or was it primarily psychological?) the Buffet Chef came out to meet us. He is a graduate of a technical college with a BA in Catering Technology and Hotel Management. We told him about Codex and pointed out that every chef in India should care about the loss of nutrients in food, contamination of the food supply and the degradation of health which it will lead to. He immediately “grocked” it and said that he would share the information on our website with his class, with his schoolmates, etc.

This committed young man pointed out, as everyone does here in India whom we have spoken to, that healthy food is a foundation stone of the Ayurveda way of health and life. Food IS medicine and medicine includes food. Contaminated food will degrade Ayurveda’s power to treat and cure all maladies and diseases and therefore it is a matter of Indian national pride and patriotism to maintain her food supply, and traditional medicines, for her posterity. When we pointed out that according to our reading of Codex, although herbs were “given” to WHO at the suggestion of Dr. Beth Yettley, the US Codex Delegate when too many countries were objecting to treating all herbs as untested drugs, the active molecules and complexes still fall under Codex and, because of that, they are subject to the WHO-supplied definition of a nutrient-related adverse event: “any change in a bio marker” he was appropriately horrified. Herbs are the birth right of his countrymen and the great Indian traditions must be protected, he said.

Then we did a little [very wet] wandering and went back to the club for dinner and hours and hours of email. By the time I got my computer plugged in I was falling asleep there in that hot, cramped mosquito “breedery”!

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

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Day 28: July 9, 2006

Thursday, July 13th, 2006

July 9, 2006 Off to the airport, on to Mangalore in South India where we were met by Joe, our driver. “Who needs a driver?” we thought. “We’ve driven in Rome, Paris, London…. What’s the bid deal?” WRONG!!!! It’s a very, very big deal, especially in monsoon season. Monsoon is sort of an intermittent, on and off again sort of vertical tsunami. Sometimes it stops and sometimes it simply does not stop but when it rains, there is no moderation in the weather. None. And if it stops, and the semi paved roads are not roiling in red mud and water, the temperature immediately goes up to about a zillion steamy degrees. Come to think of it, before it stops it is pretty much the same, too. Like living inside a super-heated plastic bag with running water. I had never, ever experienced anything like that before. Bert had and he tolerates heat better than I do, anyway. But, I am convinced, the reason that I have survived so far is that our room here at the Mangalore Club, founded by the British in 1876) has air conditioning that works. It is a gracious, historic and well known club and we can see both the British and the Indian print of time and tradition here.

At lunch time, Dr. B. M. Hegde joined us. Exuding light and laughter, intensity and wisdom, Dr. Hegde, a Harvard trained cardiologist (who worked with Nobel Laureate there, is as passionate and knowledgeable an ally as you could wish. Having just written (his latest) book called
What Doctors Don’t Get to Study in Medical School, Dr. Hegde understands the dangers of conventional Western medicine better than most (because he understands conventional Western medicine better than most) and is a fearless, tireless and, here in India, treasured iconoclast and speaker of truth both to power and to the powerless. Bonding does not even begin to describe the phenomenon: there was not enough time to explore all the ways in which we share a world view.

Dinner at the Mangalore Club and then several days of email in their un-air conditioned, mosquito rich office. But I must tell you that the staff at this historic Club is welcoming, interested in our work, helpful and delightful in their warmth and enthusiasm!

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

Posted in The Law & CODEX | No Comments »

Day 27: July 8

Saturday, July 8th, 2006

July 8, 2006 We left early in the day for the Geneva airport so that we could catch a Lufthansa flight to Frankfort and change planes to Bombay, now called Mumbai, India, overnight and then catch a morning plane for Mangalore where we would meet Dr. B. M. Hegde, a great friend of Natural Medicine and, we were told, someone who would vigorously champion the cause.

The day before, I had prudently checked in by phone for the reservation and been told that the reservation had been cancelled and there was no such number in the computer, anyway. Well, since the tickets had already been paid for and we really wanted to get to Mangalore to be met by Dr. Hegde’s person, this was not happy news. I called the US, spoke with our travel agent and was told that the reservation (and flight) had a United number, not a Lufthansa one although the flight was operated by the German airline. Huh? Anyway, after a transatlantic call, we got a new reservation number and set off to the airport with trepidation. As it turned out, the new number did the trick and off we flew.

While we were waiting for our flight to Bombay, a lady from the Nigerian delegation approached us and said that our presentation and information had intrigued her greatly and that, since she is close to retirement from government service, she would like to work with us full time when she makes that changes! Sounds like a winner to us and we will work on it as the time approaches.

Then on to the plane and off for India. But, about 4 hours into the flight, lo and behold, the very same thing that happened the week before on the Lufthansa flight out of Lagos, Nigeria happened again: I was (this time for the second time in my life) violently ill. I have no clue. It passed (literally) and I was a bit wobbly but fine.

