October 4, 2006
A Letter From Our Attorney
Natural Solutions Foundation’s lawyer, Ralph Fucetola, has provided us with a copy of the letter with which he responded when some people asked similar questions about the Natural Solutions Foundation activities.
He has authorized us to share it with the folks on our list. Please feel free to copy, share or distribute this letter as you see fit. We do ask that you do not edit or change it in the event you forward it on.
Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Ralph Fucetola JD
www.VitaminLawyer.com
58 Plotts Road – Newton, NJ 07860
973.300.1519 – Fax: 300.5486
October 6, 2006
Dear Rima,
Several people have raised questions which I have answered in the attached
letter. Please feel free to share it with your elist and on your web site.
Ralph Fucetola, JD
http://www.vitaminlawyer.com
All Rights Reserved
Attached:
Ralph Fucetola JD
www.VitaminLawyer.com
58 Plotts Road – Newton, NJ 07860
973.300.1519 – Fax: 300.5486
September 26, 2006
Dear Allan:
I urge all Natural Solutions Foundation supporters to respond to this call for emergency help and support. The Foundation’s growing international alliances are proving to be the most effective opposition to the Codex Alimentarius anti-nutrition, anti-health agenda. The international situation is critical and Natural Solutions Foundation needs immediate financial support so that we can attend the upcoming Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses where the Global Strategy is on the agenda. The Foundation needs Health Freedom Angels this week.
Donation Link : www.healthfreedomusa.org/action/donate.shtml
Natural Solutions Foundation is a nonprofit research and public policy, nongovernmental organization active in the international health care community. The Foundation and its leadership are very well respected in the healing community. Later this month, the Foundation’s President and its Medical Director will jointly receive the prestigious Dr. Carlton Lee Award from the American Academy of Environmental Medicine. The AAEM gives this award to those who have done the most for natural medicine in the past year.
Natural Solutions Foundation is not tied to any company, industry or special interest. All funding comes from your private donations. Our ability to attend international meetings and pursue the International Strategy depends entirely on Foundation supporters to provide the necessary funding.
Donation Link : www.healthfreedomusa.org/action/donate.shtml
As general counsel, I am responding to questions that have been raised regarding the work of the Natural Solutions Foundation. The recent attacks are akin to the Pharma-Cartel funded “Quack-Buster” attacks on pharmaceutical medicine’s most effective, natural (alternative) competitor therapies, and the unfounded criticisms voiced by the Chairman of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Dr. Claude Mosha, at recent Codex meetings (see: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/7/prweb406560.htm).This orchestrated campaign appears designed to undermine and marginalize Natural Solutions Foundation.
Smear, ridicule, slander and liable are used against all effective opponents of the pharma-driven world order. These attacks are a validation of how effective The Foundation’s International Strategy has been in creating a pro-health consortium at the international level. These baseless smear tactics are intended to divide the health freedom community and isolate one of the most effective and sophisticated international forces for consumer health and natural health options – the Natural Solutions Foundation. We reject these attacks as unworthy of further response. I think we can all agree that our focus must be on actions that engage Codex Alimentarius, the World Food Code, in supporting good nutrition and natural health solutions.
It has been falsely asserted that I disagree with the leadership of the Foundation about impact of steps taken at the Codex CCFL and the implementation of the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health.
My article about the events at the Codex CCFL meeting in Canada earlier this year reported that the committee took significant steps toward a more nutritionally sound international food trade. Specifically the committee included the South African principles for implementation of the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health in the committee’s official meeting report. I also reported the ongoing jockeying between major forces in Codex, especially, the US and EU.
