CAFTA Will Destroy Health Freedom in the United States -URGENT ACTION

This will take an easy 5 minutes to contact your representative  (below). Please distribute widely.

We already know that Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)  will harm the American people, just as we have been harmed by the "North American Free Trade Agreement" of the Clinton era.

There is an additional reason to energetically oppose CAFTA --it is directly linked to the global world governance body CODEX, that effectively threatens to destroy our nation's sovereignty by superseding U.S. law on many issues including food and health choices, in the name of "harmonization" of world trade.

The truth is that CODEX regulations are geared to benefit large, multi-national corporations. For those of us who take vitamins and herbs -- our choices would be drastically reduced. These changes were influenced by chemical/pharmaceutical interests and are NOT in the public interest.

CAFTA must be stopped in part because its passage will contribute enormously to the success of the new global CODEX rules. It is imperative that we contact our representatives in Congress to STOP PASSAGE OF CAFTA. Congress returned on Monday, July 11, 2005, and a vote on CAFTA COULD TAKE PLACE THIS WEEK.

Here are two choices for contacting your congressman. #1 is quick and easy. #2 is if you want to take more time and go directly to your congressman's web site.

#1-Quick and Easy: There are many other reasons besides health freedom to stop CAFTA. Here's a link that will provide you with different types of letters that discuss some of those reasons. It's quick and easy to choose one that fits your values, put in your name and zip code, and it will be emailed to your representative in the U.S. Congress. If you want to take more time you can add, change or completely re-write the letters:

#2-Write your own: It's always better to write your own words in any letter you send to your representative. If you can, it's best write via email at your representative's own web site. It's also be a good idea to make phone call in addition to your emailed or faxed message -- because massive and immediate action is necessary. The following web site will take you to  your representatives. Put in your name, address and zip code, and don't worry, you don't have to put in the 4 digit zip code extension. Remember to choose your representative, NOT your senator:

The following that is the letter I sent to my Representative. Feel free to copy and paste it onto your congressman's web site where comments and letters are solicited. Take as much as you like.

Re: CAFTA VOTE - URGENT

Dear Representative:

I am writing again to urge you to vote against the Central American Free Trade Act (CAFTA). There are several reasons for this.

One major reason is . that the writing is on the wall with an earlier trade agreement called NAFTA. Since it went into effect we've seen International tribunals set up that are ruling on U.S. cases, claiming the authority to supersede U.S. court decisions. Despite claims to the contrary, this means a loss of sovereignty and a serious erosion of our democratic processes. However, there is an additional major reason to oppose CAFTA.

CAFTA contains (in Section 6) stipulations that would  require the United States, as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to revise our food laws and regulations based on decisions made by another WTO tribunal, the Codex Alimentarius (International Food Code) Commission, or Codex. The WTO recognizes Codex standards as a source of international regulation for WTO members. The WTO can and has sanctioned nations for not following Codex guidelines.

The passage of CAFTA would force the "harmonization" of our dietary-supplement laws and regulations to "international standards", as established by the supranational Codex Commission. Doing so would greatly increase the cost, in part by requiring prescriptions for simple dietary supplements, and eliminate free access to supplements that people like me have used for years to our benefit.

The passage of CAFTA would, if the WTO wishes, override the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. CAFTA  would crush our health freedom of choice, destroy thousands of small businesses in the health foods and dietary supplement fields, and negatively impact 150 million regular consumers of dietary supplements like myself.

Any treaty that can lead to banning the free commerce in thousands of safe products (some used for hundreds of years) cannot honestly be described as "free trade." If this cannot be done without threatening the basic right to have access to nutritional choices,  then CAFTA should be scrapped for this reason alone.

I appreciate your consideration of my views and look forward to knowing your position on this additional major problem with CAFTA.

Sincerely,
XXXXXXX