http://capwiz.com/liberty/issues/alert/?alertid=6938731&type=CO


Informant: omnisprinter

Common Cause

posted 02/07/05

Tell United States Senators not to support changing long standing Senate filibuster rules to blatantly advance one party's goals.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=6784145&url_num=9&url=http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=317178&en=6oJJIPOkF6KCIIOjF9JLLNNjF8JLL0MDLjIIJMNoFgKVJ7K


From Moving Ideas Network

posted 02/04/05

Senate to vote on bill that would dramatically curtail the rights of consumers to pursue class action claims.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=6784145&url_num=6&url=http://www.movingideas.org/content/en/on_the_hill/class_action_fairness_act_2005.htm

We urgently need your help to protect the wildlife and people living along our borders, as well as to ensure the purity and safety of our air, water, and wild lands.

Tomorrow Congress could vote on a bill that would allow the Homeland Security Department to IGNORE ALL FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION LAWS, effectively giving them free reign to destroy national parks, forests, monuments, wildlife refuges, and wilderness areas along our borders.

Click here to send a free fax to your Representative urging him or her to vote NO on these unnecessary and harmful exemptions before it's too late! Or if you're a registered user, simply hit "reply" then hit "send" and we'll send the letter below on your behalf:
http://www.saveourenvironment.org/ctt.asp?u=2205119&l=5912

This legislation will allow the Homeland Security Department to completely ignore long-standing laws like the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. That means increased risks of air and water pollution for all of us.

Many of our border areas run through national parks, forests and monuments, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas and other environmentally sensitive areas. This bill could have a devastating impact on some of our last remaining wild lands!

Our border areas are home to hundreds of species of endangered plants and animals. If the Homeland Security Department is allowed to sidestep all environmental protection laws, animals already on the brink of extinction like grizzly bears, jaguars, and wolves could vanish forever.

Not only are these exemptions dangerous, they also appear to be unnecessary. Not one single Congressional hearing has illustrated a need for these broad exemptions. Never before has any federal agency been provided with such a breadth of unjustified exemptions from our laws.

We need your help to stop this legislation today! The House is expected to vote on this bill as early as tomorrow February 10, 2005, so there's no time to spare. Click here to take action now!
http://www.saveourenvironment.org/ctt.asp?u=2205119&l=5912

We also need your help to spread the word about this dangerous legislation. Once you have taken action, please forward this email to your friends, family and co-workers and urge them to contact their Representatives too!

Thank you for your help!

Sincerely,

Katelyn Sabochik
Online Campaign Manager
info@saveourenvironment.org



Dear Representative,

I am extremely concerned about the sweeping exemptions from the landmark laws that protect our air, water, land and wildlife that would be given to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security if H.R. 418, The Real ID Act of 2005 were to become law. The bill includes unprecedented language allowing the secretary of Homeland Security to exempt the agency from all federal, state and local environmental laws when constructing walls, fences, roads and other barriers along U.S. borders. I strongly urge you to vote NO on this unnecessary and excessive piece of damaging legislation.

It is critical to note that this provision is not limited to a single fencing project along the San Diego border, but would apply to all areas along and "in the vicinity" of our international boundaries with both Mexico and Canada. Under this sweeping waiver, Homeland Security would be free to undertake large construction projects anywhere along our borders without oversight, accountability or legal constraints - from the densely populated border communities in California, Texas and Washington, to the remote wilderness of Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona, to the pristine islands and waters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota. Never before has any federal agency been provided with such a breadth of unjustified exemptions from environmental laws.

We are a nation founded on the rule of law. To place any federal official above any law of their choosing - whether environmental, labor or civil rights - is a step that should not be taken lightly. In addition, Homeland Security has not demonstrated a need to waive any or all laws. In fact, there has not been a single congressional hearing that has illustrated a need for these broad exemptions. Furthermore, the removal of all avenues of judicial review is a direct affront to the most basic principles of checks and balances and separation of powers in our Constitution. We believe that it is possible to ensure border security while shielding the public and the environment from harm and have not seen evidence otherwise.

We strongly urge you to reject this attempt to include language that would allow Homeland Security to waive environmental laws or other important health and safety statutes.

Sincerely,
[your name here]

Please quickly sign this important petition for ELECTION REFORM -- cosponsored by Boxer and Clinton

The following letter is from Hilary Clinton. She and Barbara Boxer (our hero from Jan 6, 2004) are cosponsoring a bill for ELECTION REFORM.

And they need YOU to sign their petition:
http://activate.friendsofhillary.com/t?ctl=B7E7C5:3302CBE

It literally takes A SPLIT SECOND to sign. So, please do sign it RIGHT NOW, and then forward to others.

