HANS e-News - April 15, 2005

CONTENTS

1) Editorial
2) Feature: GE Food in Canada
3) Issue Updates
--Natural Health Products Request for Research Proposals
--Enforcement Act Threatens Food Sovereignty
--2,4-D Comment Deadline April 22, 2005
4) Media Watch
--Biggest Study of GMO Finds Impact on Birds, Bees
--Americans Clueless About Gene-Altered Foods
--Transgenic Crops Take Another Knock: Shift in Weed Species Hits Bees and Butterflies
--Health Canada Asks Pfizer to Suspend Sales of its Drug Bextra and Informs Canadians of New Restrictions on Celebrex
--Physical, Emotional Stress Trigger Heart Attack
--Bureaucrat New Head of Drug Approvals in Canada
--“New approach” as Health Canada seeks conditional licenses for drugs, new pediatric office
--US senator alleges FDA tried to prevent Adderall XR withdrawal in Canada
--Summer of ’05: Critical Time for Dietary Supplements
--EPA: Children More Vulnerable to Carcinogens than Adults
--Tai Chi Gaining Ground as Exercise for Elderly
--Half of all Cancer Deaths Preventable
--As Low-Carb Craze Wanes, Atkins Revamps its Diet
--Tamoxifen Ups Risk of Uterine Sarcoma
--Canadian Government, Automakers Reach Deal on Cutting Emissions
--10 Step Memory Workout
--Six Diseases Cause 73 Percent of Child Deaths: WHO
5) Calendar of Events

1) EDITORIAL

Hello HANS members and friends:

Happy spring day to you all! It’s a little wet on the West Coast, but we’re getting through it. Many things to tell you, but none more important than that Health Action is now at the printers and will be mailed within the next couple weeks. Hundreds of volunteer hours have gone into this undertaking, and we hope you’ll send us your suggestions and ideas.

Last week felt really, really good, and I want to tell you about it. Did you know some very large vitamin producers were recently found guilty of price fixing? Did you know the settlement amount was $140 million dollars? Did you know there’s no way of repaying consumers for these vitamins, so it was decided to give the remaining money (about $122 million after legal fees) to animal feed producers and various charities?

Well, here’s the kicker. Decision-makers didn’t approach HANS, or the International Society of Orthomolecular Medicine, or the Consumer Health Organization of Canada. Nor did they widely advertise that this opportunity was even available. If it hadn’t been for a keen member reading The National Post in January, we wouldn’t have known at all. AND this article was published after the settlement proceeds had already been allocated last November!

What did they do? The court had one person make a list of large charities and simply awarded the remaining funds to them.

There were hearings across Canada. Milt Bowling went to the Vitamin Class Action hearings in Toronto to register an objection on HANS’s behalf. At this hearing, information had been printed off our old website that HANS was a small, insignificant, failing charity - 2002 information. In spite of Milt’s words, he couldn’t break through the Toronto mind set. As noted above, this was a done deal anyhow.

But there were also Vancouver hearings, later, and we had a chance to prepare. In Vancouver, a couple weeks ago, HANS President Bayne Boyes and Director Bob Henderson stood in a room of 28 lawyers and one judge, to be the only Vancouver objectors.

Bayne was given about one hour in the morning and another 20 minutes in the afternoon. By the end of the day, the judge and all lawyers understood our point of view. One of the lawyers even became a HANS member. Another lawyer told Bayne that HANS was well positioned to move forward.

We do not know if there will be consideration for HANS in this settlement. What we DO know is that Health Action Network Society is a truly exceptional organization that will again make its mark as a serious health information charity.

I wish I had seen these hearings in person. After 20 years of commitment to HANS, it would have been so much fun for me.

All the best,

Lorna J Hancock

Founding Member and Director

3) FEATURE: GE FOOD IN CANADA

By Michelle Hancock

Do you know what you’re eating? I’m not talking about what’s on the label. I’m talking about what’s not.

Currently, Canadian manufacturers aren’t required to label foods that are genetically modified (GM) or that contain GM ingredients. How has this come about?