The report of the meeting posted by the leaders of the Natural Solutions Foundation, who were also present, made the same points as my article. The Final Committee Report states …
“24) The Delegation of South Africa, supported by the observer from NHF, put forward several proposals for consideration: recognizing that nutrients are not toxins and that their assessment should reflect acknowledged benefits and desired impacts from their use in order to achieve positive outcomes and that they should generally be recognized as safe; banning the addition of partially and fully hydrogenated trans fatty acids in foods; allowing the enrichment of dietary supplements in foods in order to optimize nutrient density to compensate for a decline in micronutrients in various foods; ensuring that global legislation prevent the use of industrial toxins and additives that are not supported by biochemistry and clinical experience; supporting nutrition and health claims and advertising for those foods that contribute to a healthy life style, while banning such claims for those foods which do not contribute to a healthy life style, especially as regards avertising as directed to children, all in the context of optimal health.”
[3]
This is unique and important step in insuring the inclusion of nutrition standards in international food trade rules. The South African representatives at the meeting concurred with us in our interpretation of these events.
We at the Natural Solutions Foundation believe that the inclusion of the essence of the “South African principles” in the CCFL Committee Final Report advances our two-pronged strategy for the implementation of an international food trade standard that focuses on organic food and natural health options which tracks the Health Freedom principles of the US Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994, that Supplements are Foods, not Toxins.[4],[5] The strategy consists of persuading countries to adopt a health promoting revised guideline or standard based on better science than the corresponding Codex guideline or standard and then enact legislation which makes this revised guideline or standard national law. With respect to the Codex Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements, this template would be manifested in the following manner:
1. Establish the international guidelines for food supplement trade developed by Natural Solutions Foundation in conjunction with the Citizens for Health Codex Working Group as their domestic nutritional guidelines, rather than the scientifically flawed Codex Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements (ratified July 4, 2005, Rome, Italy).
2. Adopt domestic national food supplement laws that apply the principles of the US Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA).
Natural Solutions Foundation and the Citizens for Health Codex Working Group have developed a Model International Food Supplements law to assist countries interested in adopting DSHEA-type legislation based on the principle that nutrients are foods to serve as the precedent for other corrective guidelines and standards to replace those which support an industrialized food supply over a natural, organic one. You can find our proposed guidelines and Model law on our web site at: Codex e-Book ,
https://staging.drrimatruthreports.com/resources/books.shtml.
Natural Solutions Foundation representatives have had great success in pursuing this agenda in meetings with senior national officials, including cabinet members and heads of state, in several African and Asian countries and at Codex meetings. The actions of the Codex CCFL in Canada have been helpful in these efforts. But the favorable discussions held so far are only the first steps in creating sound nutritional standards for international food trade. The next step is to persuade countries to act on the information that they are treating positively in these early conversations.
For your records, to allow comparison with what the CCFL included in its Report, here are the South African Principles as proposed to the CCFL:
South Africa presented eleven points for the implementation of the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Exercise and Health:
1. Formally recognize and accept that nutrients are not toxins. They should be subjected to sound assessment procedures which take into account empirical, clinical, statistical and peer review processes and which take acknowledged benefits and desirable impact from the use of them in order to achieve positive outcomes, into consideration;
2. Formally accept nutrients as generally safe and encourage the unrestricted sale of that category of food called “dietary supplements” at all levels, including optimum potency levels, throughout the world;
3. Ban all added trans fats derived from industrial hydrogenation in the production of food;
4. Ensure that countries are encouraged to add, and do not place restrictions on the addition of nutrients which are supported by biochemistry, clinical nutrition, clinical experience, empirical observation and customary usage to food;
5. Ensure that countries enact strong legislative restrictions on the addition of industrial toxins to food, which are not supported by biochemistry, clinical nutrition, clinical experience and customary usage;