It is vitally important that you sign, EVEN if you somehow remain convinced that the last 2 elections were completely legitimate.

Thank you!!!
Kai


Dear Friends,

It's time to tell those who celebrate elections and voter participation in countries around the world that we must make sure every vote is counted in elections right here at home! That's why I am asking you to sign on now as a citizen co-sponsor of vitally important election reform legislation.

Sign the petition:
http://activate.friendsofhillary.com/t?ctl=B7E7C5:3302CBE

Next week, I will introduce the Count Every Vote Act of 2005, co-sponsored by Senator Barbara Boxer. This comprehensive election reform bill will:
- Provide a verified paper ballot for every vote cast in electronic voting machines;
- Set a uniform standard for provisional ballots, so that every qualified voter within the state will know their votes are treated equally and will be counted; and
- Require the Federal Election Assistance Commission to issue standards that ensure uniform access to voting machines and election personnel in every community. It's outrageous that some people in predominantly minority communities had to wait up to 10 hours to vote, while people in other communities often voted in minutes!

In 2004, I introduced legislation similar to the Count Every Vote Act. But, it never saw the light of day. I couldn't even get a hearing for my bill before the Senate Rules Committee. We can't allow this new legislation to suffer the same fate.

The Republicans who control Congress don't want to address this issue. So, we've got to build grassroots momentum to make sure they don't have any choice but to act. That's why I am determined to keep moving forward - on the Hill, with advocacy groups, and with all of you!

Sign the petition:
http://activate.friendsofhillary.com/t?ctl=B7E7C5:3302CBE

Will you join me in calling for action to Count Every Vote? Will you sign up to become a citizen co-sponsor of this bill, so that we can demonstrate that the American people won't sit still for inaction on legislation so essential to our freedom?

Please forward this e-mail to your friends, and ask them to join us.

And then, consider making a contribution to Friends of Hillary to help us keep this important project going.

Make a contribution:
http://activate.friendsofhillary.com/t?ctl=B7E7C7:3302CBE

Together, we will restore the credibility of American democracy, and make sure that we count every vote.

Sincerely,
Hillary Rodham Clinton


P.S. You have been such a good friend and supporter, and I appreciate everything you have done. The Count Every Vote Act is one of the most important bills I will ever introduce as a Senator. I hope you will be able to help me now.

Please help spread the word by forwarding this message to your friends and family!

To view the Friends of Hillary Privacy Policy, please visit:
http://activate.friendsofhillary.com/t?ctl=B7E7C9:3302CBE

All content copyright 2005 Friends of Hillary

Paid for by Friends of Hillary, 1717 K Street, NW, Suite 309A,
Washington, D.C. 20036
Karyn Kai Anderson, PhD, MPH
KKA_AUG18@yahoo.com
410-889-4176

Action Alert

Terminate the Terminator
http://www.organicconsumers.org/un.htm

Sign Petition to United Nations
http://www.organicconsumers.org/un.htm#factoryfarm


Informant: garden beekeeper

--------

Email this article to a friend!

Stop GE terminator technology

ETC Group received confidential documents stating the ministers from Canada intend to force overturning the international moratorium on genetic seed sterilization known as terminator technology, at a United Nations meeting in Bangkok February 7-11. It is not too late to stop this assault by the Canadian government.

ETC Group, IATP, along with indigenous and farmer groups are calling on people to write the Canadian government and urge them to continue supporting the international moratorium on terminator technology.

A draft letter can be found here:
http://foodfirst.org/action/2005/terminator.html

For more information:
http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=498

--------

From: Phil Silberman

Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 11:30 PM
To: 'John Grove'
Subject: FW: FW:URGENT ACTION ALERT!!!

Check this out..

The ETC Group (Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration) headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada issued a press release (posted below) on Monday.

They received a confidential memo that reveals that at a United Nations meeting this week in Bangkok, the Canadian government will attempt to overturn an international moratorium on Terminator seed technology.

The Campaign has launched an ACTION ALERT in response:
http://www.thecampaign.org/alert_terminator.php

Terminator seeds are genetically engineered to be sterile and thereby prevent farmers from saving seed. This is an extremely risky and controversial technology. Some scientists worry about what could happen if the terminator is unleashed on the environment. They fear that terminator technology could migrate from one farm to another, or from a farm to wild plants.

And activists in developing nations are concerned that the technology would put too much power in the hands of a few international agribusinesses.

The Campaign has set up an ACTION ALERT that allows you to send an instant e-mail to the following Canadian officials:
1) Prime Minister Paul Martin
2) Hon. Andy Mitchell, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
3) F.B. Fadden, President, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Visit the following web address to TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://www.thecampaign.org/alert_terminator.php

Thanks for taking the time to contact these Canadian government officials.


