Originally published June 25 2005
Codex guidelines on supplements still up in the air
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Although it was thought the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CNFSDU) had reached the final step in the agreement to use risk assessment to regulate dietary supplements, NutraIngredients.com reports that small changes submitted by Australia, Venezuela and China could set the whole process back a few steps.
The Codex Alimentarius commission, charged with developing world trade standards for the food supply chain, has been debating guidelines for vitamins and mineral supplements for more than 10 years.
In 2003, the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CNFSDU) made an historic agreement to base maximum levels on safety and risk assessment rather than recommended daily allowance (RDA) of nutrients.
But although the new guidelines containing this article have now reached step eight -- the final stage -- of the decision-making process, ratification at the Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting in Rome, running from 4-9 July, is no longer so certain.
Small changes to the text of the guidelines have been submitted by Australia, China and Venezuela, and despite their relatively minor impact to the overall impact of the standards, they could force the committee to take several steps backwards.
This, fears the international supplement industry association IADSA, would result in delaying the ratification of the guidelines by at least a year, during which time, many countries will be left without an established reference on which to base new national rules.
IADSA is particularly concerned that Codex will lose its influence on how national laws set the maximum levels of vitamins and minerals allowed in supplement products.
While the guidelines are not binding on any member country of the UN, they can be influential, particularly where nations have not yet established rules in this area.
"It is important that they [the Codex guidelines] are brought in this year.
Different countries are looking at revising their regulations, including Thailand, which is about to apply 100 per cent RDA," noted David Pineda, regulatory affairs manager of IADSA.
Norway, Malaysia, and much of Latin America also currently require that the maximum level of each vitamin/mineral contained in a supplement should not exceed 100 per cent of the recommended daily intake determined by the FAO.
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