Campaigners for Britain's millions of vitamin and supplement users have reacted with dismay to a ruling that could sweep up to 5,000 products off the shelves.

The European Court of Justice has rejected British health food industry claims that the proposed Food Supplements Directive, coming into force on 1 August, breaches EU rules. Yesterday's decision means some 300 nutrients and nutrient sources in the UK will be banned unless they can obtain inclusion on a "positive" list - a move that supplement manufacturers say requires excessive levels of testing and red tape.

Among the vitamins and supplements facing a ban are boron, important for healthy teeth and bones; sulphur, important for healthy skin; and 1,000mg Vitamin C tablets. The surprise decision of the European Court goes against an opinion delivered by the same court's advocate-general in April, who said the directive was "as transparent as a black box"

It definitely would be good if the supplements have to carry clear contents declarations. But I do wonder if this is not just about money, the pharma companies would like to grab. Vitamins and minerals have not left 27'000 deaths behind like Vioxx. They can cause problems if overdosed, like the fat-soluble vitamins, but most of them do not have severe side-effects as many medicines produced by the pharma companies have.

At the same time the WTO seems to try to add even more restrictions on health food and alternative remedies. This month a very restrictive approach was officially adopted in Rome.

Codex Alimentarius

Vitamins to be Banned Worldwide... - Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen

"Big Pharma" won a major victory in Rome, Italy today.  Vitamins and minerals, for over-the-counter sale will be phased out, almost completely, in every country on Planet Earth.  The "German Model" of health care will now be the law of the land - in every land.
...

What this means, in the United States, is that as soon as CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) passes the House of Representatives (it has already passed the Senate), the US government will be forced, by the terms of that CAFTA agreement, to restrict vitamin and supplement sales in accordance with the  "German Model" of health care.

If and when this happens, the hard won 1994 DSHEA (Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act) will be nullified, and the dismantling of the North American supplement Industry will begin.  

However, it is not inevitable - the use of "supplements" and other "alternatives" to conventional medicine regimens represents over fifty percent (50%) of the total US health dollar spent annually.  Eighty-eight percent (88%) of US adults use an "alternative," and believe in them.  Opposition is already gearing up for the battle - (click here).

This is a battle between "We the People," and the free world's biggest, and worst, enemy - ever - "Big Pharma."

And a good overview of the Codex Alimentarius from Wikipedia.

Finally, I would like to point out that I do believe, there should be a control of what goes in to our nutrition. Food safety is important, no doubt. It is helpful if the contents of cadmium in potatoes is regulated, though why there is cadmium in potatoes at all, is another question. But banning vitamins and minerals makes no sense. Especially if you can buy in Germany, which seems to be the model for the new rules, very low dosed vitamins with lots of additives which some consider to be more harmful to health than the vitamins do good.
Update [2005-7-13 13:52:59 by Fran]:I just came accross a more positive source, first for the European Court decision: Link

BANS ON SUPPLEMENTS IN EUROPE ON 1 AUGUST NOW UNLIKELY GIVEN EUROPEAN COURT RULING Although the Directive was upheld following the Court's ruling, important gains have been made to protect the availability of food supplements through clarification and narrowing of the Directive's scope. Prohibitions by Regulators will now be much more difficult, and we predict that the anticipated wide-scale bans set to come in to force on 1 August in countries such as the UK will now not occur. See News item and press release for further information.

The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg today announced that it is upholding most aspects of the controversial EU Food Supplements Directive, after a landmark legal challenge by the Alliance for Natural Health. The initial reaction amongst many commentators was that this was disappointing news, as it contradicted the EU Advocate General's recommendation that the directive should be invalidated in its entirety and allowed a positive list system for nutrients. But on closer analysis there is a silver lining to the judgment. There appear to be very significant and positive details within the verdict which vindicate the arguments presented to the Court by ANH and which may be beneficial to the millions who use vitamin and mineral supplements and key to everything that ANH has been campaigning for all along.

The reality is that all of this means different things to different people. What can be said for sure, however, is that Codex won’t cause all supplements to be banned in a matter of months. Codex will however have very serious impacts in the longer-term, especially if the risk assessment system that it proposes to use to establish maximum allowed dosages is not changed over the coming months. However, please don’t feel despondent. Not all is lost by any means, despite the acceptance of Codex texts in Rome at the meeting of the Codex Alimentarius Commission last Monday. There is still latitude to move things forward in the interests of consumer freedom of choice, particularly with regard to the precise nature of the ‘scientific risk assessment’ methods to be used within Codex. This is the area that we at ANH are focusing a lot of our attention on. The next Codex meeting in Bonn, Germany this November, will be critical to determining the final outcome and of course central to new information on this issue is the independent risk/safety-benefit assessment project being undertake by the Netherlands-based HAN Foundation, commissioned by the ANH on 27 June.