Vitamins: The net closes in on consumer choice

Codex, the self-appointed group that will determine what vitamins we will be allowed to have and at what levels, is moving closer to a very restricted market – and it’s all for our own good.
The group is working closely with regulators across Europe and America in order to create a uniform market that will see some nutritionals disappear altogether while restricting the potency of those that are left.
Its basic premises are that nutritional supplements can be dangerous, and that health claims for them are unjustified. 
It took a step closer to realizing its goals last week at a meeting in Germany, where five of the eight steps for a controlled, globalized market were approved.  The final three are expected to be ratified next year in South Africa.
Not surprisingly, perhaps, the Codex position is almost identical with that of the EU’s, which is passing legislation to restrict nutritionals throughout Europe. The EU has been very heavily influenced by Germany’s Federal Risk Assessment Institute, an organization of which Codex’s chairman Dr Rolf Grossklaus also happens to be a member.
The health freedom group, the National Health Federation, was one of the few voices raised against Codex at the meeting last week.  Its scientific advisor Dr Robert Verkerk described Codex as “a passport system for big business”, and its President Scott Tips added: “This plays into the hands of those proponents of big government who dream of having the power to control every aspect of our lives.”
(Source: ANH press release).