6. Allow and encourage enrichment of foods through the addition of that class of food called dietary supplements in order to optimize nutrient density of foods. Require that countries compensate for the decline in micronutrients in agricultural produce (e.g., fruits and vegetables) as a result of the depletion of trace nutrients in soil by commercial agriculture practices through the incorporation of that class of food called dietary supplements in order to optimize nutrient density of these foods;
7. Encourage and support the development of national and international policies which, enhance local, national, regional and global optimal nutrition through life-style modification (including diet), fortification and supplementation with that category of food called dietary supplements at all levels, including optimum potency levels;
8. Identify foods that do not contribute to, conflict with or are not essential for a healthy lifestyle (”junk food”). Similarly, identify foods that can support a healthy life-style. Support nutrition and health claims in labeling and advertising for those foods that do contribute to a healthy life-style and ban nutrition and health claims on the labeling and advertising of those foods which do not contribute to a healthy life style in order to encourage health-supporting foods and discourage ones that do not support health;
9. Ensure that countries encourage truthful, full and accurate labeling and advertising on all foods, which contribute to health and ban advertising and health claims on those that do not;
10. Ensure that countries develop a ban on junk food advertising to children (birth to 18 years);
11. Require that the Chairpersons of CCFL and CCNFSDU report to the Codex Alimentarius Commission every other year on the status of the implementation of the WHO/FAO GLOBAL STRATEGY ON DIET, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND HEALTH and items 1-10 listed above.[6]
I trust that this letter clarifies the role of the Natural Solutions Foundation and myself in the campaign to include sound nutrition principles in the regulation of international food trade. I encourage all individuals who support or are interested in the activities of the Natural Solutions Foundation to contact us directly on any matters of interest or concern about the Natural Solutions Foundation.
I am proud to be a Natural Solutions Foundation supporter. On behalf the leadership and the other good people at NSF, I invite your continued support. We need your donations to succeed.
Donation Link: https://staging.drrimatruthreports.com/action/donate.shtml .
I thank you for your inquiry about the role of the Natural Solutions Foundation and for your continuing support of the Natural Solutions Foundation.
Sincerely,
Ralph Fucetola, JD
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
info@healthfreedomusa.org
[1] http://www.who.int/hpr/gs.strategy.document.shtml
[2] Report of the Thirty Fourth Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labeling, Ottawa, Canada May 1-5, 2006, Alinorm 06/29/22, p 9
[3] Ibid
[4] Codex eBook, https://staging.drrimatruthreports.com/resources/books.shtml
[5] International Decade of Nutrition, http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/9/prweb432432.htm
What a day! You already know that the Natural Solutions Foundation is purusing an international strategy since Codex is an international problem and a legal strategy since Codex uses law-like proceedures to force its pro-illness views on the nations of the world. Well, there are nations still able to refuse to be controlled by external forces like Codex. India may well be one of them.g
I promised you that today’s events would knock your socks off so get ready: today Bert and I met with the President of India, Mr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and briefed him on Codex! In a
meeting with Bert and me Mr. Kalam, who is known and revered by everyone we spoke with as “The People’s President”, listened carefully and took in everything we said. He promised to study our information carefully (contained in the Codex eBook) and it is clear that we have a listening ear and a potential ally in Mr. Kalam. This leader is known far and wide as a strong advocate of natural health methods and, indeed, it was by congratulating us on our focus on natural health and urging us to include the mind, not just the body, in our healing (which we do), that Mr. Kalam began our supposedly 20 minute meeting. After the 30 minute mark had passed, we were still in the room talking although the staff was in a furor. Mr. Kalam was unperturbed by their sense of urgency and we were able to continue talking.
It was, in short, an amazing opeing which we are profoundly grateful to Prof. Dr. B. M. Hegde, Director, Natural Solutions Foundation — India, that this highly significant meeting came about.
Thank you, Prof. Dr. Hegde, for your support and help. And thank you, Mr. Kalam, for your listening, learning mind.
Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
I am much to tired to write more but I promise that you will have the details tomorrow along with the story of an outing to see the maker of astonishing new technology about which I will tell you.
The President of India, a country with more than 1.2 Billion people was listening very, very carefully. He is known as an incorruptable man of the highest integrety who speaks for what he believes, not for what is convenient.
