2005-02-24

Alliance Of Natural Health - Plea To Adopt A Health Store

Extract taken from free monthly The Sleepydust Emagazine, Issue #006:

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And to find out why there is such opposition to the EU Directives, click here!

Personally, I'm still not completely sure about where I stand when it comes to the forthcoming EU Directives that are planned to impose much stricter rules on Britain's supplements (and to apparently remove many of our supplements from shop shelves).

But for those of you who are opposed to the forthcoming EU Directive (re. supplements etc), and are interested in what you can do about it, here's an email I got recently from the Alliance of Natural Health:
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UK BASED ANH MEMBERS – WE URGENTLY NEED YOUR HELP NOW - ADOPT A HEALTH STORE!

This is an urgent request for your help as a member of the ANH that will make a difference.

As many of you will be aware, funding is currently a major issue for the Alliance for Natural Health given the magnitude of the issues we are tackling, and with 80% of our donations coming from individuals we really need to rally their support and willingness to donate.

We believe that one of the most effective means of reaching individuals who care about supplements is through consumers who buy supplements and other natural products in health stores. There are over 1000 independent health stores in the UK alone - and these are instrumental to our “Adopt a Health Store” campaign which aims to help raise the awareness of consumers in health stores as well as gain donations needed for us to continue our work.

Having just had the oral hearing regarding our case to overturn the vitamin and mineral ban in the European Court of Justice, we are faced with a huge range of tasks ahead, that are critical if we are to succeed in helping to ensure your health freedom and which require funding. Since the ANH was formed in early-2002, we have now raised more than £440,000 for our pan-European and international campaign and we are truly grateful for the grass-roots support that has largely been responsible for this.

When considering that the first legal views for challenging the Food Supplements Directive suggested it would cost around £1 million in legal fees alone, I think we can confidently report that our activities have been very cost-effective to-date. Much of this is because of the sheer hard work of a small number of dedicated people, many who have worked with us in a voluntary capacity. Those who have been paid, have often been paid a fraction of their normal rate.

Our main achievements to-date include:

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Raised public awareness of the significance of these issues to the long-term sustainability of natural healthcare
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Making significant amendments to EU legislation through collaboration with Members of the European Parliament
* Bringing the landmark legal challenge against the EU Food Supplements Directive in the English and European Courts
* Promoting rational science and good law as the basis on which nutritional supplement “maximum levels” are assessed
* Creating a united front of common interests across Europe, the USA and many other countries

Our existing flyer -based fundraising campaign is reaching some health stores via distributors and manufacturers of products, but we need to be certain that every independent health store across the country is getting its proper supply of flyers and more importantly that these are then getting into the hands of customers, who can then donate.

We have thus developed “Adopt a Health Store”; a campaign which asks you, our members, to act as the face of the ANH with one or more health stores in your area.

SO, WHAT ARE WE ASKING OF YOU?

Very simply that you call in regularly to your chosen health store(s) to:

* Ensure they have a sufficient supply of flyers.
* Encourage a flyer to be included with every purchase made by a customer.
* Make sure the store is aware of the ANH, what it does and has achieved to date.
* Make it clear that the vitamins ban has every chance of being overturned and that there is every reason to be hopeful.
* And finally to encourage them to communicate to their customers the real need for their donations if unnecessary restrictions on natural health products are to be overcome.

As you will know, the facts are that the court hearing in Luxembourg went extremely well and now we have to wait for the Judges to make their decision, which is expected in June. Between now and then there is much that can be done. This will be achieved, mainly through intense media activity and by ensuring that the EU really appreciates the true strength of feeling about this very important freedom of choice issue from all those who stand to be affected by it including consumers of supplements, health stores, practitioners, distributors and manufacturers. The initiatives necessary to make this happen require funding.

And of course, this is not all. You will be aware of a substantial number of other major legislative and regulatory measures in the pipeline which threaten your health freedom just as much as the Food Supplements Directive. In order to pursue initiatives to address these threats with the vigour and focus it has applied to the Food Supplements Directive, the ANH requires substantial funding.

Specifically we will require at least £250,000 during 2005 to help fund the following:

* Outstanding legal fees for the legal challenge now in the European Court of Justice using the world’s leading EU law barristers
* Technical scientific and legal work on EU threats and consultations with Regulators
* Evaluation and preparation for potential future legal challenges
* Development of a new framework for nutrient-appropriate risk assessment for food supplement ingredients
* Professional public affairs lobbying in Brussels, notably most immediately on the EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation
* Public and media awareness campaign, particularly to reflect the strength of public opinion against the ban and to offset negative media on natural health care issues
* Communications activities, to garner support

Without adequate funding we will have a much reduced chance of succeeding in our objectives.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

For our “adopt a health store” campaign, we will make available to you a tool kit for each store comprising:

1. As many flyers as you need to give each store (we suggest 500 to 1000). We will of course be happy to re-stock stores when they run low of supply.

2. A letter from me explaining to the Store owner what we are asking of them.

3. Copies of recent press cuttings that stores can display in their windows and also give to customers to help them understand the situation.

The letter and press cuttings are on our website and if you click here it will take you directly to the documents which you can print off. You will also find the flyer here which you can print out and read in advance of letting us know how many printed flyers you would like.

So that we can manage this process efficiently and ensure that there is no duplication of adopters for each store I would be grateful if you could e-mail our Campaign Co-ordinator, Isobel Bradley (info@alliance-natural-health.org) with the name and location of the store or stores you wish to adopt.

Isobel will then get back to you to confirm which store(s) it would be appropriate for you to adopt. We would then ask that you call into the store and ask them how many flyers they would like and we can then send them to you to take to the store.

We have recently been conducting surveys of consumers in health stores and have been amazed how many people are still largely unaware of the issues. In addition, we have discovered that a significant number of consumers believe that there is no likelihood that the ban can be overturned. This is certainly not our view! This misinformation which leads to apathy is being triggered largely by mixed messages in the press and even by certain sectors of the industry that support global harmonisation of natural products. It is only the leading-edge, innovative sector, represented by the ANH, that has consistently voiced its objection to specific regulations such as the vitamin and mineral ban in Europe.

This is your chance to help make a real difference. We need you to help us reinvigorate people and health stores, to let them know that it is by no means too late to beat the ban and that the ANH is optimistic that this will indeed be the case. BUT funding is required for the ANH to help achieve the health freedom we all deserve.

So please do help us with this important initiative.

Thanking you for your support.

Yours sincerely – in health
Robert Verkerk
Executive director
Alliance for Natural Health
Tel 01252 371 275
Email info@alliance-natural-health.org
Web www.alliance-natural-health.org

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