We love standards, security, predictability, equality, models, norms. These values are the basis of our social life, economy, health care system, and food system (name suggested by Michael Pollard instead of agriculture). There are just two major problems:
1. Who sets the standards, who gives the standardizing body the authority to do so, what data (scientific, empiric, etc) are the standards based on?
2. Standards conflict with freedom and individualization.
I have been a long time committee member of HPUS, the Homeopathic Pharmacopia Convention of the United States. HPUS is the official compendium for homeopathic drugs in the US. It defines the harvesting, production, and distribution of homeopathic remedies. I withdrew from serving on HPUS because it is a trade organization dominated by one big homeopathic manufacturer, whose primary interest is not the protection of the consumer but its monopoly on homeopathy in the US.
Life is an open, dynamic system best defined as organized chaos and therefore not safe: although an oak tree isalways an oak tree, there are no identical oak trees. The same is true for animals, and especially human beings. All higher living organisms have a tendency toward individualization. Anything that is alive resists standardization.
How can the American Academy of Pediatricians (which is a trade organization) come up with a vaccination schedule that has become law in all 50 states? Who gives the AAP the authority to do this? What is the science behind this protocol? To my knowledge there are no randomized, double blind, multicenter, placebo controlled studies (the gold standard in medical research) that validate this “law”. Why does a newborn on day one need a hepatitis B shot? Why not on day 7 or 12, or …? Children are refused education, a fundamental right, if they are not vaccinated. Parents are fined, or even accused of child neglect, if they do not conform. There is also the assumption that all infants and children have the same healthy immune system (in spite of genetic variations). And then there is the assumption that all vaccines are safe. Yes, some of them contain aluminum, mercury, formaldehyde, antifreeze (yes, the same stuff you put in your car’s radiator), MSG, etc. But since they do not exceed the toxic levels defined by the FDA or another big letter regulatory body they are considered safe. (Un)fortunately history shows that standards change: see asbestos, smoking, freon, DDT, to name a few.
There is a whole avalanche of new regulations coming our way that will impact our life. In my opinion the biggest threat is the almost unknown Codex Alimentarius. This is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations relating to foods, food production and food safety under the aegis of consumer protection. These texts are developed and maintained by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, a body that was established in 1963 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the World Health Organization (WHO). The Commission's main aims are stated as being to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the international food trade. The Codex Alimentarius is recognized by the World Trade Organization as an international reference point for the resolution of disputes concerning food safety and consumer protection. This sounds really great. I am all in favor of it. I ask you to go on their official website www.codexalimentarius.net and look up a food item like milk http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/more_info.jsp?id_sta=10087. It all sounds and looks great on paper. The guidelines are full of generalized recommendations. That’s good. But it is a very small step from “proper hygienic practice” to pasteurization, from “proper animal husbandry” to mandatory antibiotics in the feed, etc. This may be the end of organic farming, direct farm to consumer sales, farmers markets or other “unhygienic” food practices (see especially pp 18,20). I became more suspicious when I discovered who is behind the Codex: Agribusiness and chemical corporations.
How can we find a healthy balance between standardization and individual freedom? I do not have the answer. Maybe we should emphasize more on quality and excellence. I pray that our leaders are inspired to do the right thing. In the meantime, I watch their actions, their non-actions, their silence, and the company they keep very closely.
Peter Hinderberger, M.D.
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