I recently received the following email from the Alliance for Natural Health - thought it might interest those of you who live in the UK...

A FANTASTIC DAY FOR HEALTH FREEDOM!

The European Court of Justice's Advocate General Geelhoed has provided his opinion today. His opinion was read out in the European Court in Luxembourg at 08.30 h this morning.

Please find our Press Release on the subject below.

We wish to thank all of you who have contributed, financially and in other ways, to this landmark challenge that has the potential to rock the entire agenda on ever-tightening restrictions worldwide on natural health.

We will be giving you further updates in due course.

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release
5 April 2005

ADVOCATE GENERAL FINDS FOOD SUPPLEMENTS DIRECTIVE INVALID UNDER EU LAW

ALLIANCE FOR NATURAL HEALTH SET TO WIN ITS LANDMARK CHALLENGE TO THE EU FOOD SUPPLEMENTS DIRECTIVE

There was tremendous news today for the millions of people in Europe who choose to use food supplements. Following a landmark challenge in the European Courts of Justice (ECJ) brought by the Alliance for Natural Health and Nutri-Link Ltd to the contentious Food Supplements Directive, which effectively proposed to ban 75% of vitamin and mineral forms, Advocate General Geelhoed, the senior adviser to the ECJ, gave his Opinion in favour of the Alliance�s case.

What does this mean? That the chances of consumers being able to continue using the natural food supplements they believe are beneficial to their health are now greatly increased. There has been uproar about the proposed EU ban, and maybe, against the odds, the consumer is going to come out on top in what is a remarkable modern day case of David and Goliath.

In a statement released in Luxembourg today at 0830 GMT, the Advocate General concluded that:

* The Food Supplements Directive infringes the principle of proportionality because basic principles of Community law, such as the requirements of legal protection, of legal certainty and of sound administration have not properly been taken into account.
* It is therefore invalid under EU law.

It should be stressed that the Advocate General�s pronouncement is not a ruling. That will come from the ECJ judges, later - probably around June. But typically, in the vast majority of cases, the Court Judgment follows the recommendations of the Advocate General.

If the Advocate General�s recommendations are adopted, in effect, the ban on vitamin and mineral forms not included on the EU�s �Positive list,� due to come into effect on 1 August 2005, will be declared illegal. In essence, the positive list of allowable nutrient forms will be deemed to be too narrow, too restrictive, and based on flawed science.

This would avoid the totally irrational situations that the Food Supplements Directive would otherwise create. For example, synthetically produced selenium would have been allowed on the positive list, while the natural source found in Brazil nuts would not; synthetic forms of Vitamin E (often used in �adverse� vitamin studies reported in the media) would be allowed, but the natural, most beneficial food forms would not.

An outstanding moment for the Alliance for Natural Health

The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) is a Europe-wide professional organisation dedicated to ensuring that good science and good law are applied to regulation affecting the leading edge of natural health. If the Advocate General�s recommendations are endorsed by the ECJ judges, it will represent the culmination of three years dogged determination, dedication and hard work on the part of ANH and its many supporters around the world.

�It is commendable that the EU Advocate General has seen through the flawed science and law of the Food Supplements Directive and reached his recommendations today,� said Dr. Robert Verkerk, Executive Director of the ANH. �All that ANH is campaigning and working cooperatively for is the right for consumers to have access to safe natural healthcare and for legislation to be based on good science and good law. This is a great day for the tens of millions of people who believe passionately in the benefits of natural, preventative healthcare.�

David C. Hinde, Solicitor and ANH Legal Director, added: �This is a very significant Opinion in a landmark case. What we want to see in the EU is the Food Supplements Directive doing the job for which it was created which is to provide a �safe harbour� for food supplements so that they are not classified as drugs, and to promote their availability across the EU. Advocate General Geelhoed is the most senior Advocate General at the ECJ and his considered reasoning vindicates ANH�s legal analysis and position. We are very optimistic that the Court will adopt his recommendations.�

Supporting safe supplements

ANH supports many aspects of the Directive, and firmly endorses the banning of ingredients that are patently not safe, stating that existing UK and EU food law already provides perfectly effective protection from unsafe products getting onto the market. Furthermore, ANH says that it is not scientifically rational to classify an ingredient as being unsafe without taking dosage levels into account, something that was not a condition of being admitted onto the positive list.