Craig Winters
President
The Campaign
PO Box 55699
Seattle, WA 98155
Tel: 425-771-4049
E-mail: label@thecampaign.org
Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org



Date: February 7, 2005

ETC Group
News Release
7 February 2005
http://www.etcgroup.org

Canadian Government to Unleash Terminator Bombshell at UN Meeting: All-out push for commercialisation of Sterile Seed Technology

A confidential document leaked today to ETC Group reveals that the Canadian government, at a United Nations meeting in Bangkok (Feb 7-11), will attempt to overturn an international moratorium on genetic seed sterilisation technology (known universally as Terminator). Even worse, the Canadian government has instructed its negotiators to "block consensus" on any other option.

"Canada is about to launch a devastating kick in the stomach to the world's most vulnerable farmers - the 1.4 billion people who depend on farm saved seed," said ETC Group Executive Director Pat Mooney speaking from Ottawa. "The Canadian government is doing the dirty work for the multinational gene giants and the US government. Even Monsanto wasn't prepared to be this upfront and nasty. Canada is betraying Farmers' Rights and food sovereignty everywhere."

Terminator technology was first developed by the US government and the seed industry to prevent farmers from re-planting saved seed and is considered the most controversial and immoral agricultural application of genetic engineering so far. When first made public in 1998, "suicide seeds" triggered an avalanche of public opposition, forcing Monsanto to abandon the technology and prompting the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to impose a de facto moratorium on its further development. According to the leaked instructions to Canadian negotiators at SBSTTA 10 (a scientific advisory body to the CBD), Canada will insist on Wednesday (9 Feb.) that governments accept the field testing and commercialization of Terminator varieties (referred to as GURTS -- Genetic Use Restriction Technologies). Canada will also attack an official UN report, prepared by an international expert group, which is critical of the potential impacts of Terminator seeds on small farmers and Indigenous Peoples. In stark contrast to Canada's position, the expert report recommends that governments seek prohibitions on the technology.

In Bangkok, civil society and Indigenous Peoples are calling on the Canadian government to abandon its endorsement of Terminator and to join with other governments to prohibit the technology once and for all. Many African and Asian governments have called for Terminator to be banned and the European Union has also been supportive of the existing moratorium.

"It is outrageous that Canada is backing an anti-farmer technology and shameful that it will 'block consensus' on any other outcome. Governments from around the world must not accept this bullying tactic," says ETC Group's Hope Shand from the negotiations in Bangkok. "If Canada blocks decision-making on this issue, the moratorium will be in jeopardy and terminator seeds will be commercialized ending up in the fields of small farmers."

The full leaked text of the Canadian government's instructions to its negotiators on Terminator/GURTS follows.

Hope Shand and Jim Thomas of ETC Group can be contacted at SBSTTA negotiations in Bangkok on cell phone +44 (0) 7752 106806 or by email jim@etcgroup.org or hope@etcgroup.org

Pat Mooney (in Ottawa) +1 (613) 241-2267 etc@etcgroup.org
Kathy Jo Wetter (USA) +1 (919) 960-5223 email kjo@etcgroup.org

The Head of the Canadian Delegation in Bangkok is Robert McLean, Environment Canada email Robert.Mclean@ec.gc.ca tel +1 (819) 997-1303



"Advice on the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTS);

Canada has major reservations regarding the recommendations in the AHTEG report. Canada notes that the experts were unable to reach consensus and that while this is recognized in para. 15 of the report, this should have been made clear in the recommendation section of the report. Unfortunately, the report leaves the impression that consensus was achieved on all of the recommendations when this was clearly not case and in particular in terms of recommendation (b) which reads as follows, "In view of the current lack of data, recommends that Parties and other Governments consider the development of regulatory frameworks not to approve GURTs for field-testing and commercial use."

Canada will suggest that the document clearly indicate in the Annex that there is no consensus on for the recommendations. Alternatively, the AHTEG report can be referred to as the "Chairs' report". Canada also believes that the AHTEG report contains scientific inaccuracies and a lack of balance in terms of reflecting both potential positive and negative impacts of this technology, and these issues should be addressed before the report is further distributed. We believe that it would be beneficial for Parties and other governments to submit comments to the Executive Secretary/CHM to represent national views to improve the accuracy of the document, and that these be made available to both the 8j working group and COP.

Additionally, Canada will propose that SBSTTA adopt a recommendation for decision at COP8 based on the revised wording of recommendation "b" below and will propose this recommendation be incorporated for consideration at the 8j meeting:

NEW WORDING for recommendation b) of AHTEG report
(b) In view of the current lack of data, recommend that Parties and other Governments consider the development of domestic regulatory frameworks TO ALLOW FOR THE EVALUATION OF NOVEL VARIETIES, INCLUDING THOSE WITH GURTS, FOR FIELD TESTING AND COMMERCIAL USE BASED ON PROPRIATE SCIENCE-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL RISK/SAFETY ASSESSMENTS.

