I see this happening first hand in Canada. When I practiced traditional medicine in Toronto from 1979-1991, I witnessed the birth and rise of the traditional health movement in Canada. I still know some of the owners of supplement companies, big and small. The sad fact is that being 'regulated' by the government means paying tens of thousands of dollars in fees and licenses to be able to sell your products. Small companies are being forced out of business-or forced to sell to companies with deep pockets, who are often fronting for pharmaceutical companies. The larger supplement companies, whether independently owned or Big Pharma holdings can afford these registration fees and are 'all about business' and less 'about' wellness and the public welfare. They are probably happy to see their smaller competitors driven out of business as they follow the business trend toward monopoly.

It is another sad fact that government seems to be controlled by 'big business' and has adopted the attitude that we call legislating and legalizing corporate greed. At the Codex meeting in Bonn, Germany that I attended November 1-5, 2004, when delegates raised important concerns they were always told, "Another committee is handling that issue". That answer was given when the chairman was asked whether genetically engineered foods were going to be allowed in infant formula. I would have thought that a simple "Of course not." answer that question, which implied to me that they are actually considering using GMO foods in infant formula.

A question by a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) delegate about the inclusion of provitamins and vitamin-like substances brought the following answer from the chair. "We first wanted to discuss vitamins and minerals. In the future, in 10-20 years time we will have to discuss physiological plant substances." Does that mean that if the Codex guidelines for supplements leave out certain nutrients that those nutrients will no longer be considered "regulated" and disappear from the shelves. That very scenario is playing out in the U.K. now. Under the EU Food Supplement Directive 5,000 products are slated for removal from the shelves.

The UK Battles the EU to Keep Supplements
In retrospect, it appears that government agencies of many nations have been on a common track for decades to have supplements designated as drugs. Australia, Denmark, Germany have all rendered their dietary supplements essentially impotent by regulating them as drugs and drastically limiting the amounts that may be sold without a prescription.

The European Union's Food Supplement Directive is a likely model for the type of dietary supplement restrictions that Codex will try to implement worldwide. Passed into European Law in 2003 the EU Food Supplement Directive will be transposed into the legal systems of all other EU member states. In 2004, the U.K. government, against the wishes of its citizens, agreed to accept the EU Food Supplement Directive as law. Ireland, the Netherlands, and Sweden are facing similar enforcement. This law will, in effect, ban about 300 of the 420 forms of vitamins and minerals present in around 5,000 products on the U.K.

Working to declare this measure illegal is the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) (www.alliance-natural-health.org) led by executive director, Dr. Rob Verkerk, PhD. ANH is a pan-European coalition of supplement manufacturers, retailers, independent health practitioners, and consumers. On October 13, 2004 ANH filed a lawsuit to force a European judicial review of the EU Food Supplement Directive, which is slated to be fully operational in the U.K. by August 2005.1