What the Citizen’s Petition Is About
When you think about a petition, do you see
yourself in front of the grocery store signing a piece of paper with
some fifty-odd names on a card table, with a plastic table cloth and a
hand lettered sign?
Well, a Citizen’s Petition is a very different tool
for action. A Citizen’s Petition is a legal means to focus a government
agency’s attention on an issue of concern to you. Once a Citizen’s
Petition has been entered, a “docket” to debate is opened and public
comment is accepted. A Citizen’s Petition does have one thing in common
with the more familiar ones, though. Any number of people can add their
names to it and become co-petitioners.
The current pro-Codex Alimentarius policy of the U.S. Codex Office is in violation of U.S. law. With
our Citizen’s Petition, we are asking the U.S. government to change its
policy on Codex Alimentarius to comply with U.S. law.
The Natural Solutions Foundation Citizen’s Petition
is a ground-breaking legal approach to compel the US Government to
amend its Codex Policies, hold public hearings and move from a
pro-illness Codex position to a pro-health one.
If we don’t like the response, the law allows us to proceed to court.
So far, about 30,000+ people have joined our petition. And what’s more, three members of Congress have written a Congressional Letter in support of our Citizen’s Petition.
When you click on the link below, you will be
sending this letter to the US Codex Manager, Dr. Edwin Scarbrough, and
Dr. Barbara Schneeman, Head of the FDA’s Office of Nutritional Products:
F. Edward Scarbrough, PhD
US Manager for Codex
US Department of Agriculture
South Building, Room 4861
1400 Independence Ave., SW
Washington DC 20250
Barbara Schneeman, PhD
Director,
Office of Nutritional Products
Food and Drug Administration
5600 Fishers Lane Rockville MD 20857-0001
Dear Drs. Schneeman and Scarbrough:
I am deeply concerned about health and health
freedom in the US under the continuing assault of both Codex
Alimentarius and those domestic forces which seek to undermine my
access to natural health promotion options (including nutritional
supplements and clean, unadulterated food). Therefore I wish to join
the Natural Solutions Foundation in urging you to support the adoption
and implementation through legislation and regulation of the Revised
Vitamin and Mineral Guideline (VMG) which would put the US in a
position of Codex Compliance per our Vitamin and Mineral laws and
regulations (thus avoiding the possibility of huge WTO trade sanctions
in disputes around those nutrients). This Revised VMG would, at the
same time, strengthen and solidify the principles of DSHEA for the
benefit of the health of both the populace and the Wellness Industry.
Please direct Codex Delegates to foster those policies and do so in
your domestic policy dealings as well.
I urge you to adopt US Codex policies which support
of the spirit and the letter of the protective tradition, regulation
and legislation representing the best of public policy. Those policies
should be strictly in line with US law preventing harmonization with
any international standard or guideline which conflict or contradicts United States law as specified in the Citizen Petition and its Amendments provided to your offices by the Natural Solutions Foundation.
I wish to join the petition and add my voice to
those of other Americans who want their health and health freedom
supported by their government domestically and internationally in
support of the positions, hearing requests and Revised Vitamin and
Mineral Guideline presented in that Petition as delineated in the most
recent Amendment (submitted to you on October 14, 2005 by the Natural
Solutions Foundation), and to the Secretaries of Agriculture, Health
and Human Services, Commerce, Transportation, Commissioners of the EPA
and FDA, President Bush, Vice President Cheney and the Majority and Minority leaders of both Houses of Congress.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
Codex standards, guidelines and regulations threaten our rights and
laws in serious ways by lowering the protective bar to satisfy trade,
not health, considerations. This is highly detrimental to us all and is
a violation of the significant protection offered to us in this country
by laws like DSHEA and similar statutes.
Please bring US Codex Policy and activities of the US Codex Office and FDA in line with US law and protective public policy.
Yours in health and freedom,
(Your Full Name)
(Your Full Address)
(Your email address)
This important letter adds your name to the growing
number of people who are making it clear that the US Codex policy
violates their wishes AND violates US law.
Your Citizen’s Petition tells the U.S. government
that you expect it to abide by US laws and remove its support for Codex
Alimentarius Policy, which violates US laws.
 The
Citizen’s Petition and supporting documents are viewable and printable
in either Adobe PDF or HTML web page format. We suggest you try the PDF
version first since it looks better, but if PDF doesn’t work for you
then please select the HTML option.- Read the Citizen’s Petition and supporting documents.
>Adobe PDF version or plain HTML version. (popup)
- Once you’ve read the documents, please come back to this page in order to add your name to the Citizen’s Petition. (popup)
- Then send us your signed Citizen’s Petition. If you did not submit your Citizen’s Petition electronically (above) you can:
- 1. Email your signed Citizen’s Petition to citizens petition@yahoo.com (This works best for us)
or
- 2. Scan the signed Citizen’s Petition and send it as an email attachment to citizens petition@yahoo.com
Read the individual components of the Citizen’s Petition here (PDF only):
Questions?
Read FAQ’s about the Natural Solutions Foundation’s Citizens Petition here:
QUESTION: I sign petitions almost
every day, and most of them only require you to add your name, address,
etc. Is there some sort of legal reason why this particular petition is different?
ANSWER: Those “everyday” petitions
were not part of an actual legal suit (which a Citizen’s Petition is).
They were an outpouring of public support for a position or belief.
Unlike them, a Citizen’s Petition is actually the first step in an
organized legal challenge to policy of the government. In this case, we
are insisting that the US Government abide by the law of the land in
terms of its Codex policy.. When you submit the Citizens Petition it
says that you are a concerned Citizen who is using your Constitutional
Right to petition your government to redress wrongs. Thanks for your
activism.
QUESTION: What happens when I submit my Citizens Petition to the Natural Solutions Foundation?
ANSWER: Your Citizens Petition
will be counted and added to the growing number of submissions we
receive at the Natural Solutions Foundation every single day. If you
check the box adding your email to the Natural Solutions Foundation
mailing list you will receive periodic email alerts. Your submission
allows you to join the legal challenge to the US Government’s Codex
policy but does not obligate you to anything further.
QUESTION: Who is paying the legal fees for this challenge?
ANSWER: The Citizens Petition has been created through the pro boo
dedication of our team of lawyers and other experts who believe as
passionately as everyone else here at the Natural Solutions Foundation
that you have the right to make your own choices about your own health
and health freedom! Your donations, of course, help make it possible to
keep this challenge going since there are a multitude of other costs
associated with making sure the US Government does not trample over our
self determination concerning our diet, our bodies and our health. |