Отправка: LefDailyNews
Blair Opposes EU's Directive to Outlaw Up to 5,000 Vitamins
The Independent - London
06-30-05
Up to 5,000 vitamin and food supplements could be swept from the shelves of health-food
shops under an EU directive due to come into force on 1 August.
Campaigners warn that despite a European ruling that the Food Supplements Directive
is illegal, an amended version could be used to ban products used by a third
of British women and a quarter of men.
Tony Blair, who raised the issue in talks with EU leaders this month, is known
to oppose the directive on the grounds that consumers should be free to choose
and the state should not interfere in products that do not cause harm. 'He is
driven on this by his anti-regulation instincts. But he is probably also influenced
by Cherie,' a source said.
Cherie Blair is reportedly a user of vitamins and supplements and her former
personal assistant Carole Caplin campaigns on the issue.
Opponents of the directive say the Government is leaving it too late to influence
the European Commission before a ruling by the European Court of Justice on 12
July.
Jenny Seagrove, the actress, said: 'In the past fortnight we have heard new evidence
about ibuprofen's link with heart attacks, yet here we have vitamins and supplements
being swept off the shelves that never harmed anybody. Who is going to benefit
when the supplements market shrinks? The pharmaceutical companies. '
Sue Croft, of Consumers for Health Choice, said: 'We can't sit and wait for the
EU Commission to make a decision. We need to persuade them now. The Government
promised before the election that it did not want to see products lost that were
legitimately on the market. There are 200 nutrients and nutrient sources that
could be banned, affecting 5,000 products.'
The EU directive is designed to tighten controls on the market for products sold
as natural remedies, vitamin supplements and health foods. Instead of allowing
a vitamin or mineral to be sold unless it has been proved harmful, the directive
insists that only those proved safe can be sold. Permissible doses will also
be capped.
The directive approves 140 substances for use in supplements " fewer than half
of those in use. Substances can be added to the list only if a scientific dossier
has been compiled and approved by the European Food Safety authority. That would
cost from pounds 80,000 to pounds 250,000 per product.
In April the Advocate-General at the European Court of Justice, Leendert Geelhoed,
declared the directive illegal. He found that the procedure for adding supplements
to the approved list was confusing and said the directive had 'the transparency
of a black box'. But he said the principle of an approved list conforms to EU
law.
The directive was approved by EU governments in 2002 and manufacturers given
until the end of July 2005 to prove their ingredients safe. More than 300 doctors
and scientists wrote a letter of protest to Tony Blair, one million people signed
a petition, and there were motions opposing the law from both the Commons and
the Lords.
Supplements under threat
n NATURE'S PLUS SOURCE OF LIFE
Contains banned amino acid chelates of magnesium, iron and calcium, zinc picolinate,
and selenomethionine.
Vitamin doses too high.
n VIRIDIAN TRACE
MINERAL COMPLEX
Banned boron, vanadium, chromium picolinate, manganese chelate and selenomethionine.
n VITABIOTICS MENOPACE
Contains boron, chromium picolinate, and selenomethionine, plus other nutrients.
n VIRIDIAN HIGH-FIVE
B-COMPLEX
B-vitamins in too-high doses plus magnesium ascorbate.
n HOLLAND & BARRETT VITAMIN C-1,000 mg WITH BIOFLAVONOIDS Dose unacceptable to
EU.
n HOLLAND & BARRETT SELENIUM
Contains banned selenium yeast.
n HOLLAND & BARRETT ABC PLUS
Vanadium, nickel, tin and boron.
n SOLGAR POTASSIUM AMINO ACID COMPLEX
Banned forms of potassium.
n SOLGAR CHELATED MOLYBDENUM
No molybdenum allowed.
--
Дискуссионный лист сайта Bessmertie.Ru
