b'especiallywere enthusiastic supporters, with Denmark opining that, There is an urgent need to transform the Worlds food systems. On the other hand, and much to my surprise, the United States, Canada, Argentina, and even Australia and New Zealand urged that the Commission exer-cise caution and conduct any work on this matter through already existing Codex committees.Amongotherthings,theCanadian delegatesaid,Wemaybetakingtoo many steps ahead of ourselves. When the National Health Federation spoke up, I agreed and said further that the Domin-ican Republics earlier comments were shared equally by NHF, where it had said,Screenshot of an array of insect foods proudly shown to Codex delegatesCodex should control food waste before establishingnewfoodsources.NHFThats still a form of slavery. reexamine its rules and principles. With a agreed and directed the Codex delegatesCodex ostensibly operates on consen- World drowning in pesticides and other attention to an FAO Report that showedsus, a form of compromise, reached byendocrine disrupters, oceans awash with 1.6 billion tons of food are wasted glob- its members. It is not a bad system, con- plastics both macro and micro, vitamin ally every year! (see https://www.fao.org/ sidered on its own. And many good stan- and mineral levels in foods dropping like a news/story/en/item/196402/icode/) I alsodards and guidelines have been created bystone, people becoming sicker not health-pointed out that most insects are contam- Codex. The Codex Secretariat has alwaysier, and bees dying aplenty while animal inated with parasites, are a health hazard,been fair, to us and others, just as I believeherds and poultry flocks are culled for and should not be consumed. that CAC Chairman Steve Wearne hasimagined infections simply so that we can After much discussion, the Commissionoverall strived to negotiate a very difficultall be forced to eat bugs instead, then the was not able to reach any consensus onpath as chairman and be polite and fair toWorld is on the path to death with Codex the way forward, as Codex likes to putall. leading the march. If we dont change our it. So, the European and other pro-insect- Still,empiricalevidence isinforma- principles and practices soon, then there food delegates did not get the electroniction acquired by observation or experi- can be no return from this path.working group that they wished estab- mentation. What I observed at this most 2022 Scott C. Tipslished to move this project forward. In- recentCodexmeetingaswellasover stead, members were encouraged to bringthe more than two decades of my atten- About the NHF The National Health Fed-up this issue within existing Codex com- dance at these meetings is that all of theerationthe Worlds oldest health-freedom orga-mittees. Anglophone member delegations (U.S.,nizationhas been attending Codex Alimentarius UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) Somewhere Between Rightare clearly controlled by the pesticide andmeetings since 1997, and as a Codex-accredited and Wrong Is Still Wrong drug industries. The ferocity and intensityINGO since 2002. Invariably outspoken, often hated, and sometimes loved at these meetings for The 13th-century Persian poet Rumiwith which they protect the pesticides,its direct pro-consumer and pro-optimal-health is often quoted as saying, Somewherevet drugs, and other corporate toxins atviews, the NHF goes head-to-head with corpo-between right and wrong is a garden. ICodex meetings make this crystal clear.rate-controlled regulators and their corporate will meet you there. Lovely sentiments,No other smoking gun is needed to knowmasters time after time. From vitamin-and-mineral but if Rumi were referring to compromise,that these government agencies, suppos- levels, contaminants in foods such as melamine how does one compromise between, say,edlyinexistencetoprotectthepublicand aluminum, and mercury levels in fish to vet clean and dirty? Less dirty? Well, that ishealth, are nothing but corporate branchdrugs and pesticides, the NHF takes the unpopular still unclean. There can be no compromiseofficesforindustryandthepublicbepositions at Codex to protect your health while the between certain kinds of positions with- damned. corporate interests seem to only care for pushing out the higher moral side losing. MaybeAs Anton Chigurh asked in the 2007synthetic toxic products globally to increase their in family arguments there might be a gar- film No Country for Old Men, If thefinancial bottom line. Support the NHF atwww.den to meet someone in, but how aboutrule you followed brought you to this, ofthenhf.com.between freedom and slavery? Less free?what use was the rule? Codex needs to H ealtHF reedomN ews /w iNter2022 13'