Guess who's coming to dinner: Codex Alimentarius.

Codex Alimentarius (Latin for "food code") was founded by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) in 1962. Codex is a trade organization, not a consumer health organization. International delegates established committees which have met annually to set guidelines on all foods, agriculture, and nutritional supplements since 1963. Virtually anything that can be put in the human mouth has come under the scope of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC).

Little notice was paid until the World Trade Organization (WTO), chartered in 1995, became the enforcer of Codex standards. Even though the U. S. Senate never ratified our membership in the WTO, we have, through default, become a participant. Codex Alimentarius standards can now be imposed upon the 136 current WTO member nations through the use of severe trade sanctions for countries that fail to comply with CAC regulations. While the CAC's original charter was to eliminate trade barriers regarding food and to ensure the quality of food available to people worldwide, its charter mission has proved vulnerable to the influence of big dollar multinational pharmaceutical, agricultural, chemical, and biotechnical corporations.

If Codex gets its way, as it already has in the European Union and Australia, the following events will ultimately occur:

* Consumers will have available to them only 28 or so dietary supplements that are far too small in dosage to have any discernible impact on any human being. High potency nutrients will not be available either with or without a physician's prescription, since these life-sustaining molecules will be forbidden under any circumstances.

* All animals grown for human consumption will be mandated for treatment with antibiotics, growth enhancers, and hormones.

* All food available to the public will be irradiated, with the exception of locally grown food.

* Herbs will not be available unless they undergo multi-million dollar scientific trials similar to those used for drugs.

* All native seeds will be confiscated and the use of genetically modified (GMO) seeds will be mandated.

* The "acceptable" limits of toxins in the food supply will be increased, including the allowance of seven specific toxins that were previously banned by Stockholm Convention, a global treaty signed by 120 nations to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants.

Even those who are aware of Codex, have been confused by conflicting published information, notably the official mollifying position of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Influential trade organizations, particularly in the natural food and supplements industry, have remained silent under the belief that the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act (DSHEA), enacted in 1994, which keeps nutrients from being classified as drugs and allows no upper limit on dosage of nutrients, will keep Codex regulations away from our kitchen tables and personal freedoms. If intact, DSHEA would protect Americans from Codex's standards for nutritional supplements, but it would not protect us from any of Codex's other severe standards. Several hills have been introduced into the United States Congress to weaken or undermine the protection of DSHEA and more will very likely be introduced. Should that happen, the United States would immediately fall under the nefarious standards of Codex. "Harmonization" (meaning mandatory global compliance) with Codex guidelines in WTO participating countries, including the USA, is slated for December 31, 2009, after which sanctions may be applied to non-harmonized countries. Take a stand now!

Dr. John Wilson is a medical doctor and CEO of Great Smokies Medical Center of Asheville, which has been serving the alternative medical healthcare needs of Western North Carolinians for 27 years. Contact him at [e-mail]. Check out www.gsmcweb.com or www.healthfreedomusa.com for more information and www.newlifejournal.com for the rest of this article.