[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 27, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1649-E1652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            WE BECOME SILENT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 27, 2005

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, the following is an abridged transcript of 
a film entitled ``We Become Silent,'' written and produced by Cleveland 
resident, Kevin Miller. The topic is the potential effects of the Codex 
Alimentarius Commission's guidelines on vitamin and mineral supplement 
safety.

                            Narrator: FEAR.

       Its' darkness causes humanity to make awful choices. With 
     dreadful power, fear can rule our lives--and paralyze lofty 
     hopes and dreams . . . in an instant.
       It is the antithesis of god, fear is--a destructive dark 
     side--the ghost that haunts the brain. It is a universal 
     trait--a global affliction--and a tool deployed all-too-often 
     by those intent on inflicting control over the masses.
       Robert Verkerk, Ph.D.--Fear preys on the most vulnerable 
     among us. Fear sells. And Nowhere is fear peddled more 
     shamelessly than in the fields of medicine and human 
     nutrition.
       Narrator: Fear anesthetizes us . . . it coerces us . . . 
     making us believe that we can do little on our own to prevent 
     or treat disease . . . and forces entire NATIONS to kneel at 
     the altars of orthodox medicine.
       Robert Verkerk, Ph.D.--And of course, the fear-mongers are 
     also preying on the fear of disease. And the solution the 
     fear-mongers give us are drugs, yet drugs are the single most 
     dangerous thing we can put in our mouths.
       Narrator: It's a sad fact that Pharmaceuticals have become 
     the dope of modern man--and make no mistake, we are addicted. 
     Last year, between 3-5 billion prescriptions were written in 
     the U.S. alone. And for all of its' miracles and heroism, 
     western medicine has also left disaster in its' wake. The 
     burdens of drug side effects are being exposed daily: Prozac, 
     Vioxx, Celebrex, Baycol, Lariam, and Zoloft--just to name a 
     few--are deeply uncomfortable reminders that secrecy and 
     sales have often circumvented safety.
       There's also the crippling burden of health insurance, and 
     the MILLIONS who are debilitated by a wave of red ink, 
     bankrupted as a result of an unexpected illness that they 
     could not afford. As if by design, health choices are 
     limited, information is frightfully scarce, lives are ruined 
     . . . and the truth be damned.
       Scott Bukow: Business is business, and people don't like 
     competition. Smart business people may not always do 
     something that's best for the people or for someone's health.
       Narrator: In addition to these painful realities of life, 
     however, an abundance of evidence now suggests . . . that 
     this holy reverence towards modem medicine--may be killing 
     us.
       Carolyn Dean, MD--I wrote Death by Modern Medicine, 
     inspired actually after writing a paper called Death by 
     Medicine . . . And what I found after analyzing government 
     databases and peer-reviewed journal articles . . . I found 
     that 784,000 people are dying annually, prematurely, due to 
     modem medicine intervention. When I added up the figures I 
     could get my hands on, I came up with that astounding number, 
     and also found studies that said we're only capturing 5-20 
     percent of the actual deaths . . .
       Simmon Wilcox, MD--We're clear that the status quo is equal 
     to a premature death in

[[Page E1650]]