Day 40: July 21, 2006
This morning we were picked up by Dr. Vira from the Sir Ganaga Ram Hospital (about 5 minutes by car from our hotel, the Hotel Swadi Deluxe) where we met with the some of the senior staff, and other doctors as well, from that institution. A fully allopathic hospital with all the latest equipment and skills necessary to run a modern Western hospital, none the less, the doctors here understand (or at least some of them do) that the Ayurveda precept of food as medicine and medicine as food is the basis for health (or its violation, the basis for disease). So the twin dangers of adulterating the food supply and taking away nutrients and other natural health options, was very, very concerning to them.
The doctors listened intently and asked probing questions at the end of the presentation. The most senior doctor present appeared to be slumped in his chair and sleeping through most of my lecture. At the end of my talk, he waited for all the questions to finish and then said that he would make some comments and end the meeting. Bert and I looked at each other: a negative word from this revered and very senior doctor, and there would be nothing more that would happen here at this influential center. Imagine, then, our delight and surprise when he stated that he had heard much that he did not know but that what he heard made sense and seemed right. He went on to say that his hospital had to be mindful of the fact that drugs are poisons and that there is much that must be done without them. Further, he went on to detail a family member’s search for anything — anything — that would help his autistic child and, along with other doctors in the room, asked where they could learn how to use natural methods like the ones I had talked about and where they or relatives with conditions “incurable” to allopathic medicine could get meaningful help.
I had the pleasure of referring those seeking training to the excellent educational programs of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine and discussed individual referrals with them since I am not able to take on new patients because of our heavy travel schedule. Codex: oh, yes! These doctors, although they had never heard of it, got it, and got it big time. Although Dr. Faul, the “Director Medical” of the hospital noted before my lecture that “We have lost faith in food”, still, here in India, the tradition of medicine/food/medicine is alive, if not well, and these doctors knew what that meant. Also, many of them come from villages where health was assured by this technique, along with herbs if needed. They have seen and experienced first hand what the loss of “faith in food” (CLEAN food) has meant to their health and that of their families so they are uniquely enabled to lock onto this concept and see the threat.
Following the lecture, we talked with the very senior doctor and learned that he is suffering from a serious and, for allopathic medicine, untreatable disorder which saps him of his strength more each day. I was able to make some suggestions which made sense to him and he immediately dictated a letter to Prof. Dr. B. M. Hegde, the Director of Natural Solutions Foundation — India, and a world-renowned physician to boot, to ask for assistance in securing the treatments I recommended.
Then we went on to vast briefly with Dr. Faul before we left for our next meeting. Imagine our pleasure when she invited us to speak at her January meeting on the importance of the Ayurveda integration of consciousness, mind and body in healing. Deepak Chopra will be there, too. Of course we accepted.
Along the way, we got to talking about what she calls “Cosmic Healing” and listened attentively when she said that a man she knows has created technology which does the same thing effectively. We asked if we could visit him and she said we could go (6 hours away by car each way) on Tuesday and come back Wednesday. We leaped at the opportunity, you can well imagine, since we are very interested in such technologies. We will let you know what we see!
Then back to the hotel for an afternoon meeting (which did not occur) with an exceptional pulmonologist who is very sympathetic to our work.
We waited until we had to leave for an encounter with an Indian agent for social change who is the brother of a highly respected Indian Scientist in the US who has been very helpful to us at the Indian International Center Annex. This senior gentleman arranged for us to meet at this venerable club with the Director of the Delhi Center of an Ayurveda Hospital and Treatment Center. We explained the Codex threat to both of them and, as we have always found, they listened attentively and asked profound questions.
Along the way, the Ayurveda doctor said that we could come the next day for a Panchakarma (hot oil) Ayurveda massage. I was thrilled because in the car on the way over I had said to Bert, “You know, tomorrow is Saturday and I would love to find an Ayurveda center and have a hot oil massage.” Honest!
Back to a restaurant for dinner and back to our hotel for a 10 PM appointment with the doctor who could not come earlier. We were together until 1:30AM while we talked Codex, energy medicine, nutritional medicine and public information techniques. By the end, we had a new ally and a new friend.
