European rules could effect Americans access to vitamins and supplements
By: John Russell | Source: IRN NEWS
January 18, 2005 10:22PM EST

A decision to be made soon in an obscure European committee may have far reaching effects on American consumers. The committee in question is preparing rules dealing with vitamins and natural supplements in what is called the “Codex Alimentarium” for the European Union. It is almost a forgone conclusion that the rules will essentially outlaw the sale of most vitamins and supplements allowing only tiny doses to be purchased without a prescription from a doctor. How could this effect Americans? It’s called the Law of Unintended Consequences. When the rules go into effect it is almost certain that those in Europe who believe that they need nutritional supplements will attempt to buy them from suppliers in the U.S. When European supplement manufacturers begin to feel the loss of income it is not likely that they will attempt to fight the rules formulated by notoriously stubborn E.U. bureaucrats. Rather they are more likely to complain that American competition is unfair under the rules of the World Trade Organization treaty. Should the WTO rule through its dispute resolution process that America’s open sales of supplements is unfair to European interests this country could find itself, because of treaty obligations that over rule U.S. law, operating under the same strangulating trade rules common in Europe. It should be noted that in the past the WTO has had no trouble ruling against American interests, and there is no reason to believe that it will not do so in this case.

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