Origins of the Codex Alimentarius

ANCIENT TIMES

Evidence from the earliest historical writings indicates that governing authorities were already then concerned with codifying rules to protect consumers from dishonest practices in the sale of food. Assyrian tablets described the method to be used in determining the correct weights and measures for foodgrains, and Egyptian scrolls prescribed the labelling to be applied to certain foods. In ancient Athens, beer and wines were inspected for purity and soundness, and the Romans had a well-organized state food control system to protect consumers from fraud or bad produce. In Europe during the Middle Ages, individual countries passed laws concerning the quality and safety of eggs, sausages, cheese, beer, wine and bread. Some of these ancient statutes still exist today.

A SCIENTIFIC BASE

The second half of the nineteenth century saw the first general food laws adopted and basic food control systems put in place to monitor compliance. During the same period, food chemistry came to be recognized as a reputable discipline and the determination of the "purity" of a food was primarily based on the chemical parameters of simple food composition. When harmful industrial chemicals were used to disguise the true colour or nature of food, the concept of "adulteration" was extended to include the use of hazardous chemicals in food. Science had begun providing tools with which to disclose dishonest practices in the sale of food and to distinguish between safe and unsafe edible products.

Report of the First Meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Nutrition, 1950 - an extract

"Food regulations in different countries are often conflicting and contradictory. Legislation governing preservation, nomenclature and acceptable food standards often varies widely from country to country. New legislation not based on scientific knowledge is often introduced, and little account may be taken of nutritional principles in formulating regulations."

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

In the Austro-Hungarian Empire between 1897 and 1911, a collection of standards and product descriptions for a wide variety of foods was developed as the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus. Although lacking legal force, it was used as a reference by the courts to determine standards of identity for specific foods. The present-day Codex Alimentarius draws its name from the Austrian code.

Milestones in the evolution of food standards

ANCIENT TIMES
- Attempts are made by early civilizations to codify foods

EARLY 1800s
- Canning is invented

MID-1800s
- Bananas are first shipped to Europe from the tropics

1800s
- The first general food laws are adopted and enforcement agencies established
- Food chemistry gains credibility and reliable methods are developed to test for food adulteration

LATE 1800s
- A new era of long-distance food transportation is ushered in by the first international shipments of frozen meat from Australia and New Zealand to the United Kingdom

EARLY 1900s
- Food trade associations attempt to facilitate world trade through the use of harmonized standards

1903
- The International Dairy Federation (IDF) develops international standards for milk and milk products. (IDF was later to be an impor-tant catalyst in the conception of the Codex Alimentarius Commission)

1945
- FAO is founded, with responsibilities covering nutrition and associated international food standards

1948
- WHO is founded, with responsibilities covering human health and, in particular, a mandate to establish food standards

1949
- Argentina proposes a regional Latin American food code, Código Latino-Americano de Alimentos

1950
- Joint FAO/WHO expert meetings begin on nutrition, food additives and related areas

1953
- WHO's highest governing body, the World Health Assembly, states that the widening use of chemicals in the food industry presents a new public health problem that needs attention

1954-1958
- Austria actively pursues the creation of a regional food code, the Codex Alimentarius Europaeus, or European Codex Alimentarius

1960
- The first FAO Regional Conference for Europe endorses the desirability of international - as distinct from regional - agreement on minimum food standards and invites the Organization's Director-General to submit proposals for a joint FAO/WHO programme on food standards to the Conference of FAO

1961
- The Council of the Codex Alimentarius Europaeus adopts a resolution proposing that its work on food standards be taken over by FAO and WHO

1961
- With the support of WHO, the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Council of the Codex Alimentarius Europaeus, the FAO Conference establishes the Codex Alimentarius and resolves to create an international food standards programme

1961
- The FAO Conference decides to establish a Codex Alimentarius Commission and requests an early endorsement by WHO of a joint FAO/WHO food standards programme

1962
- The Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Conference requests the Codex Alimentarius Commission to implement a joint FAO/WHO food standards programme and to create the Codex Alimentarius

1963
- Recognizing the importance of WHO's role in all health aspects of food and considering its mandate to establish food standards, the World Health Assembly approves establishment of the Joint FAO/WHO Programme on Food Standards and adopts the statutes of the Codex Alimentarius Commission

TRADE CONCERNS

The different sets of standards arising from the spontaneous and independent development of food laws and standards by different countries inevitably gave rise to trade barriers that were of increasing concern to food traders in the early twentieth century. Trade associations that were formed as a reaction to such barriers pressured governments to harmonize their various food standards so as to facilitate trade in safe foods of a defined quality. The International Dairy Federation (IDF), founded in 1903, was one such association. Its work on standards for milk and milk products later provided a catalyst in the establishment of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and in the setting of its procedures for elaborating standards.