Day 41: July 22, 2006
I woke up today with a high blood pressure episode, the first I have ever had, at least as far as I know. My feet and ankles were swollen with “pitting edema” up my legs and, when I took it, my blood pressure was 165/135. I called the Ayurveda doctor and told him that I needed not only to have the Panchakarma treatment, but I needed a consultation with a doctor as well. He told me how to set it up and I did, indeed, have a consultation with a doctor at the facility. He prescribed herbal tablets and a special type of Panchakarma treatment. Following a very unique (to me) hot oil massage administered by two pleasant, but silent, trained Ayurveda masseuses my BP was 122/82 — totally within normal limits. Would it have come down by itself? Perhaps. But I will tell you that I believe that Ayurveda medicine belongs in our armamentarium for health care, not illness care. I was very appreciative of the opportunity.
Oh, by the way, Bert had a very sore point on his knee which has been getting steadily more painful ever since we began spending hours and hours in cramped cars where he cannot stretch his leg out and planes which are the same. He, too, had both a consultation and a Panchakarma treatment. His knee is vastly improved: there is no pain unless he presses really hard on the spot. My therapeutic intervention: “Don’t press the spot!”
We came home, showered and showered and showered (very oily oil!) and went out to dinner, then home and bed for Bert, computer for me.
Day42: July 23, 2006
We were invited today to lunch with a friend of the amazingly well-connected Dr. B. M. Hegde who is the former head of India’s equivalent of the FBI and currently a top advisor to the government on legal and human rights!
He and his grown son entertained us at their lovely, gracious home (guarded by a man with a rifle) and we talked about Codex, of course, but we also talked about the unity of goodness in all religions and sincere paths to God. We saw photos of this man with gurus, divines like the Dali Lama and other world spiritual leaders. He is a complexly simple (or simply complex) man of insight and great penetration of intellect who immediately saw the impact of Codex and invited us to present at a meeting on July 29th where the program is already set, of course, but where he will make about 20 minutes available to allow us to introduce the Codex issue to the audience. He, too, wants us to speak at a much larger meeting when we come back in January. We said we would.
The home cooked South Indian food was delicious, eaten with the right hand and not at all spicy. But the subtle blending of taste was fantastic.
We said goodbye to this gentleman and his son, nodded goodbye to the man with the rifle and drove off. As we went, we saw a beautiful complex labeled “Indian Handicrafts Exposition” which looked exceptionally nice. We asked the taxi driver to stop thinking we would spend an hour there. Four hours later we left having seen handicrafts and treasures old and new of a quality rarely seen outside of a museum. We could not afford anything, but we did make a new friend: the Senior Manager with whom we had an almost identical discussion about the same things we talked about over lunch. He, like India’s former “Top Cop” looks at life from a deeply holistic and spiritual perspective. His religion guides him to devotion in every act and an understanding of the unity through which good comes into the world without demanding that any one religion be followed while being deeply devout in his own religion. These two men provided us with pretty profound discussions on the depth of man’s good in the face of the world’s evil. And they are, by the way, members of different religions. Is this a shared personal reality or a typically Indian view? We do not know enough Indians to say, but all of the people we have talked to here have said pretty much the same thing on the topic and, unlike the US, they bring the topic up early and often, but with gentle interest, not fanaticism.
Then a quick dinner, many phone conferences and preparation for tomorrow’s extraordinary event. Stay tuned!
Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Today is a particularly auspicious day since teachers are honored today all over India.
Whether they are spiritual teachers or technical ones today belongs to them. I was not only honored by being introduced by Dr. Hegde at the college of which he is the Emeritus Dean, but also honored by being asked to deliver the 2006 Keshava Pai Memorial Oration on the “Future of Medicine” which I did with great pleasure. This annual oration keeps the memory of the beloved founder of the institution alive. Dr. Hegde’s leadership of Natural Solutions Foundation – India was announced to his institution.