In Canada's opinion the revised wording we are suggesting, strengthens the recommendation and provides for a strong scientific assessment of risk.

If we are unsuccessful in obtaining these additions (indication that recommendations in the AHTEG report were not based on consensus OR agreement to have national views submitted) AND changes to recommendation "B" --or any other outcome which clearly addresses our concern over a defacto moratorium on GURTS-- Canada is prepared to block consensus on this issue."


Informant: oscully



Further proof---as if we needed any---that the world has lost its collective marbles. I can't imagine a single argument for advocating this practice in a sane world. Please send e-mails to the Canadian Prime Minister at pm@pm.gc.ca

Party leaders:

Copps.S@parl.gc.ca , Minister_Ministre@hc-sc.gc.ca , just@parl.gc.ca , jack@fed.ndp.ca , Harper.S@parl.gc.ca , Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca

Government Newsroom
newsroom@canada.gc.ca

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
http://www.agr.gc.ca

Plant Gene Resources of Canada
http://pgrc3.agr.gc.ca/

Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration
http://www.agr.gc.ca/pfra/

Canadian Wheat Board
http://www.cwb.ca/en/index.jsp

All government emails in pasteable form at:
http://ghostchild.com/Canadian_Government_Email_list.htm

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS INFORMATION WIDELY


ETC Group
News Release
Friday, February 11, 2005
http://www.etcgroup.org/

Suicide Seeds - Bombshell in Bangkok

Canadian-Led Coup to Allow Terminator Technology Narrowly Squelched at UN Meeting

Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian farmer who was sued by Monsanto, spoke today at a UN meeting in Bangkok - harshly criticizing his governments' efforts to promote field-testing and commercialization of Terminator seeds (plants genetically-modified to render seeds sterile at harvest time).

"The Canadian government has acted shamefully. It is supporting a dangerous, anti-farmer technology that aims to eliminate the rights of farmers to save and re-use harvested seed," said Schmeiser. "Instead of representing the good will of the Canadian people or attending to the best interests of the Biodiversity Treaty, the Canadian government is fronting for the multinational gene giants who stand to win enormous profits from the release of Terminator seeds around the world."

Schmeiser is the 74-year old Canadian farmer who was sued by Monsanto for patent infringement when the company's patented, genetically modified canola seed invaded his farm - unwanted and unwelcome. A victim of genetic pollution and a champion of Farmers' Rights, Schmeiser courageously fought Monsanto all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court.

A Canadian government proposal to unleash Terminator was leaked to the ETC Group on the first day of a UN meeting in Bangkok, February 7-11 (SBSTTA, the scientific advisory body to the Convention on Biological Diversity - CBD). The news stunned farmers' organizations, government delegations, and civil society worldwide. Ottawa's instructions to the Canadian delegation in Bangkok called for an all-out push for field-testing and commercialisation of sterile seed technologies, effectively un-doing the precautionary, de facto moratorium on Terminator seeds adopted by governments in 1998. Even worse, the Canadian delegation was instructed to "block consensus" by governments attending the meeting if it didn't get its way. ETC Group has also learned that, in advance of the Bangkok meeting, Canadian embassies around the world asked governments to support a recommendation for "field testing and commercial use" of Terminator.

Canada's blatant promotion of an anti-South technology does not bode well for the G8 meeting of world leaders in July in Scotland where Canada will propose to introduce nanotechnology on the G-8 agenda.

After being swamped this week by protest emails and letters, the Canadian government was forced to soften its public position on Terminator, but it continued to press a solidly pro-Terminator view in the corridors and in a committee appointed to negotiate draft text on Terminator. (The drafting group on Terminator included representatives from Canada, the European Community, Peru, Tanzania, and the Philippines.) By Thursday morning Canada and its seed industry allies had drafted text that included language promoting Terminator field trials, capacity building for the use of Terminator in the developing world and specifically invited the research participation of "private sector entities."

"The draft text on Terminator released Thursday morning was appalling - it looked like it was written by the multinational seed industry," said Jim Thomas of ETC Group, speaking from Bangkok. "It strongly reflected the Canadian government 's pro-Terminator position as revealed earlier this week in the leaked document."

Suicide Seed Squad: Canada hasn't been working alone in Bangkok. The UN meeting was crawling with representatives from the biotech industry and related trade groups - including Monsanto, Delta & Pine Land, Crop Life International, PHARMA (pharmaceutical manufacturers), the International Seed Federation and more - who lobbied against current restrictions on the development of suicide seeds. New Zealand and Australia also backed the position of industry and Canada, while a fleet of US government representatives observed from the sidelines. (The US government is not a Party to the Biodiversity Convention.)

