GLOBAL MELTDOWN
The catalogue of disasters that are happening right now
Across the planet, rising temperatures are taking their toll
CARBON DIOXIDE
New research has found that levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - the main cause of global warming - are higher than at any time in the past 625,000 years. HOTTEST EVER
This year is expected to be the warmest ever recorded; 1998 was the hottest so far, but the past three years currently occupy the next three places.
DESERTIFICATION
The giant Kalahari desert, already four times the size of Britain, threatens to become larger still, covering farmland in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.
EXPANDING OCEANS
The level of the world's seas and oceans is rising twice as fast as in the past, as their waters expand in rising temperatures and glaciers melt.
OCEAN EXILES
The people of the Carteret Islands, a scattering of atolls off Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific, have started to leave as their homes succumb to rising seas.
HURRICANES
Hurricane Epsilon - the 14th of the year - is forming in the Atlantic, even though the worst recorded hurricane season by far formally ended on Wednesday.
GLACIER MELT
Greenland glaciers have suddenly started racing towards the sea and melting. Much the same is beginning to happen to glaciers in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
WATER SHORTAGE
Areas such as the western USA, which depend on mountain snows for their water supplies, are running short as less snow falls - and what does fall melts earlier.
DISAPPEARING SPECIES
Sealife and birdlife have declined catastrophically this year along America's north-west Pacific coast, after a similar meltdown in the North Sea.
CORAL REEFS
Corals on the Great Barrier Reef are bleaching out and dying as sea temperatures rise and scientists fear that the whole reef may perish by 2050.
Also in this section
Coming Soon to a Health Food Store Near You?
The Codex Alimentarius is an international set of standards originally designed to ensure food quality and safety, to protect the health of consumers, and to ensure fair practices in international trade. It was established by various committees of two UN organizations: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), as an ongoing, evolving document.
Up until 1995, the Codex contained some recommendations that were "standards", which were considered mandatory, others that were "guidelines", which were considered optional, and others that were merely "recommendations". Enforcement of the guidelines and recommendations were left up to individual countries. Even though Codex committees drafted the standards that were mandatory, they did not have the power to enforce them.
In 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) became the governing body responsible for enforcing the Codex as international food related trade standards. When this happened, the WTO decided it would not differentiate between standards, guidelines, and recommendations, but would use them all to enforce trade dispute settlements.
In 1991, a committee drafted guidelines for vitamin and mineral food supplements. As these guidelines became further defined, the intention was for them to be guidelines only. At the last meeting of the committee in November 2004, the delegates were specifically told that the guidelines were optional, however they were not told that the WTO could also use guidelines as a mandatory trade standard. These guidelines will be finalized at the committee meeting in Rome in July, 2005. After that time, they could be used to settle trade disputes, forcing countries to change their laws to "harmonize" with the guidelines.
External Links:
- An Overview of the history of the Codex and concerns of the American Holistic Health Association regarding food supplements.
- American Holistic Health Association info on Codex Alimentarius Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements
- The Draft Report of the 26th Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses, Bonn, Germany 1-5 November 2004.
- What the WTO says about its policies on health.
- A report by Suzan Walter, President of the American Holistic Health Association on the meeting November 1-3, 2004 to discuss the guidelines can be found here
- What the WTO says about its practice of obtaining international consensus.
- An interesting article by Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D., a Canadian naturopath who attended the Codex committee meeting in November 2004, about the real practice of obtaining consensus (See the section titled "The Delphi Technique at Codex"). More info about the Delphi technique here.
- The Canadian Government's position on vitamin and mineral supplements and the Codex Commission, from the Health Canada website.
- The Alliance for Natural Health is a British organisation whose purpose is to protect the future of natural healthcare in Europe. "The ANH campaign commenced in February 2002, to pull together disparate groups of consumers, practitioners, doctors, scientists and lawyers who saw the immense risks posed by European and global trade harmonisation measures that are capable of legislating food supplements, natural therapies and traditional medicinal systems out of existence." They successfully challenged the EU's Supplements Directive in the European Courts of Justice (ECJ) in April 2005. Read about their ongoing concerns here.
The Summer of 2005: Critical Time for Codex
July 2005 is the time when the finalization of the Codex Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements is planned. "The future of dietary supplements may be determined by what happens this summer. Not just one, but many different yet related matters are all coming to a head during the spring and summer months of 2005.": Suzan Walter, President of the American Holistic Health Association.
- WellTV has an online documentary about the Codex developments narrated by Dame Judi Dench: "We Become Silent:The Last Days of Health Freedom".
- See the critical issues here
- Follow the news of this summer's developments here
- The European Court of Justice will deliver its verdict in the case against the European Food Supplements Directive on July 12, 2005. Originally this verdict was expected in June, before the Codex Alimentarius Committee meeting in Rome, which deliberates on the final approval of the Codex Guidelines. The verdict will now be given three days after the meeting is over.
- Some interesting points about the impact the Codex Food Supplement Guidelines will have on the treatment of malnutrition in poor countries, and other issues, can be found in this letter to Dr. Ed Scarborough (the US Delegate to the Codex Commission) from Rima Laibow, M.D, here.