NEWS RELEASE
EXCLUSIVE, BREAKING NEWS AT CODEX ON LABEL DECEPTION IMPACTING ORGANIC FOODS
NHF Argues Against and Helps Defeat Organic Label Deception At Codex
Biofortification Definition Update
May 13, 2019, Ottawa, Canada
The National Health Federation arrived in Ottawa, Canada in time to deliver two powerful interventions at the 45th session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL). If you have been following NHF’s work on the vitally important definition of “Biofortification,” you will be relieved to know, we won! The CCFL decided that the definition of “Biofortification” is unnecessary and will not got forward.
Remember, Biofortification is simply the process by which the nutritional quality of food crops is improved through plant breeding with the aim of making the nutrients bioavailable after digestion. To most of us, that means “conventional” plant breeding. There is nothing wrong with that. However, some had wanted to convert Biofortification into a Trojan horse that would allow GM foods to slip into those countries that currently ban such foods. Those special interests had hijacked the Biofortification definition and ruined it by amending it to include genetically engineered
This hot debate item was defeated first thing this Monday morning. Ironically, the U.S. head of delegation had declared that its adoption was “inevitable.” That is what he said in December 2018 when NHF spoke with him at the Codex Nutrition Committee meeting in Berlin. NHF has been participating in the debate on this definition since 2012 in order to keep organic foods safe and consumers from being deceived.
Scott Tips – NHF President since 2007, Food-and-Drug specialist lawyer since 1983, and 19-year Codex veteran – gave convincing arguments as to why the inclusion of GMO foods under the “biofortification” label would be disastrous for consumers. Additionally, NHF argued that leaving it up to national authorities would dilute the goal of Codex, which is harmonization of food standards across country borders. With the World Trade Organization’s enforcement authority over Codex standards since the mid-1990s, more than ever we need assurance that food coming in from other countries is compatible with our own perception and experience of that food item. In other words, how would you like to reach for an item you think is organic only to then find out that that food contained GMOs?
Creating confusion, creating ill-health, and loss of consumer confidence would be the net result in this poor global decision, yet NHF and others fought with skillful argument and this definition of biofortification was not inevitably adopted, as the U.S. had declared it would be. Had this standard been adopted, it would have degraded the organic market, creating a massive loss of consumer confidence. This definition, allowing GMO foods, would have targeted an entire demographic of health-conscious individuals, seeking to deceive them and in so doing, would have undermined their health as we all know the impact of GMO foods: infertility, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, organ damage, gastrointestinal, and immune system disorders, among other things.
See NHF’s interventions here below. This is what your support for the oldest health-freedom organization in the World has afforded: your representation and your Voice for Health FreedomTM taken to the global stage at Codex where decisions are made for the whole World. Please continue your support as members of NHF and donors as this is only one of many Codex committees with equally vital issues that will impact your life and that will be decided this year and beyond. If it were not for our faithful members and financial supporters, these fine arguments you are witness to (there are no reporters here at Codex!) would not happen. Thank you and let’s keep fighting for our health and health freedom together!
This video shows NHF President Scott Tips’ first intervention, arguing against allowing GMO foods being included within the definition of Biofortification and thereby called “Biofortified” as well as his insistence that national authorities not be given a loophole to allow GMOs to be included in their own definition of Biofortification. It is highly important that shoppers not reach for foods that they think are “organic” because the word “Bio” is on the label, when in fact that food contains GMOs. This would be active label deception of the worst sort.
The second National Health Federation argument, also delivered by Scott Tips, on the way the World might well employ the products falling under the biofortification definition. National Health Federation President Scott Tips makes a compelling argument against deception.
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