When FAO and WHO were founded in the late 1940s, there was heightened international concern about the direction being taken in the field of food regulation. Countries were acting independently and there was little, if any, consultation among them with a view to harmonization. This situation is reflected in the observations of international meetings of the time.

CONSUMERS' CONCERNS

In the 1940s, rapid progress was made in food science and technology. With the advent of more sensitive analytical tools, knowledge about the nature of food, its quality and associated health hazards also grew quickly. There was intense interest in food microbiology, food chemistry and associated disciplines, and new discoveries were considered newsworthy. Articles about food at all levels flourished and consumers were bombarded with messages in popular magazines, in the tabloid press and on the radio. Some were correct, some incorrect - but all were intended to absorb interest and many were overly sensational.

Despite the questionable quality of some of the information disseminated, however, the outcome was an increase in the public's food consciousness and, consequently, knowledge about food safety gradually grew.

At the same time, as more and more information about food and related matters became available, there was greater apprehension on the part of consumers. Whereas, previously, consumers' concerns had extended only as far as the "visibles"- underweight contents, size variations, misleading labelling and poor quality - they now embraced a fear of the "invisibles", i.e. health hazards could not be seen, smelled or tasted, such as micro-organisms, pesticide residues, environmental contaminants and food additives. With the blossoming of well-organized and informed consumers' groups, both internationally and nationally, there was growing pressure on governments worldwide to protect communities from poor-quality and hazardous foods.

The problem of food additives

In 1955, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Nutrition recorded that:

"... the increasing, and sometimes insufficiently controlled, use of food additives has become a matter of public and administrative concern."

The Committee also noted that the means of solving problems arising from the use of food additives may differ from country to country and stated that this fact:

"... must in itself occasion concern, since the existence of widely differing control measures may well form an undesirable deterrent to international trade."

A DESIRE FOR LEADERSHIP

Food regulators, traders, consumers and experts were looking increasingly to FAO and WHO for leadership in unravelling the skein of food regulations that were impeding trade and providing mostly inadequate protection for consumers. In 1953, WHO's governing body, the World Health Assembly, stated that the widening use of chemicals in food presented a new public health problem, and it was proposed that the two organizations should conduct relevant studies. One such study identified the use of food additives as a critical factor.

As a result, FAO and WHO convened the first joint FAO/WHO Conference on Food Additives in 1955. From that Conference eventuated the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) which, more than 40 years after its inception, still meets regularly. JECFA's work continues to be of fundamental importance to the activities of the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants as well as to the Codex Commission's deliberations on standards for food additives.

The development of food commodity standards in the 1950s*

- Stresa Convention - Introduced the practice of naming and specifying the composition of particular cheeses
- ECE Committee on Inland Transport - Set quality standards for fresh fruits and vegetables moving in trade in Europe
- FAO and ECE - Set requirements and analytical procedures for determining the purity of fruit juices
- ECE - Set standards for quick-frozen fruits and vegetables
- IDF - Set standards and labelling requirements for milk and milk products

*All the activities listed here have since been taken up by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

INTEGRATING NON-GOVERNMENTAL ACTIVITIES

While FAO and WHO furthered their involvement in food-related matters, a variety of committees set up by international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also began working in earnest on standards for food commodities. In time, the work of those NGO committees was either assumed by or continued jointly with the appropriate Codex Alimentarius commodity committees and, in some cases, the non-governmental committees themselves became Codex committees.

A demonstrated need for harmonization

The Codex Alimentarius came into being in response to a widely recognized need. It did not just happen. It was the product of a long evolutionary process involving a wide cross-section of the global community. Many people representing many interests and disciplines were involved in the process, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that, as long as the need perceived by those people remains, so the Codex Alimentarius will remain.

INTERNATIONAL CONSULTATION AND COOPERATION

Two landmark years in the foundation of the Codex Alimentarius were 1960 and 1961. In October 1960, the first FAO Regional Conference for Europe crystallized a widely held view when it recognized:

"The desirability of international agreement on minimum food standards and related questions (including labelling requirements, methods of analysis, etc.) ... as an important means of protecting the consumer's health, of ensuring quality and of reducing trade barriers, particularly in the rapidly integrating market of Europe."