Thankfully, disaster was averted due to key interventions by the governments of Norway, Sweden, Austria, the European Community, Cuba, Peru and Liberia, on behalf of the African Group. The good news is that these governments managed to delete the most offensive wording. The final text and recommendations reaffirm earlier decisions, amounting to a continuing, but fragile, de facto moratorium on Terminator. The issue now bounces to another CBD advisory body (the Working Group on 8(j)) in March 2006.

Interminable Terminator? The bad news is that decisions made in Bangkok will allow the issue of Terminator to be re-examined and re-studied interminably. In ETC Group's view, the CBD continues to dilly-dally and delay decisions on Terminator while the industry is moving full-speed ahead to bring sterile seeds to market.

"The international community needs to know that Terminator technology is a real and present danger. The biotech industry is chomping on the bit to commercialize suicide seeds. Nothing short of an all-out ban on Terminator will stop it from being unleashed in farmer's fields," said Hope Shand of ETC Group.

For more information:

Pat Mooney, ETC Group (Canada) etc@etcgroup.org:
Hope Shand and Kathy Jo Wetter, ETC Group (USA) hope@etcgroup.org: 919 960-5223

Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group (Mexico) silvia@etcgroup.org: 52 55 55 632 664 Jim Thomas, ETC Group (UK) jim@etcgroup.org: 44 (0)7752 106806 (mobile)



Canada Backs Terminator Seeds

By John Vidal

The Guardian U.K.

Wednesday 09 February 2005

An international moratorium on the use of one of the world's most controversial GM food technologies may be broken today if the Canadian government gets seed sterilisation backed at a UN meeting.

Leaked documents seen by the Guardian show that Canada wants all governments to accept the testing and commercialisation of "terminator" crop varieties. These are genetically engineered to produce only infertile seeds which farmers cannot replant.

Jointly patented by the GM company Monsanto and the US government, the technology was condemned in the late 1990s by many African and Asian governments who called for a permanent ban.

Monsanto and other GM companies which were developing similar technologies voluntarily pulled out of research after concerns were also raised about the "terminator" genes spreading to non-GM crops, and international outrage that poor farmers would not be able to use seeds from their crops, as they have always done.

But leaked instructions to Canadian government negotiators at the Bangkok meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, a group which advises the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity, show that Canada will request today that all countries open their doors to the technology.

The papers, leaked to the environment group ETC, also show that the Canadian government will attack an official UN report critical of the potential impact of "terminator" seeds on small farmers and indigenous peoples. The report recommends that governments prohibit the technology.

The Canadian government team in Bangkok was last night unavailable for comment.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021005X.shtml


Alfred Lambremont Webre, JD, Med
ICIS-Institute for Cooperation in Space
3339 West 41 Avenue
Vancouver, BC V6N3E5 CANADA
Tel: 604-733-8134
Fax: 604-733-8135
Email: alw@peaceinspace.com
Campaign: http://www.peaceinspace.org
Exopolitics: http://www.exopolitics.com
ICIS: http://www.peaceinspace.com


Informant: Bea Bernhausen

RED ALERT!

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=75513;show_parent=1

There has been much misunderstanding, and dare I say it, misinformation, regarding the EU Food Supplements Directive and ANH’s legal challenge to it.

As ANH Partners and Members it is vital that you understand what is really going on and I am going to attempt in this letter to put you in the picture.

It is quite involved and may take a little time to read but I urge you to persevere as your continued access to quality and effective food supplements depends on YOU taking appropriate informed action.

What’s wrong with the Food Supplements Directive?

The British Government and many MPs and MEPs when asked about the Food Supplements Directive (“FSD”) will insist that it is a good piece of EU legislation because it harmonises the currently very different laws of all EU Members States in respect of food supplements and ensures high quality standards at the same time. Thereby trade in supplements is increased across the EU and consumers can feel safe.

Seems reasonable you might be thinking.

But what is the price tag?

6 key things principally;

The FSD reverses the burden of proof as regards showing that food supplements are safe. Previously a food supplement could generally be sold as food unless the Regulator could prove scientifically that it is unsafe. (This is the position in the USA for example under DSHEA). Now in the EU it will be for the manufacturer to prove at great cost that it is harmless before he can sell it. It creates a very restricted list (known as the “positive list”) of allowable nutrients which favours synthetic nutrients over those much closer to how they are found in nature. It will, in time set what are anticipated to be very low maximum doses of nutrients In order to get on the positive list of allowable nutrients a technical and very costly Dossier will required which may or may not ultimately be acceptable to the EU Regulators.

