Supplements: Fighting for your continued right to good health

Ive recently received emails from concerned HSI members wanting to know more about the current situation regarding the EU Foods Supplements Directive, that Ive been bringing you regular updates on. So I thought this would be a great time to catch up on some recent developments and let you know how you can get involved to help overturn the Directives senseless measures.

As I have mentioned in previous e-alerts, HSI has been supporting the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), which is rallying against the Directive - that threatens to ban many nutritional supplements and drastically lower the dosage amounts of those allowed to remain.

The ANHs landmark legal case campaigning against the Directive is now underway in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and the Court is expected to give its judgment this coming June.

Between now and then there is much that can be done. For example, we need to raise awareness to ensure that the EU really appreciates the true strength of feeling about this very important freedom of choice issue from all those who stand to be affected by it including consumers of supplements, health stores, practitioners, distributors and manufacturers.

And thats not all. There are a substantial number of other major legislative and regulatory measures in the pipeline, such as the EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation, which threaten your health freedom just as much as the Food Supplements Directive. In order to pursue initiatives to address these threats and continue with its current legal campaign against the Food Supplements Directive, the ANH requires substantial funding.

So, how can you help?
The ANH believes that one of the most effective means of reaching individuals who care about supplements is through consumers who buy supplements and other natural products in health food stores. There are over 1,000 independent health stores in the UK alone - and these are instrumental to their Adopt a Health Store campaign which aims to help raise the awareness of consumers in health food stores as well as gain donations needed for them to continue their work.

The ANHs existing flyer-based fundraising campaign is reaching some health stores via distributors and manufacturers of products, but they need to be certain that every independent health store across the country is getting its proper supply of flyers and more importantly that these are then getting into the hands of customers, who can then donate.

They have therefore developed Adopt a Health Store; a campaign which asks you to act as the face of the ANH with one or more health stores in your area.

This simply involves calling in regularly to your chosen health store(s) to:

• Ensure they have a sufficient supply of flyers.
• Encourage a flyer to be included with every purchase made by a customer.
• Make sure the store is aware of the ANH, what it does and has achieved to date.
• Make it clear that the vitamins ban has every chance of being overturned and that there is every reason to be hopeful.
• And finally to encourage them to communicate to their customers the real need for their donations if unnecessary restrictions on natural health products are to be overcome.

How to participate
For the adopt a health store campaign, the ANH will make available to you a tool kit for each store comprising:

1. As many flyers as you need to give each store (approx. 500 to 1,000). 
2. A letter explaining to the store owner what the ANH are asking of them.
3. Copies of recent press cuttings that stores can display in their windows and also give to customers to help them understand the situation

The letter and press cuttings mentioned above are on the ANH website, which you can print off. You will also find the flyer here which you can print out and read in advance of letting the ANH know how many printed flyers you would like.

For more information on how to take part in the adopt a health store campaign go to: http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/

I promise to keep you fully updated on further developments regarding the Directive in your e-alerts.