When we got to Bombay at 1:10 AM we had to collect our bags (1:50 AM) and drag them to customs (2:15 AM) where they were cleared (2:25 AM) and then we got to drag them to JetAir, the connecting airline, stand in line and finally speak to an agent (2:45 AM) who took them. We found the driver from the hotel we were spending a few hours in (2:55 AM) and reached the hotel which we were to leave at 7:30 AM to get back on a plane (3:10 AM). No reservation was waiting for us. So we finally (3:45 AM) said that we would leave a credit card impression for the charge (already paid by the airline since the room was included in our ticket, we were told) and get to bed (4:15 AM). I guess it was a nice hotel: who can remember?

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

Posted in Activism, Events, International Cooperation, Miscellaneous, Promising Developments | 1 Comment »

Day 26: July 7, 2006

Friday, July 7th, 2006

TOO FUNNY! You remember that the discussion on the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health (GS) was cut short by Dr. Grossklaus because the interpreters had to leave immediately upon reaching the minute when the session was to end? Well, we are sitting in the final session of this year’s Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) meeting reviewing the Draft Report word by word to come up with the final report. We have, predictably, run out of time. The Chairman, Dr. Mosha (the same person who made sure to note to the entire CAC that we were NOT admitted to Codex Observer status yesterday) noted that we were out of time when the Secretary told him so and the Translators Team Leader also did. He then asked if the translators would bear with him and extend their work time. The Team Leader said, “Of course we would, Mr. Chairman!” and the meeting continued.

By the way, I got an email from a supportive reader who said that she thought that we had actually been excluded from last year’s meeting. Actually, we are here as Public Observers (without the right to speak) but with the right to lobby national Delegates (which we do very actively, you may be sure). If we were a Codex Observer organization, we would have the right to speak on an issue after the countries were finished BUT would be prohibited from lobbying countries.

We will certainly be here next year. After all, the battle rages and we are nowhere near done.

Gotta run!

Yours in health and freedom,

Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director

Posted in Activism, Promising Developments | No Comments »

Day 25: July 6

Thursday, July 6th, 2006

Day 25: July 6, 2006

Today was another special day for the Natural Solutions Foundation. Dr. Mosha, the Chair of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, apparently violated CAC procedure to go back and revisit a section of the report of the most recent Codex Alimentarius Executive Committee which took place just before the current CAC meeting. Now, ordinarily, procedural rules are absolutely sacrosanct. They are observed scrupulously (unless of course they are inconvenient, as for example, when the Chair of a Committee or the CAC itself tells a member nation which has called for a vote “Codex does not vote anymore” although the procedural manual says “…each member of the Commission shall have one vote.” (CAC Procedural Manual, Rules of procedure, Rule VII, 1., page 12) and “…any Member of the Commission may request a roll-call vote, in which case the vote of each Member shall be recorded” (CAC Procedural Manual, Rules of procedure, Rule VII, 4., page 12).

In Codex, when an agenda item is complete, it is completed. So it was a huge surprise and, in its way, a rather significant honor or sorts when, have finished the entire work of the CAC meeting today, Dr. Claude Mosha, the CAC Chair, made an exception for us, the Natural Solutions Foundation.

Although the adoption of the report of the Codex Executive Committee (June 28-July 1, 2006) had taken place on the very first day of the CAC meeting, Dr. Mosha though that the status of the Natural Solutions Foundation was so important that he asked the CAC Members, as the last item of business, just before the close of this year’s CAC, to turn back to the report of the Executive Committee, Alinorm 06/29/3A, to regard together Item 109. It reads, in full,

109. The Executive Committee recommended to the Directors-General of FAO and WHO to reject the application for observer status from the Natural Solutions Foundation on the ground that the applicant did not meet the requirement of section 3 (e) of the Principles. Moreover one Member pointed out that the organization did not fulfill other criteria set out in section 3 of the Principles, especially with regard to the confidentiality of members.”

How nice of him! Yes, Section 3 (e) says that an organization has to have been functioning internationally for at least 3 years and we have not and yes, we refused to reveal the names of our “members” because we are not a membership organization and the identities of our donors are confidential. But the Procedural Manual also says, “The Directors-General of FAO and WHO may, upon the advice of the Executive Committee, grant observer status to Organizations not meeting this requirement if it is clear from their application that they would make a significant contribution to advancing the purposes of the Codex Alimentarius Commission.” (CAC Procedural Manual, Guidelines of IGO Cooperation, 3., page 36).

We are flattered that Dr. Moshe took such pains to mention us and look forward to developments under his second term of CAC Chairmanship (to which he was elected without opposition yesterday.) I wonder if his special mention of the Natural Solutions Foundation had anything at all to do with the press release we put out yesterday mentioning another special event which he orchestrated by stopping one of our sponsored Delegates from attending the CAC: Codex Chairman Seeks to Thwart Natural Solutions Foundation Pro-Health Codex Initiative (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/7/prweb406560.htm) .

Perhaps, or perhaps not. We will probably never know.

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

Posted in CODEX Consequences, Hall of Shame, International Cooperation, Miscellaneous, Promising Developments, The Law & CODEX | No Comments »

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