of interest to list....
Sent: Friday, May 05, 2000 1:31 PM Subject: Open Letter to FDA re Codex [Edited by sender for brrevity] >From John C. Hammell, President 5/5/2000 International Advocates for Health Freedom [email protected] I would like to make an appointment with either ,Ellen Anderson, Dr.Yetley, or Dr.Wehr (or all 3) (and anyone else at FDA) for the sake of discussing the following things with you: I attended your public meeting re the implementation of the Pearson Court decision, and as you are well aware you are currently being sued yet again by Emord and Associates on behalf of Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw, Dr.Julian Whittaker, APMA and others... You are also very aware of the petition that you've received from Grocery Manufacturers of America wherein they have demanded that you stop dragging your feet on implementing the Pearson court decision. I urge you to ACT RIGHT and NOT force GMA to sue you too! As you know, they have VERY deep pockets, and in the end, you'll just have egg all over your faces even worse than you currently do, so why prolong the agony? We're all painfully aware that many people go to work for the FDA, then leave seeking better paying jobs with the private sector--- with multinational pharmaceutical companies. All I want are two things: 1) To be left in peace to live my life without FDA interference in terms of access to the nutrients for which I have a genetic need, and: 2) For other people to have the same chance I've had in which to heal and for everyone to stop being harrassed by you guys vis a vis their access to supplements. Many people on my email distribution list have life threatening genetic situations. Many owe their lives to alternative medicine. I would just like to meet with you to share some of this information with you for the sake of expanding your awareness. 3) FDA Attorney Melinda Plaiser has attempted to assure Congressmen Burton,Paul, Cook, Stump, and De Fazio that our concerns re Codex are "groundless".... that our interpretation of GATT is incorrect. I strongly disagree, and would like to discuss my concerns with you in detail as one of the protestors who was in both Seattle and DC protesting against the WTO/WB/IMF. 4)I emailed you my comments with attached articles: A Rebuttal to the NAS Risk Assessment Paper, and Darlene Sherrell's expose on NAS's fraudulent fluoride data. I'd like an appointment to come in to discuss my comments directly with you prior to the next FDA Codex meeting May 18th. By now I'm sure you must recognize that there is an international groundswell of _OUTRAGE_ against the WTO. See http://indymedia.org for an ACCURATE picture of what REALLY happened in Seattle. I was there. I saw what went on with my own two eyes. Everyone on the IAHF email distribution list is painfully aware of the grossly undemocratic way in which the WTO and UN operate. They are outraged that they are being "represented" at Codex by someone who was never elected, who can't be voted out of office, and who routinely ignores the people, Congress, and the Courts- by someone who clearly regards herself to be above the law: Beth Yetley. This goes directly against our whole system of representative government and it is very disturbing to us. People are outraged that the United States with our large population doesn't have any more voting power in this sham of a Codex process than tiny little Norway, tiny little Togo, and other tiny little countries many of which don't even MANUFACTURE dietary supplements and whose populace has no experience with them. So: Another question I'd like to ask is this: Have you ever been on the website of Global Trade Watch and seen the section called "Harmonization Alert"? http://www.tradewatch.org It shows numerous examples in which the so called Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO making rulings wherein they threaten to impose trade sanctions against broad segments of our economy unless we "harmonize" our laws to international standards. I just want to know if you've reviewed this site, and if not WHY NOT? There needs to be a dialogue about this. In 1989 I had a meeting with Dr.Gary Dykstra in the Parklawn Building. He brought about 50 other people into his office when we met. I was not intimidated. Feel free to do the same thing again- the more of you who hear what I have to say the better. He was attempting to do things that threatened my life and the lives of others and I needed to talk face to face with him. I feel the same need today, to have a dialogue with you and to see some transparancy and fairness in this process which seems entirely too.... OPAQUE. That is.... highly NON TRANSPARENT! For the sake of reassurance that you are not in fact attempting to assist the multinatinal corporations make an end run around current US dietary supplement laws, I need to meet with you face to face. It is painfully obvious to us that we have NO VOICE in this process! At the two Codex meetings I've been to in Germany I could neither vote, nor speak, and my views clearly carry NO WEIGHT with Dr.Yetley who I have ON VIDEO endorsing the position of CRN... I have her and Hathcock on TAPE and its been on the world wide web for TWO YEARS along with footage of the German Chair of the meeting demanding that I turn my camcorder OFF! (So much for transparancy.) Rather than aid and abet the forces of evil, wouldn't all of you at FDA sleep better if you could truly know in your heart of hearts that you are REALLY protecting the public health? Wouldn't you sleep better if you were taking dangerous drugs OFF the market and not approve them in the first place rather than harrass safe vitamin substances? I have discussed all of this candidly with my friend Michelle Brill Edwards,MD, formerly with the Canadian HPB. Dr.Edwards was fired for being a whistle blower. She tried to get nefedipine removed from the Canadian market due to its extreme toxicity. She has had death threats, and despite them she has bravely spoken publicly to expose the mindset of HPB, and FDA officials- how many are not doing their jobs properly, and how they are corruptly targetting dietary supplements on behalf of powerful pharmaceutical interests. I really do need to meet face to face with you guys to discuss this stuff. I represent thousands of vitamin consumers world wide, not just Americans, and everyone sees the game you're trying to play, but its not working any more. Now you've got the Grocery Manufacturers of America on your backsides and they've got VERY deep pockets! Please, FDA, I extend to you the olive branch of peace. I have never come to DC armed with anything more menacing than a camcorder, but to you guys, that appears to be a VERY BIG THREAT! It is my hope that we can have a constructive dialogue about these matters. When I see you next I will be wearing a press pass from the American Media Center, a bonifide press organization with a website and live human beings who answer the phone and maintain a database on their members.