     this country . . . Someone needs to stand up and scream 
     ``FOUL, SOMETHING'S GONE AWRY.'' Somebody needs to stop this 
     madness, and say to the public, ``There's a better option . . 
     . We will no longer accept the status quo.''
       Narrator: But the fear machine is well oiled by 
     petrochemical dollars and a near worldwide monopoly in 
     medicine. It works overtime to prevent the truth about 
     dietary supplements from getting out to the public. 
     Governments, particularly in Europe and the United States, 
     seem all-too-eager to comply with the robber barons of 
     healthcare. It has always been so . . . as evidenced by this 
     forty-year-old government film . . . which is but one of many 
     in their arsenals.
       FDA Film: 1966: But it's still the same old snake oil . . .
       Title appears: ``Health Fraud Racket--Presented by FDA''
       Narrator: During the 1990s, however--despite generations of 
     institutional bias--American consumers won critical battles 
     against the FDA and the medical/pharmaceutical establishment.
       Joseph BASSETT: In the mid-90s, there were movements to put 
     all supplements on prescription basis and in all of the 
     countries where they've done that it more than doubled the 
     cost and made them not available and it's really a freedom of 
     choice issue . . . it's a consumers issue . . . (1:30) so we 
     were fighting for the right to access for our own use, our 
     family's use, and for our businesses. And fortunately, the 
     health consumer agreed. (1:40) . . . we were actually able to 
     marshal, one day in a period of hours, one million phone 
     calls to their government . . . (5:08) It was really a 
     citizens' uprising.
       Narrator: This massive consumer movement for medical 
     freedom was invigorated when the FDA became enveloped in 
     controversy of its' own making. The agency approved a guns 
     drawn raid at the clinic of Dr. Jonathan Wright, and also 
     raided dozens of health food stores in a pre-meditated power-
     grab. Consumer outrage fueled Hollywood to become immersed in 
     the debate, and actors like James Earl Jones and Sharon 
     Stone became part of a national campaign for medical 
     freedom of choice. When Mel Gibson came aboard, he 
     documented his views in memorable fashion:
       Police: ``Freeze''
       Mel Gibson: Hey guys . . . guys . . . it's only vitamin C! 
     You know, vitamin C, like in oranges?''
       Narrator: The result of the consumer outcry was that 
     DSHEA--the dietary supplement health education act--passed 
     overwhelmingly in 1994. This became the only national law 
     that linked the use of nutrients in dietary supplements to 
     reduced risk of disease. And since DSHEA helped ensure 
     relatively free access to a wide range of dietary supplements 
     for consumers, activists pulled back from the front lines, 
     thinking that their struggles were over. Others like Joe 
     Bassett knew better . . .
       Joseph Bassett: We're in a particular industry . . . the 
     health food industry, that's always been under attack. It's 
     never stopped, it still isn't stopping because you have 
     vested interests. In our country you have everybody using 
     vested interests and the one's who are really entrenched use 
     the government.
       Gerald Kessler: I believe that DSHEA has always been under 
     attack except for the first few years after DSHEA was passed. 
     And the present attacks are very broad . . . which means 
     worldwide, and some of the attacks are just specific to the 
     Unites States.
       Narrator: Now, a bureaucratic shadow called Codex 
     Alimentarius threatens to silence the medical opposition 
     forever, both here and abroad. But Codex began innocuously 
     enough in 1963, as a creation of two arteries of the United 
     Nations: The Food and Agricultural Organization and the World 
     Health Organization. Back then, nearly everyone endorsed 
     their two major goals: to provide nutritious foods for 
     developing nations--and to shape guidelines for dangerous 
     industrial chemicals in the food supply.
       Within the past decade, however, Codex Alimentarius has 
     altered its' mission dramatically--many say negatively so--to 
     include a wide swath of products including dietary 
     supplements and genetically modified organisms.
       Mr. Scott Tips began serving as a U.S. delegate to Codex in 
     June of 2000. During the first meetings, he did everything he 
     could to communicate with the head of the US Delegation.
       Scott Tips, National Health Federation: I, in a flurry of 
     notes, passed comments and suggestions (and the like) to 
     Elizabeth Yetley, who was the American delegate there--it 
     made no impact. In fact, the only impact I had was collar her 
     during a break and basically be very tough with her about a 
     particular clause that she was trying to remove from the 
     final report, that particular sentence or clause basically 
     said that the United States supports the right of consumers 
     to have free access to vitamins and minerals, and she 
     unilaterally yanked that from the final report.
       Narrator: This attitude by Ms. Yetley, who is an employee 
     of the U.S. Food and Drug administration, is reflective of 
     codex meetings in general. In an attempt to shine light on 
     those who are unilaterally making public policy private, 
     health freedom advocate John Hammell took a small video 
     camera into two Codex meetings in 1998. These grainy videos 
     are all that remain of the tapes, which mysteriously 
     disappeared.