Then I told the audience of medical students, faculty and very senior faculty that the future of medicine was at a point of bifurcation: In one future, untold numbers of people, in rank according to their underlying nutritional vulnerability, would die with or without medications of the chronic degenerative diseases identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the “non communicable diseases of under nutrition”, cancers, diabetes, stroke, heart attack, etc. In the other future, safe, clean, natural and unadulterated food was available to the people of India and the world and dietary supplements and herbs were valuable tools with which to gain, regain and maintain optimal health.
I urged each of them to become a source of light and information, guidance and force for natural choices in spite of the fact that they had been taught that there was a pill for every ill and, increasingly, an ill for every pill.
The first future track, I believe, is the one we will face if Codex Alimentarius is not reigned in and corrected, error by error, country by country. It is a future in which countless people will suffer untold disease and death which is totally preventable and therefore unnecessary if their food and health options are not protected and if Optimum Health is not the goal of Codex and of their country. I explained the globalization of the food supply and the degradation of the environment and the nutrient load of food through common, but deadly agricultural practices. And I explained the magnitude of starvation and illness without nutrients at effective doses, herbs and other supplements at those same effective doses and the safety and quality of food assured.
The second future is the one that we will live in if every country takes stock of her people’s health needs (whatever the multinational corporate needs might be) and corrects the dangerous and disastrous food-related illness and deaths the negative standards and guidelines of Codex will foist upon nations if they let it.
I also explained that within the threat and danger posed by Codex Alimentarius lies the seed of the new medical paradigm (which contains within it the old one: that health and well being reside in clean, unadulterated food, healthy living and exercise and nutrients and herbs given to people based on their individual needs) all focused on preventing illness and, when it does occur, finding and curing the underlying cause of that illness. In other words, the second path is toward Whole Person Healing.
At the conclusion of the lecture, several things happened. First, the grandson of the Founder of the College, Dr. Pai, graciously presented me with a gold medal commemorating the oration. That was really cool!
The second thing that happened was a lively exchange with questions that were dynamic and forward moving. Professor Dr. S. Viswanathan, MB, BS, MD, DGO, PG Dip Yoga, Professor and Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Deputy Medical Superintendant, Rajah Muthiah Medical College Hospital and Director of the Center for Yoga Studies, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu asked what we must do to bring about the pro health changes in India. I answered that enacting what I call the “Codex two step” regarding the Vitamin and Mineral Guideline (which is laid out in the Codex was the best place to start and he agreed that he would begin there. I was surprised, delighted and nearly breathless when Dr. Hegde, a man who lets no grass grow beneath his feed, announced to me that he had asked Dr. Viswanathan to accept the position of Chairman of Natural Solutions Foundation –Tamil Nadu.
I had to be reminded that Tamil Nadu is one of India’s Sates so Dr. Viswanathan is the first of the State level units for the Natural Solutions Foundation which Dr. Hegde is building for health and health freedom’s sake in India.
We are in the land of ancient medical wisdom here in India. The best known in the West is Ayurveda, a system in which food is specifically used as an individualized medicine every bit as important as herbs, prayer, and other influences. We were delighted to be driven to several really exciting places: Alva’s Ayurveda facilities: a magnificent herbarium containing a vast array of traditional healing plants, an Ayurveda pharmaceutical company (Alva) whose products are made in the traditional ways and are certified Organic, Alva’s treatment facilities and their Hospital. We were also able to meet their gifted and inspired chairman at their new Ayurvedic Medical School and were invited back to present to the school next January. We will be there!
Although herbs were “given” to the WTO, you will remember that our lawyers tell us that the active compounds and complexes in herbs actually still fall under the dominion of Codex where a nutrient related adverse event is “any change in a bio marker”. If India does not protect her natural system of health, Codex threatens it in a major way. Thus, the importance of enlisting this community of interest is obvious. And enlist it we are doing.
