b'capturedCodexOfficesintheU.S.,Withoutpollinators,thehumanknell for bees and other pollinators, and Australia, New Zealand, South Africa,race would suffer a catastrophic dropof course then for humans.Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Bra- in its food supply, leading to wide- These things are clear: They dont care zil, the Middle East, and elsewhere willspreadstarvation.AlbertEinsteinabout people. They dont care about ani-shove this standard across the finish lineeven said, our extinction. mals. They dont care about the environ-at Step 8 so they can chalk up yet an- There has already been a precipi- ment. Health is never a consideration as other victory for poisoning the Worldtous decline in pollinators around thethey only think about their own rules andunless they are stopped or else con- World with a loss of 60% of nativestandards and with a mindless obsession sumers boycott Merck-meat in favor ofbee pollinators. of adopting yet one more standard, or their local ranchers production. guideline, or code of conduct, they press Over90%ofpesticidesdonoton until, finally, the object of their blind The Last Rung on thereach their target, and they cumulateobsession has been adopted and enshrined Ladder to Hell intheenvironment,sothetoxicityin the panoply of standards, guidelines, Codex appears to be systematicallyproblem is growing, not shrinking. and codes of conduct. Then, inexorably, destroying animals, insects, and the envi- So,theprotectionofconsumerthis monster turns its focus upon the next ronmentand therefore Humanitywithhealth by not killing off our pollina- standard and the relentless march towards its standard making. Nowhere was thattors is clearly appropriate and our re- adoption begins anew. Little stands in its more apparent than in the Commissionssponsibility! way. Codex is nothing but a factory on discussion of the long list of pesticides sentauto-pilot churning out industry-ordered up to it from the Codex Committee onNHF then reminded the delegates, espe- toxicity standards with little to no discern-Pesticide Residues for approval. cially those who said that the environmentment. Like a breath of death through dry The EU argued that the Maximum Res- was of no concern to Codex, that By theleaves, Paul Mayers, the former chairman idue Levels (MRLs) for clothianidin, qui- way, if the environment is of no concern toof the Codex Committee on Food Label-noxyfen, and thiamethoxam be adoptedCodex, or outside its mandate, then whying, admitted, Codex is adjusting to in-at Step 5 and not the near-final Step 5/8 be- was an EWG [Electronic Working Group]dustry practices. Yes, I would say that it cause, among other reasons, Codex mustestablished by CCPR53 [Codex Commit- is.consider environmental factors in settingtee on Pesticide Residues] promoting en- There is a French saying, very applica-MRLs. These particularly nasty pesticidesvironmental inhibitors and none of youble here, Nous nirons plus aux bois, les have been implicated in the death of beesobjected then? Indeed, you congratulatedlauriers sont coups, which in English and other pollinators. Norway supportedthe co-chairs of the EWG! You cannotmeans, Well go to the woods no more, the EU, stating that there has been ahave it both ways. Mr. Chairman, there isthe laurel trees are cut. Codex is blindly worldwidedeclineinpollinatorsandno urgency to advance these MRLs to Stepor maybe not so blindly cutting down all human health does not succeed in a vac- 5/8. Adopt at Step 5. of the trees, killing the bees, poisoning uum. France, Switzerland, Kazakhstan,But the United States, Japan, China,the populace, and turning our beautiful NorthMacedonia,Finland,Germany,Egypt,Canada,Chile,Ecuador,CostaPlanet into a wasteland. And is calling it Sweden, the NHF, ENCA, and IBFAN allRica, Brazil, South Africa, Argentina, Aus- global warming or climate change! spoke up, agreeing with the EU position. tralia, New Zealand, and the pesticide-in- Butthedevastatorswillhavetheir When NHF had its chance to speak, Idustry front-group CropLife all arguedmoney;letthemeatthat,whilethey essentially said NHF supports the com- that these pesticides were safe and shouldhatch their sordid plans for all of the ments made by the EU, Norway, France,be adopted at the near-final Step 5/8. Aus- rest of us survivors to subsist on vermin.Germany,NorthMacedonia,Switzer- tralia tried to pretend that it had concerns land, Kazakhstan, Finland, Sweden, andfor the environment while New ZealandLet Them Eat Crickets!others on this pesticide issue. NHF, as alamented that, Its tempting to considerOn the morning of Day Four of the consumerorganizationwithmembersthe World as we might want it to be, butmeeting, the Codex Commission took around the World, would especially like towe do not believe that the environmentalthetorchpassedtoitbytheCodex express its appreciation to them for work- concerns are legitimate factors. CommitteeonPesticideResiduesand ing to protect the health of its membersAfter much debate, the pesticide indus- addressed the subject of new food cate-and consumers in general. try got its way and these dangerous pes- gories,includingcrickets,spiders,lice, As for the other delegations, NHFticides were adopted at Step 5/8, whichand earwigs, all charmingly relabeled as would like to make the following points: means that at the very next Codex Ali- Micro-Livestock. Both the FAO and Pollinationisvitalfortherepro- mentarius Commission meeting in oneWHO are pushing to create new food duction of 80% of all plant speciesyear they can be adopted at the final Stepsources for humans from insects. To my and 35% of all global crops. 8. This may very well sound the deathgreat surprise, the EUand Denmark 12 H ealtHF reedomN ews /w iNter2022'