(Alliance for Natural Health)
http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/index.cfm?action=news&ID=181
ANH PRESS RELEASE: ANH Landmark Legal Challenge - The Verdict!
The European Courts of Justice today handed down its judgment and the
ruling is far from doom and gloom! See ANH's preliminary interpretation
below...
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg today announced that it is
upholding most aspects of the controversial EU Food Supplements
Directive, after a landmark legal challenge by the Alliance for Natural
Health.
The initial reaction amongst many commentators was that this was
disappointing news, as it contradicted the EU Advocate General’s
recommendation that the directive should be invalidated in its entirety
and allowed a 'positive list' system for nutrients.
But on closer analysis there is a silver lining to the judgment. There
appear to be very significant and positive details within the verdict
which vindicate the arguments presented to the Court by ANH and which
may be beneficial to the millions who use vitamin and mineral
supplements and key to everything that ANH has been campaigning for all
along.
At the heart of the Food Supplements Directive (FSD) is the ‘positive
list’ of vitamin and mineral ingredients allowed for use under the
Directive. To get an ingredient onto the positive list, manufacturers
have to go through an onerous process to prove that each natural
ingredient is safe. With this process costing up to or even more than
£250,000 (pounds sterling) per ingredient, and vitamin and mineral
supplement manufacturers typically being small companies, that would
effectively lead to an ingredient being excluded, even if it came from
natural sources that had been part of the human diet for thousands of years.
With the ruling from the European Court, coupled with the Industry’s
response in submitting large numbers of ‘simplified dossiers’, the
wide-reaching bans that were anticipated on 1 August, will now, in our
opinion, not occur.
In summary, the preliminary analysis of the European Court’s judgment by
ANH’s legal and scientific team indicates:
1. Bans of natural vitamins and minerals not on the positive list
that are “normally found in or consumed as part of the diet” will now
not occur.
2. There must be a greater degree of clarity on what information
companies need to submit to admit an ingredient to the positive list.
3. Once an ingredient is submitted for consideration the positive
list, it cannot be refused unless a full safety assessment, based on
“the most reliable scientific data available and the most recent results
of international research” proves the ingredient (or dosage) is unsafe.
This returns considerable burden of proof to the Regulator, rather than
it being placed only on Industry. Also, any refusal can still be
challenged in the courts.
ANH will release much more detailed information on the interpretation of
the European Court’s judgement in due course, and will be making
submissions directly to the European Commission, the European Food
Safety Authority, competent authorities in EU Member States, and other
relevant organisations.
ANH remains committed to the Food Supplements Directive, where it is
doing its job properly as it provides a ‘safe harbour’ for natural food
sources of vitamins and minerals, that can prevent them being considered
as medicines. ANH is also ready and willing to work closely with the
European Commission institutions, providing its professional expertise
to ensure that the processes in the Food Supplement Directive are indeed
based on good law and good, leading-edge science, which have been
central to ANH’s approach from the outset.
If this interpretation of today’s ruling is correct, it may be that the
‘David and Goliath’ challenge brought by the Alliance for Natural Health
will have a positive outcome for the millions who choose leading-edge,
natural products to support their health.
See ANH Press Release click here.
Date: 12-Jul-05
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.9.0/50 - Release Date: 7/16/2005
--
The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver.
Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org
To post, address your message to: [email protected]
Silver List archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html
Address Off-Topic messages to: [email protected]
OT Archive: http://escribe.com/health/silverofftopiclist/index.html
List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
