Why Now?
With the battle to make vitamins prescription items lost in the U.S. following the implementation of the Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act (DSHEA) in 1994, the pharmaceutical industry decided to regroup at the international level. In 1995, it launched a global campaign to outlaw all health information about vitamins and other natural non-patentable therapies.
The pharma-cartel’s Codex plans are a desperate effort by the international pharmaceutical industry to secure its survival as we know it today. If it loses this global battle — similar to the defeat that occurred in the U.S. in 1994 — vitamins will become accepted worldwide as powerful preventive and therapeutic agents that benefit millions of people, and substantially reduce the markets for pharmaceutical drugs.
For almost 10 years now, the pharmaceutical cartel has been coordinating these plans in Germany — until recently, the lead export nation of pharmaceutical products — where it has been trying to push its plan for a global ban on vitamin therapies through the so-called Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses. However, with support from its friends and supporters around the world, the Dr. Rath Health Foundation was able to block these unscrupulous efforts on numerous occasions.
In 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2002, the plans to restrict health freedom worldwide were on the agenda of the Codex meetings in Berlin. The main reason why the plans could not be passed on these occasions were our protests against them. These protests came in different forms and included rallies, health conferences, Open Letters in newspapers, mail-outs, letters by patients to Codex delegates and many other actions. Particularly effective were petition drives in the form of email campaigns. In 2002, the number of protest emails sent to Codex members, politicians and governments supporting the Codex plans of the pharma-cartel surpassed 650 million from around the world.
In parallel efforts, the drug companies were trying to abuse national parliaments, as well as regional institutions. In March 2002, they twisted the arm of the European Parliament and its cabinet (the so-called European Commission). But on the day when a vote on the restriction of natural health for the people of Europe was held, so many protest emails arrived at the EU Parliament that its entire email system crashed and was shut down — for the first time in its history.
What have we accomplished with these protests? A lot! Firstly, thus far, at least, we have prevented the unethical pharma-cartel plans for a global ban on natural therapies from being implemented. Secondly, we have convinced Codex delegates from South Africa and other countries, primarily from the developing world, that by supporting the pharma-cartel’s Codex plans, they are not solving — but are actually aggravating — the health problems in their countries and are increasing their dependency on the pharma-cartel.
Most importantly, we have informed millions of people about these unscrupulous plans — among them scientists, doctors and politicians — who were enabled to see behind the deceptive smoke screen of “consumer protection” and “trade standards” drawn up by the pharma-cartel as a pretext for its protectionist laws.
Many times during those years, Dr. Rath gave speeches on behalf of the people of the world, speaking for millions of people in America, Asia, Africa and Europe — not only for the present generation, but also for generations yet to come. All these millions of people have one thing in common: the unscrupulous plans of the pharma-cartel directly affects their health and lives.
Visiting this website may be the first time that you have heard about the unethical plans of the pharmacartel. But now that you have learned about them, we ask you: “What are you going to do?”
One thing is clear: Without you speaking out for your very own health interests, the pharmaceutical interest groups may still reverse everything we have accomplished so far. However, after visiting this website, you will no longer be able to say that you did not know.