       Yetley: moving right along, agenda No. 5 on vitamins and 
     minerals
       Hammell: are you going to strike that second paragraph?
       Yetley: well this is a draft positions . . . they're only 
     draft positions. they're not the final version or formal 
     position.
       Hammell: you've seen the letter from Ron Paul, then? This 
     was signed by Ron Paul, Congressman Stump and Congressman 
     Cool.
       Yetley: we have received alot of mail and we've looked at 
     all of it.
       Hammel: so you acknowledge this is the will of congress and 
     of the American people correct?
       Yetley: there's a wide range of opinions this one . . .''
       Narrator: Despite multiple written requests--and the 
     intervention of a US Congressman--the FDA refused to answer 
     any questions about Codex, dietary supplements--or even 
     labeling--for this documentary. But judging from this rare 
     interview with Michael R. Taylor, then-deputy commissioner 
     for policy at FDA, it is obvious that the agency is 
     unaccustomed to honest intellectual inquiry from the media.
       Kevin P. Miller: You stated your concern and the FDA 
     certainly has on L-Tryptophan. What about your concern about 
     something like Prozac, very well documented, 28,000 adverse 
     reports, 1600 suicides associated with that drug.
       Michael R. Taylor, deputy commissioner for policy, FDA: 
     Drugs that go thru our very rigorous testing and review 
     process are very well understood chemicals. And drugs are 
     recognized to have both risks and benefits, that's why they 
     go through a rigorous evaluation. And when those products are 
     put out on the market, we have a good scientific 
     understanding of the risks and benefits. And that's laid out 
     in very detailed labeling that physicians then use to decide 
     whether to prescribe those products for their patients. Side 
     effects are part of pharmaceuticals, that's recognized, and 
     that's why we're so careful scientifically. There's just no 
     comparison between that situation and dietary supplements, 
     which have not been subjected to that kind of study . . . 
     have not been evaluated by FDA, and a large part of the 
     problem with these supplements is that we simply don't 
     know about their safety, we don't know about their 
     benefits, yet there being marketed in some cases for 
     serious disease-related purposes. ``THERE'S A BIG 
     DIFFERENCE.''
       Kevin P. Miller: Well obviously they would respond by 
     saying that it was the only natural alternative to some of 
     these kinds of drugs, and that's a concern to people who want 
     natural alternatives. And since the cases against Prozac have 
     been so high, people would question whether L-Tryptophan is 
     being judged under the same standard, if you will.
       Michael R. Taylor: Well . . .
       FDA Employee Interrupts: Kevin, that wasn't on the list of 
     things we were going to go over.
       Kevin P. Miller: Well, he mentioned L-TRYPTOPHAN and I 
     thought I would follow-up.
       Narrator: As the Producer tried to get an answer from the 
     deputy commissioner of the FDA, Mr. Taylor seemingly lost his 
     patience with the tone of the interview.
       Michael R. Taylor: Why don't you turn the camera off so we 
     can talk . . . (LONG PAUSE). You know, I'm happy to talk 
     about this but I don't want to spend the whole morning on it. 
     . .
       Narrator: But of course, Mr. Taylor was anything BUT happy 
     to discuss the safety record of Prozac versus the amino acid 
     L-TRYPTOPHAN--which the FDA banned outright when Prozac was 
     approved by the agency. And it is important to note that the 
     Food and Drug Administration has assigned Mr. Taylor's wife--
     Christine Lewis-Taylor--to World Health Organization, where 
     she is now chairwoman of the ``the Nutrient Risk Assessment'' 
     project.
       Jim Turner: I don't think you can say that anybody from the 
     FDA has ever been a friend of dietary supplements. Anybody . 
     . . They are friends of the classical reductionist scientific 
     system that is based on cause and effect and doing a bunch of 
     huge costly studies which are the backbone of the 
     pharmaceutical industry which are the driving of the force of 
     our health care system which is driving us into bankruptcy 
     and killing between 200,000-700,000 people a year.
       FDA Film, Health Fraud Racket (1966): Some of them honestly 
     believe in the useless medication. More, however, are the 
     bunkum artists, without pity or conscience, willing to risk 
     the lives of fellow human beings to line their own pockets.''
       Narrator: Institutional hypocrisy and bias are endemic at 
     the Agency. In fact, the FDA has made no secret of its' 
     intentions to harmonize the U.S. vitamin and mineral 
     standards with Codex, thereby reducing the dosages of common 
     vitamins and minerals to ridiculously low levels. They've 
     said so before Congress, in the National Register, and 
     even on their own Web site.
       Turner: That system is not a good system and the dietary 
     supplement guideline the vitamin and mineral guideline mimics 
     the ideas of that system and tries to push them onto the 
     international stage for vitamins and minerals. Bad thinking 
     all the way around.
       Robert Verkerk, Ph.D: We are at a stage in society when a 
     large number of people, consumers and patients, are waking up 
     to the fact that the healthcare system that they've placed 
     their trust in for decades, is not delivering the healthcare 
     they need. They're beginning to appreciate that very often if 
     they

