The Codex Alimentarius
The origins of the Codex Alimentarius
The original Codex Alimentarious existed within the Austro-Hungarian empire about 100 years ago. It was a voluntary trade agreement on standards of food quality. Countries that imported food from one of the other CA countries could be sure that the standards were as high as within their own country. It was an excellent idea.
After World War Two, the UN decided to set up the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) set to work in 1962 to define some standards for food and medicines that are imported from one country to another.
But this time the aims were quite different from those of the original Codex Alimentatius. The aim was not to protect the consumer. It was to protect the position of the corporations that do the trading, e.g. Monsanto and the large pharmaceutical companies.
They set to work in 1962, produced many thousands of pages of detailed regulations, and had completed that task by the end of 2009.
What the CAC have produced is horrifying from the viewpoint of the consumers' health, and from the viewpoint of the environment, e.g.
- all food, including organic food, will be irradiated, except food sold raw for local consumption,
- genetically modified food will be traded - unlabelled as such,
- pesticides that were banned years ago on grounds of safety will be brought back,
- allowed levels of poisons such as fluorine will be increased,
- all diary cows will have to be injected with the genetically modified hormone, rBGH
The CA covers herbs, natural medicine, and supplements too, with many that are presently used becoming illegal, even for prescription use.
The CA seems designed to drive out of business small farms, organic food producers, and those who practice natural medicine.
The effect on human health and on farming practices will be immense.
Since The CAC is not a government body or intergovernmental body, and is not elected, it has no legal standing. It cannot use law to impose CA standards on any country.
So why should we care?
We should care because the CA can be imposed on any country that is a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Most countries are members, including the US and the UK.
Countries will be given deadlines by which they are asked to harmonise their laws with the CA. Any WTO member country that refuses can be fined by the WTO, can have trade sanctions declared against it, and in any trade dispute involving matters covered by the CA will lose automatically without the evidence even being considered.
Of course, a nation could evade the CA simply by resigning from the WTO. But that would bring some major disadvantages.
Don't take my word for any of the above.
Use Google. Check out the above information for yourselves. It's all true.
Be aware that there are propaganda sites promoted by organisations that stand to profit from the CA.
I have no doubt that the full text of the CA (many thousands of pages of it) is in the public domain. But as far as I know, it isn't available online. If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know, then I'll include a link to it on this page.
Peterre