Consumers for Health Choice

Sept 07

Online petition

The numbers are steadily creeping up but we still need many more signatures, so as a priority, please go to www.consumersforhealthchoice.com and sign the on-line petition, which is directed to the European Commission and the Governments of the Member States of the European Union.  It will only take a few moments but could make a huge difference to the outcome of the Save Our Supplements campaign.  The petition is of crucial importance and because of that, CHC has placed advertisements in the national press in the form of an ‘open letter’ to the Prime Minister – which had a dual role of alerting Gordon Brown and his ministers to the problems of the Food Supplements Directive and encouraging more consumers to sign on line. 

With much help from our existing celebrity supporters, we recruited more than 20 new ‘A’ list names to sign the letter which took a full page in the Guardian newspaper – these included Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Sir Michael Caine, Sir Cliff Richard, Gloria Hunniford, Virginia McKenna, Dame Judi Dench, Cilla Black, Gloria Hunniford, Felicity Kendal, Bill Kenwright, Martin Shaw, John Madejski and many others.  Both Felicity Kendal and Gloria Hunniford have agreed to act as spokespersons for CHC, so your will see them popping up in the media to discuss this issue in the weeks ahead. 

CHC has never put Gordon Brown under pressure before on the Food Supplements Directive, and the views of the new Minister, Dawn Primarolo MO are also unknown.  But we will find out very soon and respond accordingly.

EUROPEAN CAMPAIGN GAINS MOMENTUM TO KEEP HIGHER DOSE LEVELS

There is still a real possibility that thousands of specialist, higher dose vitamin and mineral supplements will be lost – not from just the UK market but from other countries too.  The pressure must now shift to Europe, not just by CHC but by the British Government.  We need the British negotiators (our Food Standards Agency) to encourage their counterparts in all 27 Member States to follow the British lead and insist that higher dose nutrients remain available.  We’ve been saying this for at least two years – and now time is almost running out. 

The way forward is to keep up the pressure on the Commission – it is the Commission who will be proposing the dose levels for all vitamins and all minerals. 

So, we are back to writing even more letters – copying them to MPs and MEPs – and in turn, encouraging MPs and MEPs to also press the Commission for a favourable outcome.

Our earlier request for letters has produced good results as thousands of letters in different languages from other EU countries have started delivering the same message – so many in fact that the Commission says it doesn’t have the resources to respond top them! 

Don’t worry, we have complained to the EU President, José Manuel Barroso, about this lack of response and about the subsequent comments of officials which revealed a negative and almost aggressive attitude.

WORKING WITH THE NEW GOVERNMENT

CHC has been extremely fortunate in continuing access with Downing Street officials.  The fact that at least one of these has accepted our invitation to attend the CHC Parliamentary Reception on October is a positive sign and we will work hard to build this relationship. 

Further good news is that the new minister has agreed to be our guest speaker at the event – a very good sign!  These are always very good events for us and we can guarantee a good mix of MPs and Peers will attend. 

FINALLY, please remember how important it is for you to add YOUR signature to our Petition.  It will only take a few minutes of your time.  Go to www.consumersforhealthchoice.com/petition and help us make a difference.    

Further Information: If you have questions on this Report to Consumers, please contact:

Sue Croft, Director, Consumers for Health Choice, 105 Southbank House, Black Prince Road, London, SE1 7SJ     Email: sue.croft@healthchoice.org.uk