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Alert (Continued)

If the United States and other more progressive nations spearheading natural health remedies wish to continue to enjoy their ‘safe haven’ of alternative and innovative products and therapies, then each citizen will need to keep a close eye on very determined efforts to undermine and dismantle the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994, which opened the door for unprecedented scientific and product advancement in this industry.

The first of the EU Food Supplement Directives has already been approved and drastically limits the number of currently available vitamins and substances commonly used in (natural) products today. Nearly two-thirds of all available vitamins were banned and will disappear from the shelves in 2009 with few exceptions. A very slow, complex and highly expensive procedure was arbitrarily put into place for those who wished to have a banned substance reconsidered for inclusion in the approved list and time is running out on this process.

The European High Court, facing strong legal challenges and recommendations against it from their own Advocate General, still upheld the directive on July 12, 2005. EU legislators are working on the next phase; the “Human Medicinal Products Directive,” which attempts to reclassify food-based vitamin substances as medicines and drugs. This is a real boon for Pharmaceutical companies who can proceed to patent synthetic, chemical versions of vitamins and legally eliminate natural products.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) call for close monitoring and fast action to dissuade their current efforts to follow in the footsteps of the EU.

Despite volumes of existing scientific evidence, countless scientific studies, peer review journal articles and credible expert opinions in worldwide support of natural healthcare, innovative products, alternative therapies, and freedom of choice, a basic human right of access to natural health remedies is at very real risk.

Make no mistake, this anti-vitamin, anti-natural health legislative effort will only increase and continue to adversely impact the Innovative and Natural Health Industries. The vitamin and herbal remedy manufacturers, their distributors, retailers, local health food stores and professional nutritionists as well as the natural health practitioners (including their practices and patients) will each be adversely affected.

Perhaps most importantly, these efforts will impact and adversely affect the consumers and patients the industry serves.

• Many vitamins and mineral forms may be eliminated completely
• Maximum permitted dosages may be drastically reduced to "placebo" therapeutic levels
• Herbal ingredients may also be severely restricted
• Information concerning product benefits can be severely censored

Find out more about the situation and what you can do to help.