[[Page E1651]]

     have major diseases, like cancer or heart disease, that the 
     so-called ``solution'' to these diseases is, in fact, killing 
     them.
       FDA Film, Health Fraud Racket (1966): Today, all new drugs 
     must be proved safe and effective (Vioxx, Celebrex images) 
     before they can be marketed. In other words, the medicine 
     must be safe--and do what's claimed for it.''
       Robert Verkerk, Ph.D: And this is why we see this 
     incredible growth in consumer demand for natural products. 
     And of course, just as the consumer is starting to make 
     decisions about what they want to do in healthcare, the 
     regulators have decided, with a lot of pressure from big 
     industry to say, ``You can't have it--it's reserved for us.''
       Narrator: When the WTO--the world trade organization, 
     became a reality in the 1990s, the power of codex was 
     heightened immeasurably. This new worldwide body--devoted 
     solely to the hannonization of trade standards, gave Codex 
     the enforcement capability that had eluded it for decades. 
     Two U.S. Congressmen--a Democrat and a Republican--have a 
     philosophical divide on free trade, but agree completely on 
     the dangers of the WTO and Codex.
       Rep. Ron Paul: The WTO is said to be set up for free trade. 
     I happen to like free trade. I like low tariffs and I like 
     goods and services flowing across borders.
       Rep. Peter DeFazio: Since economics in college I was always 
     skeptic of the whole theory of free trade and it always 
     crystallized around the NAFTA and WTO Agreements.
       Rep. Ron Paul: I am a champion of national sovereignty, so 
     I do not like the idea of getting involved with what the 
     Founders called 'entangling alliances.'
       Rep. Peter DeFazio: I remember talking to Mickey Cantor the 
     President's special trade representative and I studied a 
     little bit and I said I can not understand how we are going 
     to bind ourselves to this agreement which has a secret 
     dispute resolution process, which has no rules regarding 
     conflict of interest and they will essentially pre-empt U.S. 
     laws
       Rep. Ron Paul: But then when you go to the next step of 
     becoming a member of the World Trade Organization, it means 
     to me that we as a people and as a Congress, we give up too 
     much of our responsibilities and prerogatives.
       Rep. Peter DeFazio: And he said no no no you don't 
     understand. They can't pre-empt our laws. I said, you're 
     right, they just can fine us for having our laws and we can 
     pay for perpetual fines because we have laws that protect 
     consumers of the environment or we can repeal our laws.
       Rep. Ron Paul: But now we are talking about turning over to 
     a world organization that is going to force harmonization.
       Rep. Peter DeFazio: And so it's working as designed as far 
     as they're concerned, which is to protect corporate interests 
     and overrule governments and stick it to consumers.
       Rep. Ron Paul: And they'll do under the name of free trade 
     and globalization and pretend that they are on the side of 
     freedom. But actually they are not--they are on the side of 
     regulations and special interests and protection of certain 
     big corporations.
       Rep. Peter DeFazio: If there is a higher corporate good to 
     be served by breaking the law and having the FDA work with 
     the CODEX and drag the U.S. into this nightmare then they're 
     all for it and they are doing it.
       Rep. Ron Paul: So we do what the WTO tells us and that's 
     why I am very leery of the WTO and I just soon we get out of 
     the WTO.
       Rep. Peter DeFazio: This would be the ultimate of 
     government reaching into our health lives which would be 
     unbelievable, not even our government, some bureaucratic, 
     diffuse, multinational secretive government.
       Rep. Ron Paul: It's the power in the WTO that we have to 
     deal with ultimately . . . and I don't like the trend.
       Narrator: On Capitol Hill, legislators are now debating the 
     merits of yet another trade agreement called CAFTA--the 
     Central American Free Trade Agreement. This latest Trojan 
     Horse was wheeled into Washington as a saviour for a 
     faltering economy. But as consumers in Europe could confirm, 
     it will only lead to more backroom deals--deals that could 
     spell the end of health freedom as we know it.
       John Hammell, IAHF: Now, people think that that could never 
     happen here. Probably at one time people in England thought 
     that would never happen there, and yet their government 
     ignored over a million signatures on petitions on this issue 
     saying, ``Sorry guys, we are now a member of the European 
     Union, and we must harmonize to European law.'' If we aren't 
     careful in our hemisphere the same thing will happen as a 
     result of the free trade area of the Americas (FTAA).
       Narrator: But the trend towards the WTO, NAFTA, and now 
     CAFTA being used to harmonize laws and regulations to favor 
     pharmaceutical interests, has long been a reality in the 
     European Union. German representatives at Codex began to push 
     the idea of creating ``safe upper limits'' on vitamins and 
     minerals, and this was favored in the UK until Dr. Robert 
     Verkerk and numerous others began orchestrating a precise 
     legal, scientific and public relations strategy to stop it. 
     His organization, the Alliance for Natural Health brought a 
     landmark legal challenge to the EU Food Supplements 
     Directive. In April 2005, The Advocate General in the 
     European Courts declared that the EU Directive should be 
     declared `invalid' under EU law. In July of 2005, UK and 