On September 17, 1999, the Canadian General Standards Board Committee on Voluntary Labelling of Foods Obtained or Not Obtained Through Genetic Modification began working on standards. Fifty-three voting members ranged from industry groups and food processors and producers to government agencies and academic institutions. Only four members clearly represented consumer organizations.

On November 16, 1999, some voting members stepped down. More than 25 environmental, consumer, and social justice groups demanded that the Committee change its mandate from voluntary to mandatory labelling.

The Committee didn’t, and the deliberations continued.

On March 13, 2003, more than 50 groups yet again protested the Committee’s voluntary standard to no avail.

On August 2, 2003, the Consumer’s Association of Canada--which had remained involved until then--withdrew, stating, “The Committee has been developing a voluntary standard that may satisfy industry, but does not meet the needs of consumers.”

In September 2003, when the Committee announced their consensus on voluntary labelling standards, all consumer groups had either withdrawn from the process or voted against the standards.

So what do consumers want?
In 1994, a national poll revealed 95 per cent of Canadians want labels to state whether food is genetically modified. In 1999, in a national Environics poll, 81 per cent of Canadians disagreed with the statement that special labelling of GM foods isn’t necessary. In 2001, a national Decima poll revealed that 97 per cent of respondents favoured mandatory labelling.

In the latter poll, only 12 per cent favoured a voluntary approach, which is what Canada currently has. The new standards will also allow products containing five per cent GM ingredients to be labelled as non-GM.

Proponents claim voluntary labels are enough and mandatory labelling would undermine Canada’s regulatory guidelines, which currently accept GM foods as safe.

Now the standard will go through an internal government review, followed by enactment into legislation.

“When all is said and done, it still gives us just a voluntary standard with manufacturers having the power to decide if they label or not,” said Mel Fruitman, president of the Consumer Association of Canada. “Nothing less than mandatory will guarantee consumer choice.”

Interestingly, during the time the Committee deliberations took place, several major Canadian grocers forced manufacturers who were distributing through their stores to remove “non-GM” labels from products, effectively diminishing consumer choice.

Will the food industry volunteer to label GM food? Some manufacturers already do and/or have publicly announced to being GM-free, and kudos to them. In general, certified organic products are your best bet for avoiding GM ingredients.

Online GM-free food resource

Greenpeace Canada’s Shoppers Guide at www.greenpeace.ca/shoppersguide/ lists everything from baby foods to oils and salad dressings and whether or not they contain GM ingredients. According to the Guide, for example, Werthers sweets (Campino, Original) don’t, while Cadbury’s (Caramilk, Crispy Crunch) likely do.

Just a handful of other brands likely to contain GM foodstuffs include Bestfoods Canada, Betty Crocker, Campbell Soup Co, Canada Safeway Ltd and Dare Foods. Check out www.greenpeace.ca/shoppersguide/redlist.php for a comprehensive list, as well as links that enable you to contact these manufacturers and voice your opinion on GM foods.

Also check out the Media links below for the latest on environmental issues and attitudes about GMOs.

Michelle Hancock is a Vancouver-based writer especially interested in health and environmental politics.

4) ISSUE UPDATES

Natural Health Products Research Program

**as appeared April 8, 2005, in the NHPD Bulletin, a product of the Natural Health Products Directorate at Health Canada

Bridging the Regulatory Gap: Funding priorities in NHP safety, quality and efficacy

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The Natural Health Products Directorate (NHPD) is the regulatory authority for natural health products (NHPs) sold in Canada.

The role of the NHPD is to ensure that Canadians have ready access to NHPs that are safe, effective and of high quality while respecting freedom of choice and philosophical and cultural diversity.

The NHPD is committed to supporting NHP research. For this reason, the NHPD held a series of consultations with key stakeholder groups to determine research priorities and how to best fulfill its research mandate. In June 2003, the NHPD launched the Natural Health Products Research Program(NHPRP) to address these priorities. The aim of the NHPRP is to germinate
interest in NHP research by supporting research and related activities that address the following objectives:

--The need to build research capacity;

--The commitment to conduct research of the highest quality;

--The importance of developing community infrastructure and
partnerships; and/or

--The need to enhance knowledge transfer and information retrieval.