In the evening, after a much needed shower (hot, humid, sticky, gooey weather does not make for good party wear) we attended a gathering given by Dr. Hegde on the occasion of his physician-daughter’s visit from the US to her family home here in Mangalore. Dozens of men and women gathered to mix and mingle. They uniformly impressed me with their open mindedness, their intelligence and their interest in the Codex problem. We talked, ate and mingled with supportive, creative and positive professionals who all wanted to know what they could do to help. It’s hard not to love that kind of gathering! AND the food was spectacular in the buffet we all selected from: vegetarian on one long table and non-veg on another. I ate some of each. It was all fantastic.
One of the problems in this trip is that I will no longer be able to go to the Indian restaurants in the US and Europe which I used to enjoy now that I have eaten real Indian food!
Dr. Hegde sent an email notifying us that we had been on 5 Indian TV stations with the Natural Solutions Foundation message. Not only that, The Hindu ran an article 3 days before we arrived. Things are definitely heating up here. Now we will go to at least 2, possibly 3, more cities in India to lecture on the issues at hand.
Stay tuned!
Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
July 10, 2006
We were picked up and taken to the Mangalore Press Club where photographers, journalists and TV crews were waiting for us. Dr. Hegde gave an oration which held everyone in the room rapt except us: we did not understand the Indian language in which he delivered it. So we were introduced by an enthusiastic colleague who set the stage for us … but we could not see the stage setting since it was in a language we do not speak. General Stubblebine introduced our topic, health and health freedom, and our mission here in India and then I spoke. The first thing I told the press was that we deeply honored by Dr. Hegde’s decision to accept the Chairmanship of Natural Solutions Foundation – India and that by having such a distinguished health freedom fighter head our foundation in India we were strengthened and guided by a brilliant and wise man.
I then discussed both the problem (multinational anti-health decisions at Codex and country levels) and the solution (the International Strategy supported by legal opinion and our new Codex White Paper on what Codex really requires of nations (soon to be available on www.HealthFreedomUSA.org). The cameras were grinding and flashing and the reporters were writing madly. Afterwards we took questions for quite a while and departed. By the way, NOT air conditioned. The Hindu, a national paper, had already run a major article on the Natural Solutions Foundation mission in the context of the international food quality and choice problems and the International Strategy which we bring to interested countries. Following the press conference, footage appeared on at least 5 TV stations in support of our information and mission. We were thrilled.
Lunch was at a lovely restaurant which has a delightful and varied buffet. While enjoying a lovely salad, I looked down and saw that an uninvited guest, and a pretty large one at that, had come to join us on, not at, our table: a shiny sub-continent sized cockroach!
After we changed tables (did that really help or was it primarily psychological?) the Buffet Chef came out to meet us. He is a graduate of a technical college with a BA in Catering Technology and Hotel Management. We told him about Codex and pointed out that every chef in India should care about the loss of nutrients in food, contamination of the food supply and the degradation of health which it will lead to. He immediately “grocked” it and said that he would share the information on our website with his class, with his schoolmates, etc.
This committed young man pointed out, as everyone does here in India whom we have spoken to, that healthy food is a foundation stone of the Ayurveda way of health and life. Food IS medicine and medicine includes food. Contaminated food will degrade Ayurveda’s power to treat and cure all maladies and diseases and therefore it is a matter of Indian national pride and patriotism to maintain her food supply, and traditional medicines, for her posterity. When we pointed out that according to our reading of Codex, although herbs were “given” to WHO at the suggestion of Dr. Beth Yettley, the US Codex Delegate when too many countries were objecting to treating all herbs as untested drugs, the active molecules and complexes still fall under Codex and, because of that, they are subject to the WHO-supplied definition of a nutrient-related adverse event: “any change in a bio marker” he was appropriately horrified. Herbs are the birth right of his countrymen and the great Indian traditions must be protected, he said.
Then we did a little [very wet] wandering and went back to the club for dinner and hours and hours of email. By the time I got my computer plugged in I was falling asleep there in that hot, cramped mosquito “breedery”!
Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director