Here's a former US diplomat, Edward Marks,
Summing up in the words of the secretary general of the UN, state sovereignty is no longer the absolute be-all and end-all of the international system. This thought, explicitly introduced by the secretary general to the 1999 Session of UN General Assembly, has opened a debate on the character of the international political environment.
The secretary general's comment reflects the recent evolution in international law with respect to intervention and the rights and privileges of nation states. One major component of international law is customary law, based on what governments and officials actually do over a period of time and more or less accepted by consensus and practice. The other major component consists of treaties and other agreements, including the Charter of the United Nations. In both of these areas we have in the last decade changed the way in which we regard international law in general and the role of the UN Charter in particular.
Prior to the UN Charter, international law focused on state practice within which war was lawful as state-to- state practice. States were sovereign in law as well as practice. The UN Charter modified that situation, at least with respect to law, by proposing restrictions to the use of war and force, that is, in self-defense or when authorized by Chapter 7. In practice, unfortunately, the Charter prohibitions did not significantly inhibit actual practice by states in the use of force, with the dynamics of the Cold War effectively precluding the use of Chapter 7 by the world community. Except for the Congo operation in the 1960's, the UN until I990 engaged only in Chapter 6 operations—what has become known as traditional peacekeeping -- in which multinational forces may use force only in self-defense.
http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/archives_roll/2001_10-12/marks_sovereign/marks_sovereign.html
This is not what I'd planned to bring up for discussion today, but it is outrageous enough for posting here:
PLEASE SHARE WITH ALL YOU KNOW. POST EVERYWHERE YOU CAN. WE MUST ACT NOW!!
ATTENTION:
This action MUST be STOPPED!!
WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!
Our right to choose our vitamin, mineral and other supplements may end in June of this year (2005).
After that, US supplements will be defined and controlled by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
It is called the CODEX ALIMENTARIUS (food code) and it is setting the supplement standards for all countries in the WTO. CODEX met secretly in November, 2004 and finalized ‘Step 8 (the final stage)’ to begin implementation in June, 2005, severely restricting the use and availability of numerous vitamins, minerals and other supplements.
The US president and congress agreed to the take over when the WTO treaty was signed, therefore these supplement standards WILL BE ENFORCED BY THE WTO AND WILL OVERRIDE US LAWS. CODEX violations are/will be punished by WTO trade sanctions.
CODEX Includes:
No supplement can be sold for preventive or therapeutic use.
Any potency higher than RDA (recommended daily allowance, aka minimal strength) is a ‘drug’ requiring a prescription and must be produced by drug companies. Over 5000 safe items now in health stores will be banned, terminating health stores as we now know them.
CODEX regulations become binding internationally.
New supplements are banned unless given very expensive CODEX testing and approval.
CODEX now applies to Norway and Germany, among others, where:
Zinc tablets rose from $4 per bottle to $52.
Echinacea (an ancient immune-enhancement herb) rose from $14 to $153.
Both examples above are now allowed by prescription only. They are now ‘drugs’.
Vitamin C above 200mg? Banned for over-the-counter. Sold as a prescription drug only.
Niacin above 32 mg? Banned for over-the-counter. Sold as a prescription drug only.
Bitamin B6 above 4 mg? Banned for over-the-counter. Sold as a prescription drug only.
Same for Amino Acids like arginine, lysine, carnitine, etc.
Same for the Omega Essential Fatty Acids and many more supplements including DMEA, DHEA, CoQ10, MSM, beta-carotene, etc.
The CODEX rules are not based on real science. They were made by a few people meeting in secret (see web sites below); not necessarily scientists. In 1993 the FDA and drug companies tried to put all supplements under restriction and prescription, but over 4 million Americans told congress and the president to protect their freedom of choice on health supplements. The DSHEA law was passed in 1994 which does so, but this will be overruled by CODEX and the WTO.
Virtually nothing about it has been in the media. What the drug corporations have failed to do through congress, they have gotten by sneak attachk through CODEX with the help of a silent media.
So…what can be done at this late hour?
Spread the word as much as possible. Inform yourselves fully !!
Oppose bills S.722 and H.R.3377. These support the CODEX restrictions with US laws, changing the DSHEA law.
Support H.R.1146 which would restore the sovereignty of the US Constitution over CODEX, etc.
1) Express your wishes ASAP to the president, senators and representatives (they got us into this!).
2) Contact multi-level health marketing groups that can get their members to inform the government.
3) Send donations, however small, to the British Alliance for Natural Health (see website above). It has succeeded in challenging the CODEX directives in World Court later this month or next. They need help financially, having carried the fight effectively for everyone.
CODEX claims to wish to protect us the same way the FDA protects us from prescription drugs. To accomplish this, they used a study of prescription drugs (not supplements) by three medical scientists as reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, April 15, 1998-Vol. 279, No. 15, p. 1200, "…Incidence of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) was found to be extremely high." Covering 30 years from 1966 to 1996, it was found that in the US, an average of 106,000 hospitalized patients per year die from ADRs. That’s equivalent to 290 people per day. 2.2 MILLLION need more hospitalization for recovery. And these were FDA approved drugs, properly administered by competent professionals in hospitals…yet none were considered malpractice. ADRs represent the number four cause of death in the US. When combined, they account for 7% of all hospitalized patients. This is equivalent to a 9/11 attach every ten days.
Contrary to pharmaceutical drugs, there are few fatalities from supplements. Can you just imagine the news coverage if vitamins and supplements created the amount of death that drugs do?
There is no need for more FDA control of supplements than is already in place, which is substantial. Instead of drastically restricting supplements, why doesn’t the FDA better control and restrict the extremely dangerous pharmaceutical drugs which are now killing us at the rate of a major airline crash per day?
Wallace G. Heath, PhD.
1145 Marine Drive Bellingham, WA 98225
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The more insane, the better for these basturds.