For anyone who takes herbal remedies/vitamins/mienerals/food supplements.

[Asa Samuel]

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Vitamins/

You gotta sign straight away, if it's passed basically all vitamins/minerals/food supplements/herbal remedies etc. will be prescription only in the UK. I'm also pretty sure there are similar things going on in other countries.

I think there are also other things to do with spraying all foods with chemicals and injecting them with growth hormones, but just the details on that page are horrible, I for one wont want that to happen.

[sensible68]

The agenda of the Codex Alimentarius is very dodgy and driven by agri-business interests.

[lousybassplayer]

Ah, isn't it worth it so that you don't have to worry about paying for healthcare though? When can they bring some of that freedom here?

[MatticusMania]

Wouldn't my signature not count because Im an American?

[Asa Samuel]

You have to be a british citizen or resident.

I've heard it is being driven by pharmecutical businesses as if the thing about spraying food with chemicals is true then they would get a major pay-off.

[sensible68]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

Wouldn't my signature not count because Im an American?

Afraid not. Some people argue that we should vote in US elections because we're affected so much by what goes on with our cousins

Originally Posted by Bass Junkie

I've heard it is being driven by pharmecutical businesses as if the thing about spraying food with chemicals is true then they would get a major pay-off.

It gets a bit murky when you read up on it, no doubt the motives are to crowbar in GM foodstuffs (which EU consumers have so far resisted) and to trample all over what we know as organic certification.

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by sensible68

Afraid not. Some people argue that we should vote in US elections because we're affected so much by what goes on with our cousins

I might not be entirely opposed to that.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

I've already signed it.

Hope they don't bring that nonsense in.

[Asa Samuel]

Originally Posted by sensible68

It gets a bit murky when you read up on it, no doubt the motives are to crowbar in GM foodstuffs (which EU consumers have so far resisted) and to trample all over what we know as organic certification.

yeah its quite hard to find exactly what the codex is all about. I went onto the codex website and the main page doesn't explain anything and when i tried to read up on it more it went on to a PDF document that didn't even load up.

[Asa Samuel]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

I've already signed it.

Hope they don't bring that nonsense in.

Glad to hear it, you'd have to try and eat tuna if they banned protein powder!

[Human Bass]

MOAR state regulation!!! MOAR state control!!!

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by Bass Junkie

Glad to hear it, you'd have to try and eat tuna if they banned protein powder!

Pfft, tuna is for wimps.

While I do use whey after being at the gym, my main protein source is chicken or lean fillet steak with every meal

[Asa Samuel]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

Pfft, tuna is for wimps.

While I do use whey after being at the gym, my main protein source is chicken or lean fillet steak with every meal

I just have chicken and tuna, steaks too ssspensive.

[Ericman197]

This wouldn't be such a bad thing. Generally I believe in a consumer's freedom to put whatever he wants in his body, but the vast majority of these supplements are garbage. They don't do anything, and it would be a good thing to have them removed from the shelves. Most people don't understand why, for example, vitamin C (or any of the other junk they sell) does not boost your immune system, chondroitin sulfate + glucosamine do not help arthritis, large doses of any vitamin are ineffective (though sometimes toxic), etc. This is why we don't allow people to give themselves (prescription) drugs that are actually effective - most consumers cannot be trusted to regulate their own blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.

Certain good things need not be prescription only, such as multivitamins.

The other supplements are either useless, or in a few cases useful... in which case, making it prescription only would be helpful, as prescription drugs are produced at a much higher consistency and quality than the stuff they sell at GNC... (American supplement store), most of which is highly variable, low quality, etc. Just look at the controversies that pop up from time to time, such as oversulfated chondroitin causing allergic reactions.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

There is some reasoning behind alot of it. Heck, even if something only works as a placebo, if it is making someone feel better, then why the heck not. And there is no definative answer regarding chondroitin sulfate & glucosamine, there are papers where findings suggested they did have an effect, and some where they suggest there is an effect, which may only affect certain subgroups of osteoarthritis sufferers (the problem being pain isn't exactly a quantifyable sensation). Also, if you have a look at papers, there are many which show increased immune response from vitamin C supplimentation, not nessicarily across the board, but increases in responses of certain parts of the immune system. The one thing I will say, is that the effects are definatley overrated.

On saying that tho, the only suppliments I use are fish oil/omega 3, multivitamin & mineral and whey protein (for a quick, readily metabolised protein source after being at the gym).

I think the problem is, you'll still get people wanting to get these suppliments, so it will end up bogging down our health system even further.

The only real dangers are from poor quality control (just pick your provider carefully) and people not fully understanding how things work. In the latter regard many things such as herbal remedies can be bad, some of the worst ones I've seen are people refusing conventional cancer treatments because some herbalist in a shopping center said some leaves would do better.

Then again, on saying that, when it comes down to it, a lot of modern therapeutics are derived from what was originally just "herbal remedies".

[Thunderscreech]

Does this include herbal remedies that are inhaled?

[i_got_a_mohawk]

I don't think you'd be able to get those on prescription

[john turner]

political discussion in off topic is off limits.