Codex Alimentarius committees (of which there are more than 20), “regional committees” and “task forces”, prepare and develop standards and guidelines on every aspect of food, “from farm to fork”. After these committees and task forces formulate standards which become ready for ratification (once they reach step 8 of the forumlation process), they are then presented to the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) for ratification.
CAC is the top-level of the Codex hierarchy.
Codex is Anti-Democratic
Committees and CAC operate through poorly defined “consensus” with no attempt at democratic decision-making. The proceedings are determined by the dictates of individual chairpersons. Thus, actions of the committees and the CAC may not carry out the will of delegates or the countries they represent.
Dr. Grossklaus, Chairman of CAC and anti-nutrition Chairman of the pivotal “Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses” (CCNFSDU), had the delegate from India bodily removed during a November 2003 CCNFSDU meeting. The delegate’s crime? Insisting on discussing the inclusion of CCNFSDU-approved material in baby formula which could kill 10% of newborns in his country. After the delegate was forcibly removed, Dr. Grossklaus nonchalantly declared the issue approved by “consensus”.
“Consensus” has never been carefully defined. It seems that according to Codex Alimentarius, consensus is achieved when:
- Everyone agrees
- Everyone has been heard from
- There is no sustained opposition
While that sounds good, the problem is that there is no democracy in the process. It is important to note that the Chairman can prevent a delegate from being heard by deliberately refraining from turning on the delegate’s microphone. So if the Chairman (i.e. Dr. Grossklaus) does not like what is being said, he can flip a switch (or refrain from flipping it in the first place), and that will be that. This guarantees that there is no sustained opposition if the Chairman does not want there to be any opposition.
Conflict of Interest
Dr. Rolf Grossklaus, CCNFSDU chairman, is also the Chairman of the Board of BfR, a private corporation which specializes in Risk Assessment. Dr. Grossklaus’s company submits Risk Assessment values to Codex. In his position at Codex Alimentarius, Dr. Grossklaus contributed to the bizarre definition of nutrients as toxins, and promoted the use of Risk Assessment to determine their “maximum” dosages.
Dr. Grossklaus is on record having said that “nutrition is not relevant to health” and that nutrients “have no place in the prevention, treatment or cure of any disease or condition”.