While the primary interest of the NHPRP is to support product based rather than practice based projects, proposals exploring complementary and alternative health care (CAHC) will be considered provided they demonstrate a significant focus on NHP research. For example, while chiropractic or acupuncture research in itself does not meet the NHPRP criteria for funding, research investigating the use of NHPs by chiropractors or acupuncturists is suitable for consideration.

While not directly supporting the conduct of NHP research, this Request for Proposals (RFP) seeks to facilitate the development of research projects that:

--Are relevant to and will enhance the regulatory function of the NHPD;

--Enable consumers to make informed choices about NHPs; and

--Are sensitive to the needs of the communities and traditions that produce and utilize these products.

This RFP has been developed to target research projects at their inception and provide a maximum support of $20,000 per application through contribution funding to projects addressing the identified priority areas in NHP safety, quality and efficacy.

The DEADLINE for proposals is MAY 31, 2005.

For more information about this initiative, or to access the guidelines and application form, please visit our Web site at:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hpfb-dgpsa/nhpd-dpsn/bridging...

Enforcement act threatens Canadian food sovereignty

OTTAWA - Bill C-27, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Enforcement Act, would mean the end of independent policy on food production, inspection and enforcement in Canada, according to the Beyond Factory Farming (BFF) Coalition.

Cathy Holtslander of the BFF Coalition says, “Canadians want made-in-Canada food and agriculture regulations that ensure quality, health and safety. Bill C-27 would empower the CFIA to restructure the regulations governing Canada’s food and agriculture to put trade ahead of public safety and integration with the United States ahead of democratic Canadian control of what we eat.”

Bill C-27 would empower the CFIA to:

--Make bilateral agreements that force Canada to adopt the regulatory practices of other countries, primarily the US.

--Authorize the privatization of Canadian food inspection services.

--Share any information about Canadians with foreign governments and private companies, for the investigation, enforcement or administration of any law.

--Shift regulation from the precautionary principle to risk management in the enforcement of all food and agriculture Acts.

Recently, the federal government endorsed recommendations for sweeping changes to Canada’s regulatory system, which it calls “Smart Regulation.” Smart Regulation aims to integrate Canada’s regulatory practices with those of the United States in everything from border control to pharmaceuticals and food in order to promote trade.

“Quite simply, Bill C-27, combined with the federal government’s commitment to so-called ‘Smart Regulation’, would turn over Canada’s food and agriculture regulatory system to the USDA, the FDA and private corporations,” says Holtslander. “We would completely abandon our power to set and enforce independent rules.”

“The BSE border closing shows how dangerous it is to put all your eggs in one basket. Canada’s over-reliance on the US market for cattle also provided the rationale for the CFIA to mirror American livestock production rules. This locked us out of other markets such as Japan and Europe that have stronger rules based on consumer and environmental health and safety protection.”

With Bill C-27, the federal government is continuing to create a policy environment where rewriting regulations reduces, rather than enhances, the health and safety of Canadians and the integrity of Canadian agriculture. This system favours market expansion by large agri-business corporations at the expense of independent family farmers and smaller food processing businesses.

Canadians opposed to Bill C-27 can fax a letter of concern to their MP from the Beyond Factory Farming Coalition website, www.beyondfactoryfarming.org. The BFF Coalition submission to the Committee is also available on the site.

The BFF Coalition is a network of local, provincial and national groups including the Council of Canadians. It promotes livestock production that supports food sovereignty, ecological, human and animal health, as well as sustainability and community viability and informed citizen/consumer choice.

For more information:
Laura Sewell, Media Officer: 613.233.4487 ext 234

E-mail: lsewell@canadians.org
Web: www.beyondfactoryfarming.org

The Council of Canadians
700-170 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, ON K1P 5V5.
Tel: 613-233-2773; Toll-free: 1-800-387-7177
Fax: 613-233-6776
E-mail: inquiries@canadians.org
Web: www.canadians.org

2,4-D Comment Deadline April 22, 2005

The Sierra Club of Canada is yet another environmental group calling for federal government to rescind its recent decision to continue to allow 2,4-D use on lawn and turf areas.

Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) says this herbicide is “safe” when used according to the label, though evidence links it to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia, brain and bladder cancers. Its other neurological and reproductive-damaging effects are itemized in the Sierra Club’s eight-page “Overview of the toxic effects of 2,4-D,” available at www.sierraclub.ca/national/getinvolved/item.shtml?x=814

Currently, there are about 205 products containing 2,4-D sold in Canada. 2,4-D is banned in Denmark, Norway and Kuwait.

The deadline for public comment on the PMRA’s decision is APRIL 22, 2005. Contact:

Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency
Publications Coordinator, PMRA
Health Canada
2720 Riverside Drive
A.L. 6605C
Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9
Phone: 1-800-267-6315, 613-736-3799
Fax: 613-736-3758
E-mail: pmra_publications@hc.sc.gc.ca

5) MEDIA WATCH

Biggest Study of GMO Finds Impact on Birds, Bees
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/3...

Americans Clueless About Gene-Altered Foods
http://pewagbiotech.org/newsroom/summaries/display.p...

Transgenic Crops Take Another Knock: Shift in Weed Species Hits Bees and Butterflies
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050321/full/050321-2...

Health Canada Asks Pfizer to Suspend Sales of its Drug Bextra and Informs Canadians of New Restrictions on the Use of Celebrex
http://hc-sc.gc.ca/english/protection/warnings/2005/...

Physical, Emotional Stress Trigger Heart Attack
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&...

Bureaucrat is New Head of Drug Approvals in Canada
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/172/7/863-a?etoc...

"New approach" as Health Canada seeks conditional licences for drugs, new pediatric office http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/172/7/864?etoc

US senator alleges FDA tried to prevent Adderall XR withdrawal in Canada
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/172/7/865?etoc

Summer of ’05: Critical Time for Dietary Supplements
http://healthy.net/scr/News.asp?id=7567

EPA: Children May Be More Vulnerable to Carcinogens than Adults
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7435

Tai Chi Gaining Ground as Exercise for Elderly
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&...

Half of all Cancer Deaths Preventable
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&...

As Low-Carb Craze Wanes, Atkins Revamps its Diet
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&...

Tamoxifen Ups Risk of Uterine Sarcoma
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=97&e...

Canadian Government, Automakers Reach Deal on Cutting Emissions
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7396

10 Step Memory Workout
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?artic...

Six Diseases Cause 73 Percent of Child Deaths: WHO
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&...

For more current titles, check out “News” at www.hans.org.

6) CALENDAR OF EVENTS

The Biology of Belief – How Beliefs Become Heredity
Who: Dr. Bruce Lipton
When: Saturday, April 16
Where: Auditorium, H.R. MacMillan Space Centre (Planetarium)
1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC
Cost: $125

To register: 604-688-1714
E-mail: admin@hypnosis.bc.ca
Web: http:/www.hypnosis.bc.ca

***

Exercise Combined with Soy & Flax as Estrogen Alternatives, for the Prevention of Osteoporosis and Improvement in Blood Lipid Profiles

Who: Dr. Phil Chilibeck, Associate Professor, College of Kinesiology, University of Saskatchewan
What: BCFN Breakfast Seminar Series
When: 7:30-9:00am, Wednesday April 27
Where: BC Research Institute for Children’s and Women’s Health, Vancouver, BC
Cost: $25-60

Contact: Dorota Zawistowska at 604-822-6920
E-mail: info@bcfn2.com
Web: http://www.bcfn2.com/html/events.html

***

When the Body Forgets to Heal: An Integrative Approach to
Reactivating the Healing Response
Who: Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Gabor Mate, Dr. Steven Aung, sponsored by the Association of Complementary Physicians of BC
When: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday May 27 - 29
Where: U of Victoria and Royal Theater, Downtown Victoria
Cost: $225-440

Contact: 250-382-6356
E-mail: info@acpbc.org
Web: www.bodyheals.ca