ANH believes that a far more appropriate system for banning any substances that might pose a risk to health would be to produce a �Negative list� for ingredients where there was proper evidence of lack of safety. The system proposed by the EU was going to ban ingredients on the basis that companies did not have the financial capacity to meet the high data threshold required for the scientific dossiers demanded by EU authorities. In this way, ingredients that have been part of the human diet for thousands of years, and which are increasingly difficult to derive from conventional foods, would be lost, and would not be able to be supplemented.

The future of the leading edge of natural health secured

Drawing its support European-wide from consumers, manufacturers, retailers, practitioners and some of the leading experts in nutritional medicine, ANH has taken on the Goliath of the European Commission and those that support the unscientific and unlawful ban in the Food Supplements Directive, to protect the interests of everyone concerned with the leading-edge of food supplements and natural healthcare.

�None of the major EU countries felt the need to oppose our application for a declaration that the ban on vitamins and minerals in the Food Supplements Directive was unlawful,� added Anthony Haynes, Technical Director of Nutri-Link Ltd., a UK food supplements company that brought the legal challenge jointly with ANH. �It�s bizarre how this regulation got this far.�

A wide welcome across the industry if the ban is overturned

Greg Watts, Chief Executive of Ultralife, a manufacturer of leading-edge food supplements, said: �This is very encouraging news. If the ban came into force we would have to reformulate down to simpler, more basic products that consumers and practitioners find are less effective.�

Dr Damien Downing, a medical doctor and one of the UK�s leading practitioners in nutritional medicine, said: �Practitioners of nutritional therapy, and there are thousands of them in the UK, largely use leading-edge food supplements. If these nutrient forms remain, we can continue to treat our patients with meaningful solutions and provide the products that we know are so beneficial. A ban would in one fell swoop remove the vital tools of practitioners� trade.�

Sara Novakovic, owner of Oliver�s Wholefood Store in Richmond, Surrey, said: �At last it is now highly likely we can continue to offer the products that our customers ask for and want, rather than have to remove them all from the shelves for no good reason and supply them with inferior quality alternatives.�

The end of the beginning

This is just the beginning for the Alliance for Natural Health. Regulatory and industry pressure through the EU Food Supplements Directive was always likely to translate globally, particularly to the US, through Codex and the World Health Organisation. Without having to justify any health hazard, and without considering any benefits, safety has been used as a reason to restrict the availability of natural food products.

�Yet food supplements are the safest things that people put into their mouths � considerably safer even than conventional foods�, said Dr Robert Verkerk. �With rapidly declining vitamin and mineral content in fruit vegetables and other foods, and continuing increases in degenerative diseases such as heart disease and cancer in the West, this has always been a very big issue worth fighting for.�

�Fundamentally, an amended Directive would help to slow down the agenda of the Codex Alimentarius Commission to export worldwide an onerous, EU-style regime for food supplements.�

David Hinde added. �The ANH is now going to be working on getting a proper procedure in place for the Food Supplements Directive and in addition, the next challenges will be on legislation proposing to reduce dosages to ineffective levels, and to restrict other nutrient forms such as amino acids, enzymes and plant nutrients. Traditional herbal remedies are also under threat. In its work, the Alliance for Natural Health will continue its thorough, professional approach based, as always, on �good science, good law.�

ENDS

For enquiries and further information contact:

Alliance for Natural Health
www.alliance-natural-health.org

Dr Robert Verkerk, Executive Director
Tel. +44 (0)1252 371 275
E-mail: robv@alliance-natural-health.org

David C. Hinde, Solicitor, Legal Director
Tel: +44 (0)20 7738 1640
E-mail: davidh@alliance-natural-health.org

IKON Associates
(PR advisers to the Alliance for Natural Health)

Adrian Shaw
Tel: +44 (0)1483 535102
Mobile: +44 (0)797 990 0733
E-mail: adrian@ikonassociates.com

Paul Donkersley
Tel: +44 (0)1483 535101
Mobile: +44 (0)796 764 6046
E-mail: paul@ikonassociates

Notes for editors:

1. The Alliance for Natural Health is a Europe-wide association of manufacturers, distributors, retailers, consumers and complementary practitioners who have an interest in food supplements. More information, including details of members, will be found at www.alliance-natural-health.org

Good science and good law underpin all of the ANH�s work, and the scientific reports produced by the ANH are endorsed by many of the world�s leading doctors and scientists working in the field of nutrition.