The Conference also felt that:

"... coordination of the growing number of food standards programmes undertaken by many organizations presented a particular problem."

Within four months of the regional conference, FAO entered into discussions with WHO, ECE, OECD and the Council of the Codex Alimentarius Europeaus with proposals that would lead to the establishment of an international food standards programme.

In November 1961, the Eleventh Session of the Conference of FAO passed a resolution to set up the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

In May 1963, the Sixteenth World Health Assembly approved the establishment of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme and adopted the statutes of the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

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Codex Alimentarius: Population Control Under the Guise of Consumer Protection

Codex Alimentarius, latin for Food Code, is a very misunderstood organization that most people (including nearly all U.S. congressmen) have never heard of, never mind understand the true reality of this extremely powerful trade organization. From the official Codex website (www.codexalimentarius.net) the altruistic purpose of this commission is in "protecting health of the consumers and ensuring fair trade practices in the food trade, and promoting coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations". Codex is a joint venture regulated by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO).

Brief History of Codex

The history of Codex began in 1893 when the Austria-Hungarian empire decided it needed a specific set of guidelines by which the courts could rule on cases dealing with food [1]. This regulatory set of mandates became known as Codex Alimentarius and was effectively implemented until the fall of the empire in 1918. The United Nations (UN) met in 1962 and decided that Codex should be re-implemented worldwide in order to protect health of the consumers. Two-thirds of funding for Codex emanates from the FAO while the other third comes from the WHO.

In 2002, the FAO and WHO had serious concerns about the direction of Codex and hired an external consultant to determine its performance since 1962 and to designate which direction to take the trade organization. The consultant concluded that Codex should be immediately scrapped and eliminated. It was at this time that big industry realized the full monetary potential of this organization and exerted its powerful influence. The updated outcome was a toned down report asking Codex to address 20 various concerns within the organization.

Since 2002, the Codex Alimentarius Commission has covertly surrendered its role as an international public health and consumer protection organization. Under the helm of big industry, the sole surreptitious purpose of the new codex is to increase profits for the global corporate juggernauts while controlling the world through food. The implicit understanding of their philosophy is that if you control food, you control the world.

Codex Now

The most dominant country behind the agenda of Codex is the United States whose sole purpose is to benefit multinational interests like Big Pharma, Big Agribusiness, Big Chema and the like. At the latest meeting in Geneva, the U.S. recently became the chair of Codex which will facilitate an exacerbation of the distortion of health freedom and will continue the promulgation of misinformation and lies about genetically modified organism (GMOs) and nutrients while fulfilling the tacit population control agenda. The reason the U.S. continues to dominate Codex is because other countries falsely believe the U.S. possesses the latest and greatest safety technology when it comes to food and hence, whatever the U.S. asks for, its allies (E.U., Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore) follow suit nearly every time.

Many of the countries who wish to participate and want to voice their opinions are not allowed to attend the Codex meetings as the U.S. denies most visas for these representatives whenever they feel like it. Many of these countries (South Africa, Swaziland, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon, Sudan, Nigeria) realize that Codex has been altered from a benevolent food organization to one that is fraudulent, lethal and illegitimate. The fact that Codex meetings are held all over the world is also no accident and allows the U.S. to maintain its tight grip on the Codex agenda as the less economically viable countries are not able to attend.

The Real Threat

While the esoteric agenda of the media is busy driving fear into the hearts of the world by focusing on terrorism, global warming, salmonella, and food shortages, the real threats are clandestinely becoming a reality. Soon every single thing you put into your mouth (with the exception of pharmaceuticals, of course) will be highly regulated by Codex Alimentarius, including water. The standards of Codex are a complete affront to the freedom of clean and healthy food, yet these regulations have no legal international standing. Why should we be worried? These soon-to-be mandatory standards will apply to every country who are members of the WTO (World Trade Organization). If countries do not follow these standards, then enormous trade sanctions will result. Some Codex standards that will take effect on December 31, 2009 and once initiated are completely irrevocable include:

* All nutrients (vitamins and minerals) are to be considered toxins/poisons and are to be removed from all food because Codex prohibits the use of nutrients to "prevent, treat or cure any condition or disease"

* All food (including organic) is to be irradiated, removing all toxic nutrients from food (unless eaten locally and raw).

