Codex Alimentarius and the Napoleonic Code
Codex Alimentarius and the Napoleonic Code
Codex Alimentarius does not operate on the Common Law principles that we take for granted here in the U.S. It operates under the Napoleonic code.
Under our Common Law, anything not prohibited is permitted. Thus, when Congress passed the Dietary Supplements Health Education Act (DSHEA) in 1994 (classifying nutrients and herbs as foods rather than drugs) we gained the guarantee that new substances developed or discovered after 1994 cannot be prohibited just because they did not exist as nutrients before the passing of the act. Under DSHEA, nutrients are still regulated by the FDA, which can demand that Good Manufacturing Practices be employed to make sure the nutrients are of high quality.
However, the situation would be very different under Codex Alimentarius.
Napoleonic Code Opens Door to Government Tyranny
Codex Alimentarius standards and guidelines are not part of the American legal/regulatory tradition. Instead, they are part of the European Napoleonic code. Unlike ours, the Napoleonic code holds that everything that is not explicitly permitted is prohibited!
Who would have to explicitly permit something? A government regulatory agency. A bureaucratic body.
Nothing Positive About Codex “Positive List”
Under the Codex Alimentarius system, everything not explicitly permitted is prohibited. That means that the system under which Codex operates uses a “Positive List”. Things on a positive list are permitted. Things omitted from the positive list are forbidden.
For example, if nutrients at particular doses are included on the Codex list, they are permitted. If they are not on the list or if other doses are used than what is specified on the list, they are prohibited. It is exactly as if they had been explicitly forbidden!
Although those who are warning about Codex Alimentarius have focused on the nutritional aspect until now (the Vitamin and Mineral Guideline), Codex is really much more broad than just limitations on nutritional supplements (and that is bad enough!). Codex would regulate everything you put in your mouth for either nutrition (from “farm to fork”), and eventually, treatments too (i.e. homeopathics and herbal products are at risk).
Arbitrary Power to Forbid Substances Even If Safe
“Forbidden”. That is the message of the Napoleonic legal code: if you don’t have explicit permission to do something, it is forbidden. Is that how Americans want their health choices defined? Not that it would be much of a choice if government tells you what to do and what not to do.