2. If the ban on vitamins and minerals is implemented there is much at stake:

� Over 5000 products will disappear from the shelves of UK health stores as a result of the ban removing access to over 300 vitamin and mineral ingredients (out of a total of about 420). These include, amongst others, the main natural forms of Vitamin E, several forms of vitamin C, the key natural form of folic acid, MSM and a range of minerals such as vanadium, silicon and boron, all being products which millions of consumers choose to take as part of their regular health regime and have done so without any ill effects for many years.

� An individual�s freedom of choice to take safe natural health products will be removed � 40% of the UK�s population take vitamins and minerals.

� Products are to be banned with absolutely no scientific justification. Many of the world�s leading scientific and medical experts in nutrition support the absence of any proper basis for the proposed bans.

� Although the proposed bans related only to vitamins and minerals, unless overturned, the �Positive list� system will most likely be transferred to other nutrients used in food supplements, such as plant extracts, amino acids and enzymes. The precedent set by an ANH victory will drastically reduce the chance of future bans on these other nutrient forms.

� Further legislative proposals by the EU are due to be considered by the European Parliament later this and next year. These include restrictions on maximum dosages of vitamins and minerals and restrictions on health claims of foods. Again, the ANH is working to help positively shape such legislation using its mantra of �good science and good law�.

In health,

Robert Verkerk PhD
Executive Director, ANH

David Hinde, Solicitor
Legal Director, ANH

and the rest of the Core Team of the ANH in the UK, Sweden, Ireland and Denmark.

E-mail: info@alliance-natural-health.org
Web: www.alliance-natural-health.org

There was a post on the forum about Mononucleosis and I thought it would make an interesting post. You can read the full thread here...

The above links to a post by 'Mikka' whose girlfriend seems to be showing many of the symptoms of PVFS:

"When she asked her doctor about CFS she was told that there was no way she could have it, but she wasn’t really given a good reason why. Only that she has had mononucleosis and that means there is no chance for her to have CFS."
-- Posted by Mikka --

In my reply to Mikka I wrote that 'Infectious Mononucleosis' HAS been linked to ME/CFS/PVFS and so if she does have this condition, her mono may well have developed into 'Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome' (PVFS).
You can read more about the possible causes of ME/CFS/PVFS here...

'Infectious Mononucleosis' is also known as 'Glandular fever'. Glandular fever is linked with the Epstein Barr virus. In fact, this is how I developed my CFS/Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome - I had Glandular fever!

I always suggest that sufferers get a GOOD book on their condition (there are lots of terrible ones out there). I have listed some of the best here...


And click here for a review of my favourite book on ME/CFS/PVFS...

It talks about glandular fever/epstein-barr virus. Here is a quote from this book:

"Doctors have alwas recognsied that a small minority of teenagers and people in their early twenties who have glandular fever go on to develop a protracted ME/CFS-like illness." p34

"In most cases, the body makes a successful immune response, which removes the virus in question. A normal state of health is gradually resumed. (...) Alternatively, the virus may persist and remain dormant inside the cells, without causing any obvious damage or disturbance to normal function, as can be the case when Epstein-Barr virus (glandular fever) occurs during childhood or adolescence.

"A further possibility is that the virus remains inside the cell without causing any harm, but the body's immune system continues to react against it, and so causes damage in the process - an autoimmune reaction with the production of antibodies. (...)

"Finally, it's possible for viruses to remain inside cells without producing any obvious microscopic damage, but instead cause important changes in the way they carry out normal functions (e.g. the manufacture of brain chemicals transmitters or hormones), again something which it has been suggested could be happening in ME/CFS." p125-6

Many doctors out there are still sceptical of this condition, or know so little about it that they are unable to give their patients adequate advice. That is why you must always, ALWAYS, have a good, reputable book to refer to, like the one I recommended above.

That way, you can check if the advice they give you is correct!

I got back yesterday from a very restful stay with my family. I think I really needed it because I had been feeling a little lost and overwhelmed with things beforehand. I was also feeling drained and just wasn't my normal 'positive', movitated self. So knowing something was wrong, a stay with my family was welcomed and much needed I think!

Today I have developed a cold, no doubt from the stresses and strains from the trip (I was accompanied there and back, but it still takes a real strain on you doesn't it?).

So now I sit here with a stuffy head, hoping this is the worst it gets - but the worst always seems to develop 3 days after exertion so we shall see!

Will probably take a few days to recoup then hopefully will be back on track soon (fingers crossed).

Claire
Editor of sleepydust.net