* Nutrients allowed will be limited to a Positive List developed by Codex which will include such beneficial nutrients like Fluoride (3.8 mg daily) developed from environmental waste. All other nutrients will be prohibited nationally and internationally to all Codex-compliant countries.

* All nutrients (e.g., CoQ10, Vitamins A, B, C, D, Zinc and Magnesium) that have any positive health impact on the body will be deemed illegal under Codex and are to be reduced to amounts negligible to humans' health.

* You will not even be able to obtain these anywhere in the world even with a prescription.

* All advice on nutrition (including written online or journal articles or oral advice to a friend, family member or anyone) will be illegal. This includes www.naturalnews.com reports on vitamins and minerals and all nutritionist's consultations.

* All dairy cows are to be treated with Monsanto's recombinant bovine growth hormone.

* All animals used for food are to be treated with potent antibiotics and exogenous growth hormones.

* The reintroduction of deadly and carcinogenic organic pesticides that in 1991, 176 countries (including the U.S.) have banned worldwide including 7 of the 12 worst at the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pesticides (e.g., Hexachlorobenzene, Toxaphene, and Aldrin) will be allowed back into food at elevated levels.

* Dangerous and toxic levels (0.5 ppb) of aflotoxin in milk produced from moldy storage conditions of animal feed will be allowed. Aflotoxin is the second most potent (non-radiation) carcinogenic compound known to man.

* Mandatory use of growth hormones and antibiotics on all food herds, fish and flocks

* Worldwide implementation of unlabeled GMOs into crops, animals, fish and trees.

* Elevated levels of residue from pesticides and insecticides that are toxic to humans and animals.

Some examples of potential permissible safe levels of nutrients under Codex include:

- Niacin - upper limits of 34 mcg daily (effective daily doses include 2000 to 3000 mcgs).

- Vitamin C - upper limits of 65 to 225 mcg daily (effective daily doses include 6000 to 10000 mcgs).

- Vitamin D - upper limits of 5 μg daily (effective daily doses include 6000 to 10000 μg).

- Vitamin E - upper limits of 15 IU of alpha tocopherol only per day, even though alpha tocopherol by itself has been implicated in cell damage and is toxic to the body (effective daily doses of mixed tocopherols include 10000 to 12000 IU).

The Door is Open for Codex

In 1995, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) created an illegal policy stating that international standards (i.e, Codex) would supersede U.S. laws governing all food even if these standards were incomplete. Furthermore, in 2004 the U.S. passed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (illegal under U.S. law, but legal under international law) that requires the U.S. to conform to Codex in December of 2009.

Once these standards are adopted there is no possible way to return to the standards of the old. Once Codex compliance begins in any area, as long as we remain a member of the WTO, it is totally irrevocable. These standards are then unable to be repealed, changed or altered in any way shape or form.

Population control for money is the easiest way to describe the new Codex which is run by the U.S. and controlled by Big Pharma and the like to reduce the population to a sustainable 500 million - a reduction of approximately 93 percent. The FAO and WHO have the audacity to estimate that by the introduction of just the vitamin and mineral guideline alone, at a minimum 3 billion deaths (1 billion from starvation and another 2 billion from preventable and degenerative diseases of under nutrition, e.g., cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes) will result.

Degraded, demineralized, pesticide-filled and irradiated foods are the fastest and most efficient way to cause a profitable surge in malnutrition, preventable and degenerative disease which the most appropriate course of action is always pharmaceuticals. Death for profit is the new name of the game. Big Pharma has been waiting for this opportunity for years.

Fighting Back

Dr. Rima Laibow, M.D., who is the medical director for Natural Solutions Foundation, has undertaken legal action against the U.S. government and continues to attend every Codex meeting while fighting for your health freedom. The latest Codex meeting in Geneva heard some dissenting voices that were tired of the U.S. bullying every other country in the world with its population control agenda. Brazil and China have stated that when smaller, underrepresented countries are unable to attend Codex meetings (due to the U.S. not allowing Visas or for lack of monetary means) then every decision made in their absence is invalid. As a result, Codex may soon fall apart under the weight of it own corruption, but pressure needs to be unilaterally applied.

Dr. Rima has also been meeting with delegates from other countries and making them aware of something called Private Standards. Private standards allow countries to draft food standards which are safer and higher than those mandated by Codex. Obviously, this is not a very difficult task and many countries can seemingly circumvent the flawed and irrevocable guidelines Codex is attempting to implement on December 31, 2009.

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