Canada's new drug category is bad news for dietary supplement manufacturers in the U.S. who want to trade with Canada. We will see the government of the U.S. trying to implement a drug category for dietary supplements on the basis of free trade agreements. If Canada's dietary supplements are forced to stay in the drug category then the U.S. will stand alone in the world as a major Western country with food-based supplements. Most other countries have adopted the drug category. We must expand our beachhead to so that Canada and the U.s. work together for our right to freedom of choice in health care. The third focus is for North America to support the U.K. as it fights the EU Food Supplement Directive. Together we can then all work to overturn Codex.

The Delphi Technique at Codex
The Delphi Technique was created to give a facilitator tools that would ensure control of the outcome of a group decision manipulating the group to think it was participating in the making of that decision. The Delphi Technique only works if the facilitator is able to destabilize anyone who might think independently of the group. To make Delphi work the group must not be permitted to align with a natural leader who could challenge the ideas of the facilitator. Other aspects of implementing Delphi are to ask questions that divert the group away from core issues that many people might be concerned about. And, lastly, the group is driven to achieve "consensus" rather than voting on the issues. If a strong member of the group votes against the facilitator that person may sway the group, therefore, the facilitator manipulates the group into thinking consensus is being reached. Of course, facilitators always manage to manipulate the consensus to their own ends. I was unfamiliar with this psychological manipulation method until I went as a delegate to the meeting of Codex Alimentarius in Bonn.

According to Lynn Stuter, it is a "consensus building" technique that Lynn says is surely "leading us away from representative government to an illusion of citizen participation".3 She says, "In group settings, the Delphi Technique is an unethical method of achieving consensus on controversial topics. It requires well-trained professionals, known as "facilitators" or "change agents," who deliberately escalate tension among group members, pitting one faction against another to make a preordained viewpoint appear "sensible," while making opposing views appear ridiculous."

At Codex the word "consensus" was used constantly and no vote was ever taken. The Chair somehow determined that, voila, we have achieved consensus and moved on. Delegates had to be quick to press their buttons to take exception to his ruling. But, as I found out later, the Chair could very easily ignore a request for the floor. I could see that after a while you would become so frustrated that you threw up your hands and just gave up trying. There were stories of delegates yelling out to be heard that ended with the delegate being immediately removed from the room and banned from future Codex meetings. Punishment at Codex is swift.

When Peter Helgason, VP of Regulatory Affairs for Friends of Freedom, who also attended the Bonn meeting, told me the chairman was using the Delphi Technique, it all clicked into place, I could see exactly what he was doing. And I see how Project 2000 in British Columbia (See Chapter 1) works as well. Discredit the opposition with lies until they get so hysterical at being lied about and lied to that they scream at you. Then you have won; you can denounce them for being hysterical. It's used all the time and it works every time.