     European consumers will discover the fate of this legal 
     battle--and it is anything but a sure win.
       Julian Whitaker, MD: What's coming down the line from Codex 
     and from Europe is very disturbing. First, you've got 450 
     million people over there. Secondly, they have the most 
     restrictive nutrient access of any of the free world. Third, 
     you just had a woman in France arrested . . . and is now 
     undergoing trial . . . for selling 500 mg vitamin C tablets.
       Narrator: Between the draconian regulations of the EU 
     Supplement directive and the ominous Codex guidelines which 
     will be voted on in July 2005, there is little doubt that 
     health freedom lies in the balance--in Europe, in America, 
     and throughout the world.
       Julian Whitabker, MD: The Whitaker Health Freedom 
     Foundation is supporting this movement in Europe . . . 
     because there's no question (that if) we stop it in Europe, 
     its effect on the United States will be less. And anyone who 
     thinks that Codex or the European Union or the World Trade 
     Organization . . . when it comes to their restrictive 
     policies in Europe is not going to have an effect on the 
     United States is crazy . . . You've got 450 million people 
     over there. They have enormous trade with us. They deal in 
     steel, in textiles, et cetera, and if they are upset with our 
     libertarian policies regarding nutrient supplements, it's 
     going to affect other economic systems. Now, we might have 
     sovereign protection, but good gosh that will fly away at an 
     instance with the stroke of a pen if a trade agreement is 
     challenged . . . What's happening in Europe, just like the 
     trade winds, is coming our way. And no one can argue in a 
     reasonable fashion why that is not going to happen. That is 
     happening.
       Narrator: It has been said many times that democracy is the 
     dream of all who are oppressed . . . the hope of those 
     imprisoned by fear or injustice. But the sad truth . . . that 
     which is almost too sad to acknowledge . . . is that the 
     betrayal of democracy began long ago when profit replaced the 
     will of the people . . . and corporate lobbyists became the 
     masters of the universe.
       Rep. Peter DeFazio: Alarm bells are going off everywhere. 
     The American people are way ahead of the Congress and figured 
     this out and it is only a matter of time until congress is 
     beaten into coming around on these issues. But if we don't do 
     it soon it may be too late.
       Narrator: If it is true what a great leader once said, that 
     ``Our lives begin to end the moment we become silent about 
     things that matter,'' then freedom has already begun to 
     atrophy because of our inaction. Slowly, sovereign rights 
     fade away, as surely as the ink on an old Declaration is 
     removed by time.
       The pursuit of Happiness . . . the promise of equality . . 
     . of personal choice . . . are chipped away by complacency . 
     . . and, over time, become barely visible in the world around 
     us. If we had treasured it more, some say, if we demanded 
     government cooperation--not interference--if we had exercised 
     our freedoms every day, every week--just like the forces 
     of power and money have done . . . If . . .
       If only.
       Gerald Kessler: I think we should all get together and 
     fight for our rights. I think that these are God-given 
     rights. I think that this was a legacy that was given to us 
     at the beginning of time . . . and we should fight like crazy 
     so that people can maintain their rights, from now and 
     forever.
       Robert Verkerk, PhD: There are some who say that this is a 
     battle that cannot be won, we are David--they are the 
     Goliath. But it is too important to sit this out and let 
     multinational corporations and regulatory agencies decide 
     which freedoms we will be able to enjoy. From Africa to Asia 
     to Europe to the Americas we must stand together now for 
     future generations.
       Narrator: This, then, is your call to action . . . it is 
     one of enlightened self-interest . . . a righteous cause that 
     even the high priests of profit cannot defeat. It is a real 
     drug war . . . a fight for medical freedom . . . a struggle 
     for human rights.
       Joseph Bassett--And so you get the government you deserve 
     if you don't speak up . . . the only way to have good 
     government . . . is if the citizens stand up, and they're not 
     doing it. They have to stand up and be counted . . . and if 
     you put enough effort, the good guys win. It needs to be done 
     . . .
       Narrator: Modern medicine has led us to Babylon . . . and a 
     wasteland of expensive and often ineffective options, If we 
     do not act--if we become silent--governments will be free to 
     replace the teachings of all ages with toxic lies. Timeless 
     medicines--foods and herbs with which we have evolved--culled 
     from thousands of years of collected wisdom--will be swept 
     away--crushed under the myopic weight of corporate greed.
       Yet we often forget how much power we actually wield--and 
     that we are the creators of our own place on this planet. 
     Amid the sea of faces, there is an honorable cartel forming . 
     . . forming one for the benefit of mankind.
       FDA Film, Health Fraud Racket (1966): You must join the 
     battle by protecting yourself--and your family from health 
     fraud. When you're in trouble that's not always easy. But in 
     the end, being victimized can be far worse. It can mean not 
     only your money, but your life . . .
       Credits: Kevin P. Miller, Writer/Producer.

[[Page E1652]]



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