If a nutrient (or its source) is not on the restricted list it will be banned across the EU from 1 August 2005 regardless of the fact that it was previously happily allowed to be sold in various EU Member States for perhaps many years.

At present the FSD only applies to vitamin & minerals. However it is a framework Directive and is intended in time to apply to all nutrients and their sources. So the negative pattern we see here applying now to vitamins and minerals will in time be applied to all nutrients.

So what have we got?

Under the guise of a harmonisation Directive ostensibly seeking to improve the supply of food supplements across the EU, we in fact end up with a measure which will ban many nutrients presently on sale in the EU.

And for those that get through, the maximum dose levels are likely to be very impotent.

The Directive thus defeats the whole purpose for which many people take food supplements, namely to supplement their diet in order to promote optimal well being through the addition of key vital nutrients which they cannot get in their normal diets any more (unless they happen to live in an organic tropical paradise).

The fact that the FSD has a negative effect is impossible to hide.

The UK Government when it undertook its Regulatory Impact Assessment (measuring the impact of the implementation of the FSD in the UK) concluded that on balance the FSD had a negative cost / benefit for the UK and conceded that the ban on nutrients which are currently allowed to be sold in the UK (unless they get requalified by submission of a dossier) was “unnecessary”.

You’ll see many statistics flying around but in essence we are looking at the ban of around 75% of the vitamin and mineral sources (“forms”) currently on the EU market. This will translate into a banning of some 300 vitamin and mineral ingredients and possibly around 5000 products currently available.

Now remember, if this is what is happening to vitamins and minerals now what will happen to all other nutrients in the future?

Keep well in mind the 3 FSD bogey men:

The reversal of the burden of proof

The restricted list of allowable nutrients unless proved harmless at huge cost

The very low potencies which will be allowed even if a nutrient gets through and onto the positive list

In summary what the FSD is really doing is to impose quite arbitrarily and unnecessarily, a drugs style licensing regime on food supplements or more particularly on food nutrients which hitherto we have been eating happily for thousands of years!

Well if this is so bad you might be asking how on earth did it get passed into EU law?

Indeed.

ANH has exhaustively researched this question and bottom line no one seems really to be able to justify what has happened.

The usual reason given is as I have explained above. The FSD will promote trade in safe food supplements across the EU.

And yes the price tag for the UK and other more liberal regimes may be high but that was the best we could get in our negotiations in Europe, so says the UK Government in particular.

But we say at ANH that the price is far too high and quite unnecesary and unacceptable.

The international Dimension

You might be reading this from a country outside the EU and thinking well that’s pretty tough for those Europeans but we’re ok here.

True for now, but perhaps not for long.

You may be aware that the EU has the dominant vote in the setting of Codex international standards for food. Thus what they want they can push through even if other countries protest.

This is a complex area of international law but in brief ANH and others are extremely concerned that an EU regime for the treatment of food supplements may be exported world wide under the auspices of Codex and made to have regulatory teeth through the WTO.

More, on this complicated subject in another letter.

But for the time being I repeat my point.

Bad things that happen in Europe may very well in time also negatively affect the rest of the world.

And that means YOU.

The ANH Legal Challenge

As you are well aware pretty early on ANH came to the view that the only way to deal with the FSD was to challenge it in the Courts and ultimately that meant bringing a case in the EU supreme court; the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”).

I will not bore you with the details of our case (for those who are interested, the key documents are available in the “ANH Legal Challenge” documents area of our web site).

But in essence we are saying the following.

Food supplements are food, not drug. Therefore they do not need a drugs style regulatory regime imposed upon them.

You do not need a license to sell food.

Under existing law throughout the EU, food is perfectly well regulated from a legal point of view ensuring quality and safety.

The Food Supplements Directive, if it really was intended to harmonise and promote the supply of safe food supplements across the EU, did not require a ban on nutrients which were not on the positive list.

It could have and indeed should have had merely a minimum list of acceptable nutrients which all Member States were obliged to accept across the EU (sometimes called a "White List"). Whilst leaving individual Member States free to allow a wider selection of nutrients to be used in food supplements within their particular borders if they wanted to.

Indeed we go further and argue that under EU law, the FSD,in imposing a sweeping and draconian ban across the EU without even attempting to provide a scientific justification or rationale, actually infringes EU law.

We conclude that the FSD should be allowed to remain and but should do its job properly.

Thus without the ban.

It would then act as a minimum white list of vitamin and mineral nutrients which all Member States would be obliged to accept across the EU.

That would increase trade.

What are our chances of success?

Cautiously we would say that we are optimistic. EU legal precedent is on our side.

The UK Government chose not to make present oral submissions at the Hearing of the case in the ECJ on 25 January 2005. Paul Lasok QC, our barrister said that in his experience it is most rare for the UK to not attend an oral hearing where it has filed Written Observations as it has done here.

The only Member State to present oral submissions was Greece.

And despite repeated questioning from the Advocate-General (a very senior independent lawyer who advises the ECJ in its deliberations), none of the Community Institutions were able to adequately explain exactly how the procedure for getting a nutrient on to the positive list actually works.

Indeed in some consternation the Advocate-general exclaimed at one point that as far as he could see it the procedure had “the transparency of a black box”.

Aside from being amusing this comment is significant because if the ECJ finds that there was no proper and transparent procedure for getting on the positive list that itself would be a ground for finding the ban as being unlawful under EU law.

As you will have seen from our press releases the Advocate-General will be giving is Opinion on 5th April 2005. This is not the judgment of the Court which will follow probably in June 2005. However as the ECJ tends to follow its Advocate-Generals' Opinions in 80% of cases this Opinion is going to be very significant.

What you can do

First and foremost please understand that we are all in this together.

It’s not a question of you helping the ANH with “its problem.”

No, rather we, together with you are in an alliance to protect the continued supply and availability of natural advanced and safe food supplements in the EU and indeed the world which are able to do their job properly.

What job?

Supplying vital micro-nutrients which are now missing from our western diet.

So when you help the Alliance you need to see that you are helping yourself and your family and those who are dear to you, to be able to maintain optimal health.

More particularly here are some key actions points for you:

Tell your friends and contacts about the problem and forward this and other ANH e-mails to them so that they know what is going on. Recruit your friends and contacts to join the Alliance.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW!


Remember that without you there is no Alliance!

Thanks for all that you do.

Yours in health!


David C. Hinde LLB Solicitor Legal Director Alliance for Natural Health http://www.alliance-natural-health.org

From: Angus

Help Establish a U.S. Department of Peace! A Call to Action

September 14th, 2005

HELP SPREAD THE WORD!

On September 14th, 2005, legislation to establish a U. S. Department of Peace will be re-introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The primary function of a United States Department of Peace will be to research, articulate and facilitate nonviolent solutions to domestic and international conflict. The Department of Peace will employ proven and effective strategies for reducing violence in our country and around world, including nonviolent communication skills, conflict resolution techniques and cultural relationship building.

Learn more at The Peace Alliance website:
http://www.ThePeaceAlliance.org

We need your support to help make this bill law -- by calling, faxing and/or emailing your representative and also by spreading the word to everyone you know (you can copy this alert and forward to your email address book.)

Nothing you can do will have as much impact as contacting your member of Congress on, right before or after, Wednesday, September 14th. Further instructions are given below.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

*** CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE *** Contact your Representative at the U.S. capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121. To find your Representative, visit http://www.vote-smart.org Tell the staffer who answers your call that you want your Representative to sign on as a co-sponsor of the Department of Peace legislation. Request a written response explaining your member's position and the reasoning behind it. (You can call your local office as well.) It is most effective if you call the D.C. office first, then follow-up with a fax or email.

*** WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE *** To write your Representative, click below to get started. This will allow you to send an email or a fax to your congressperson.

http://www.thepeacealliance.org/action

NOTE: you can first visit our website to see if your congressional representative is already a co-sponsor at: http://www.thepeacealliance.org/endorsements.htm If they are a co-sponsor, it is important that you still call to thank them and ask them to help garner more support with their colleagues in congress.

There will be no bill number assigned until after 11:00 a.m. eastern on the 14th. We will post the bill number on our website as soon as it is available on that day. In the meantime, just tell your Representative that you want them to support the Department of Peace bill. H.R. 1673 is last sessions bill number for reference. Call now and on the day the bill is re-introduced.

Please also call your senators and ask them to introduce the bill into the senate. Find your senators at http://www.vote-smart.org

Join us now. Create a Department of Peace. Help make history. Together, we can do this.

You can also contribute to our campaign by making a financial donation on our website at http://www.ThePeaceAlliance.org/donate, and by participating in and/or starting up a local campaign group. We already have active groups in more than 265 Congressional districts in over 46 states. Visit http://www.thepeacealliance.org/organize


HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE LEGISLATION:

-- Provide much-needed assistance for the efforts of city, county, and state governments in coordinating existing programs in their own communities, as well as programs newly developed and provided by the Dept. of Peace -- Teach violence prevention and mediation to America's school children -- Effectively treat and dismantle gang psychology -- Rehabilitate the prison population -- Build peace-making efforts among conflicting cultures both here and abroad -- Support our military with complementary approaches to ending violence -- Gather and coordinate information and recommendations from America's peace community -- The Department of Peace will create and administer a U.S. Peace Academy, acting as a sister organization to the U.S. Military Academy.

