Warning on vitamin use

World Domination – Part I

This was the headline I came across on the BBC News web site last month: “Warning on Vitamin Use”

Unfortunately that’s not a misprint. Britons are being warned about the use of supplementary vitamins in what can only be described as a propaganda campaign designed to create a negative mindset toward vitamin, mineral and herbal supplements.

And who’s doing the warning? A regulatory office of the British government called the Food Standards Agency (FSA) – which is also telling UK citizens that anyone who eats a healthy, balanced diet doesn’t need any supplements at all. (More on that in a moment.)

And why is FSA sending out this negative message? The answer to that tells the tale of an economic and ideological battle with extremely damaging repercussions for dietary supplements in Europe, England and even the U.S.

Europe on the ropes

Imagine our worst nightmare about the FDA coming true. That’s a reasonable description of the current European Union (EU) plan to seriously limit the dosage and distribution of food supplements throughout Europe. For millions of health-conscious citizens in the EU, this nightmare is a reality.

This past April I sent you an e-Alert (“Writing on the Wall” 4/29/02) about the “European Union Directive on Dietary Supplements” passed in March by the European Parliament (the legislative body representing the 15 European Union countries). In that e-Alert I told you about the Directive timetable which calls for a transition period to review, revise, and implement the new regulations. In June of 2005, the following elements of the Directive are expected to become law:

Vitamin supplements will be classified as medical drugs and will be available by prescription only.
Dosages will be limited to “safe” levels, which in many cases will be too low to be effective.
Many supplement ingredients that are currently widely available will become illegal.

What are the health consequences of these restrictions, and what does it mean for the future of dietary supplements worldwide?

I hardly know where to start.

Invitation to poor health

First let’s look at who we’re dealing with.

The EU Directive states: “In order to ensure a high level of protection for consumers and facilitate their choice, the products that will be put on the market must be safe and bear adequate and appropriate labeling.”

The first half of that statement is widely recognized as pure bureaucratic double-speak. Consumer choice will not be facilitated, it will be severely reduced. And consumer protection will not be ensured, it will be deliberately withheld. Consumers currently enjoy a wide range of choice in their vitamin and herbal supplements. And many consumers rely on these supplements to help them prevent health problems and to fight specific diseases. Under the Directive, millions of European Union citizens will not be allowed to practice prevention as they wish, so any claim of facilitated choice and a high level of protection is a transparent deception.

You might wonder why the European Union would want its citizens to have less access to dietary supplements as a means to improve their health. For the answer to that, just follow the money. Without access to prevention, the citizens of EU countries will inevitably be forced to rely on prescription drugs. That, of course, will create a boost in profits for international pharmaceutical companies, some of whom just happen to have direct links to several influential European Union commissioners. For instance: one prominent EU commissioner from the Netherlands is also a member of the supervisory board of the second largest pharmaceutical company in the world – Merck, Sharp and Dohme.

The logic and economic motivation behind that “high level” of “facilitated” double-speak is all too clear.

Where it is & where it’s going

Meanwhile, back in the UK, things are not looking good. It’s now considered a certainty that when the drastically reduced list of allowed dietary supplements is enforced, as many as 2,000 or more health supplement stores will be forced to close. This will have grave consequences on both the health and economics of UK communities.

And it puts the government of the UK in a bind. On one hand, many outraged citizens and their representatives in the British Parliament are doing what they can to petition the government and the European Union to ease the restrictions of the Directive. On the other hand, the UK is a member of the EU and must abide by its laws. So there is clearly a sector of the government that simply wants to go along with the EU Directive while ignoring the overwhelming cry against it. Enter the FSA with what appears to be a campaign designed to change the public mindset about supplements. In so many words, the FSA is saying, “What’s the big fuss? They’re just vitamins – they don’t really do anything, and they’re VERY DANGEROUS at high levels.”

The FSA has stated that supplements are pointless for anyone who eats a healthy, balanced diet. Aside from the widespread disagreement on what exactly constitutes a proper diet, how many people do you know who eat anything close to a genuinely healthy and balanced diet? Dr. Ann Walker, a representative of the Health Supplements Information Service in the UK, told BBC News that, “the government’s own survey figures consistently show that the modern diet provides less than target levels of folic acid, iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium and B vitamins.”

Today, anyone in the UK who wishes to supplement their modern diet with these necessary nutrients can easily do so. But in a few short years all that will change.

There are many more issues to address on this topic. In tomorrow’s e-Alert I’ll tell you how the EU Directive may impact in very negative ways on the future of supplement availability in the U.S., give you specifics about the status of certain supplements within the Directive, and let you know what action you can take to lend your voice to the huge public outcry against these irresponsible restrictions.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute