PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE ADVOCATE GENERAL DESCRIBES EU FOOD SUPPLEMENTS DIRECTIVE VITAMIN AND MINERAL PROCEDURE
“AS TRANSPARENT AS A BLACK BOX”
The
Opposing oral submissions were made by the European Commission, the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament and only one EU Member State, Greece.
Interestingly, neither the
David Hinde Solicitor and ANH Legal Director said:
“Given the vigour with which the
Paul Lasok QC, a world leading expert on EU law, representing the ANH opened the proceedings and systematically undermined the legal and scientific basis of the Directive's positive list, highlighting contradictions between various arguments put forward by the key bodies involved in developing the Directive, namely the European Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.
When asked by Judge Lenaerts as to the origin of the positive list, which appeared to have been derived from a list produced by the European Commission for another Directive with a quite different purpose and so omitted a vast array of nutrients that can normally be found in food, Mr Lasok responded:
“The list was indeed the same, without adding, without subtracting and without thinking.”
Advocate General Geelhoed, (the senior legal Advisor to the Court) appeared to be baffled by the procedure for adding nutrients to the positive list, which he described:
“As transparent as a black box.”
Dr Robert Verkerk, executive director of the ANH said after the hearing:
“It was remarkable that the vast majority of points that we had gone to great length to show the Court were not countered in any effective way by the opposing parties. The Commission, the Council and the Parliament were not able to give any adequate scientific explanations for why so many forms of vitamins and minerals that naturally occur in foods could be banned across the EU.”
Final judgement expected in June 2005
The Advocate General announced that he would deliver his opinion on
ENDS
For enquiries and further information contact:
www.alliance-natural-health.org
Tel: 0207 738 1640
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr Robert Verkerk,Executive Director
Tel: 01252 371 275
Mobile: 0771 484 7225
E-mail: [email protected]
IKON Associates
(PR for the
Adrian Shaw
Tel: 01483 535102
E-mail: [email protected]
Notes for editors:
1. The
Good science and good law underpin all of the ANH's work, and the scientific reports produced by the ANH are endorsed by many of the world's leading doctors and scientists working in the field of nutrition.
2. If the ban on vitamins and minerals is implemented there is much at stake:
· Over 5000 products will disappear from the shelves of UK health stores as a result of the ban removing access to over 300 vitamin and mineral ingredients (out of a total of 420). These include amongst others the main natural forms of Vitamin E, many forms of vitamin C and MSM and minerals such as vanadium, silicon and boron, all being products which millions of consumers choose to take as part of their regular health regime and have done so without any ill effects for many years.
· An individual's freedom of choice to take safe natural health products will be removed – 40% of the
· Products are to be banned with absolutely no scientific justification. Many of the world's leading scientific and medical experts in nutrition support ANH's views on this issue.
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