Learn more at http://www.ThePeaceAlliance.org


Informant: Martin Greenhut

--------

"The time for peace is now. At the dawn of a new millennium, there is no better time to review age old challenges with new thinking that peace is not only the absence of violence, but the presence of a higher evolution of human awareness.” ~Congressman Dennis Kucinich

Participate in an historic citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace, sponsored in the House of Representatives by Congressman Dennis Kucinich. This bill establishes nonviolence as an organizing principle of American society, providing the U.S. President with an array of peace-building policy options for domestic and international use. (The bills re-introduction for the 2005/2006 congressional session is forthcoming. To read our update, click here:
http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=20350866&u=185417

The Department would focus on nonmilitary peaceful conflict resolutions, prevent violence and promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights. Domestically, the Department would be responsible for developing policies which address issues such as domestic violence, child abuse, mistreatment of the elderly, and other issues of cultural violence. Internationally, the Department would gather research, analyze foreign policy and make recommendations to the President on how to address the root causes of war and intervene before violence begins, while improving national security, including the protection of human rights and the prevention and de-escalation of unarmed and armed international conflict.

Please read the following letter describing our latest organizational efforts to move this work for peace forward, followed by more information about the Department of Peace legislation and how you can help make it happen!

Please help us spread the word! Forward this email...

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE HISTORIC DoP LEGISLATION
(HR1673)

-Hold peace as an organizing principle in our society;

-Endeavor to promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights;

-Strengthen non-military means of peacemaking;

-Address matters both domestic and international in scope;

-Work to create peace, prevent violence, divert from armed conflict, use field-tested programs, and develop new structures in non-violent intervention, mediation, peaceful resolution of conflict, and structured mediation of conflict;

-Develop new programs that relate to the societal challenges of school violence, guns, racial or ethnic violence, violence against gays and lesbians, and police-community relations disputes.

-Facilitate the development of peace summits at which parties to a conflict may gather under carefully prepared conditions to promote non-violent communication and mutually beneficial solutions;

-Submit to the President recommendations for reductions in weapons of mass destruction, and make annual reports to the President on the sale of arms from the United States to other nations, with analysis of the impact of such sales on the defense of the United States and how such sales affect peace;

-Create new policies and incorporate existing programs that reduce drug and alcohol abuse;

-Develop new policies and incorporate existing policies regarding crime, punishment, and rehabilitation;

You can read the entire bill at http://www.DoPcampaign.org


More Dept. of Peace Information...

The Dept. of Peace was introduced into the House of Representatives by Congressman Dennis Kucinich and currently has over 54 congressional co-sponsors. This bill establishes nonviolence as an organizing principle of American society, providing the U.S. President with an array of peace-building policy options for domestic and international use. From international conflicts to domestic issues such as gang, school and domestic violence -- the DoP would systematically root out the core causes of violence in our culture. A Department of Peace is no new idea, George Washington was one of the first people to declare how important such an effort would be to creating real peace on Earth.

The thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery; the nineteenth amendment providing women's suffrage; the Civil Rights legislation of the 1960's, were all critically important shifts in direction for our nation. Yet they weren't efforts born from within congress, they were brought to the forefront by strategic, well organized, well funded efforts ignited out of the will of we the people -- citizens making demands -- that pushed these issues into the mainstream and got them passed into law.

Similarly, we believe the Dept. of Peace is such an effort, and worthy of our collective support. Over the course of history people have always dreamed of peace, but we have never had a broad-reaching, well-funded, systemic structure to help make it a reality. We know that as a nation, now is the time that we must cultivate a real and lasting peace- the consequences of not doing so are almost too difficult to imagine. The Dept. of Peace legislation provides substance and meaning to the political yearnings of our generation. It systematically applies the power of peace to the eradication of root causes of violence.

Please call your representative today and ask them to support the legislation (you can find your congressperson at http://www.congress.org). We have a step by step guide for how you can be an effective citizen advocate on our "Take Action" section of our website at: http://dopcampaign.org/action.htm

We hope that you will learn more about this legislation at our website: http://www.DoPcampaign.org


Please help us spread the word! Forward this email to everyone you know...

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiples it.

Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate, In fact violence merely increases hate.

So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

ORGANIZATIONAL ENDORSERS OF THE DoP LEGISLATION:

Amnesty International
Global Exchange
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Peace Action
N.O.W.
Veterans for Peace
Tikkun
and more...



The Peace Alliance and Foundation
PO Box 3259 - Center Line, Michigan 48015 USA
(586) 754-8105
http://www.thepeaceallaince.org -- info@thepeaceallaince.org