Originally published August 4 2005
Trade agreement could lead to international regulations and restrictions on dietary supplements
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Central American Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which the House of Representatives will soon vote on, has the potential to lead to restrictions or even bans on the purchase of vitamins and dietary supplements if passed, writes doctor and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas.
The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Central American Free Trade Agreement in the next two weeks, and one little-known provision of the agreement desperately needs to be exposed to public view.
CAFTA, like the World Trade Organization, may serve as a forum for restricting or even banning dietary supplements in the U.S.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission, organized by the United Nations in the 1960s, is charged with "harmonizing" food and supplement rules between all nations of the world.
The European Union already has adopted Codex-type regulations, regulations that will be in effect across Europe later this year.
This raises concerns that the Europeans will challenge our relatively open market for health supplements in a WTO forum.
If CAFTA has nothing to do with dietary supplements, as CAFTA supporters claim, why in the world does it specifically mention Codex?
Passage of CAFTA does not mean your supplements will be outlawed immediately, but it will mean that another international trade body will have a say over whether American supplement regulations meet international standards.
And make no mistake about it, those international standards are moving steadily toward the Codex regime and its draconian restrictions on health freedom.
Pharmaceutical companies have spent billions of dollars trying to get Washington to regulate your dietary supplements like European governments do.
They see international trade agreements as a way to do an end run around American law and restrict supplements through international regulations.
The largely government-run health care establishment, including the nominally private pharmaceutical companies, want government to control the dietary supplement industry - so that only they can manufacture and distribute supplements.
This alone is sufficient reason for Congress to oppose the unconstitutional, sovereignty-destroying CAFTA bill.
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