Talking points
Many issues that affect us adversely, stem from our membership of the European Union. Politicians in Westminster continue to make promises when they want your vote, but before you lend them your support, ask yourself if they can follow up on them? You may be surprised how restricted our government is by EU directives and regulations.
The Door marked exit - William replies to Guy Verhofstadt
William
replies to
this letter from Guy Verhofstadt
Dear Mr. Verhofstadt,
You refer in the first paragraph (2nd sentence) of your letter dated
27.09.11 to Senhor Barroso
(also circulated to assistants and MEPs) to an "Exit Strategy".
Surely, the most effective Exit Strategy is - simply - to Exit ?
Yours sincerely William Dartmouth
A Ham-Fisted Herbal Remedy from the EU.
On
the 1st of May this year the EU’s Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products
Directive came into full effect.
No longer can you walk into a shop to buy unregistered herbal remedies,
No longer can you buy them online. It is illegal. These remedies are now
treated like licensed pharmaceuticals: they must be dispensed under the
supervision of a practitioner
There were good reasons for drugs to be tested and licensed. They are
chemicals the body has never experienced before and can kill. The reason
we have been using herbal remedies for millennia is that correctly
prescribed they generally work. Indeed as sold under food law (until
April 30th) they had to be safer than a slice of bread. No deaths have
been recorded due to herbal remedies properly sold under food law for 40
years. Objectively, there is really no case to subject herbal remedies
to a similar regulatory structure to pharmaceuticals.
In contrast, properly licensed drugs are, despite all attempts to
regulate away risk, a big killer. More than 40,000 deaths are recorded
in the UK alone. This is a well known problem in the medical profession,
so well known that they have a name for the branch of medicine that
cures the ills caused by risky prescribing and doctoring - Iatrogenics
(classical Greek for ‘caused by doctor’).
As a result of the EU’S meddling we will be left with a much reduced
choice of herbal remedies and supplements. So far that list is 100,
though more may be added. Herbal medicines are not a tiny niche market:
a quarter of the adult population in the UK buys them. The wholesale
market here is worth more than £3bn a year
All pills and potions made from herbs marketed as having medicinal
properties have to be registered under the Traditional Herbal
Registration scheme. Packs must have a THR number on the back.
To get this ‘kite mark: the manufacturer must prove the herb has been
used for the condition for at least 30 years and for at least 15 years
inside the EU; that it is made to strict standards and contains a
consistent and clearly marked dose.
Like prescription pharmaceuticals; products must include a leaflet with
safety information. These changes almost all superfluous make it much
more difficult both to manufacture and sell herbal medicines.
Vitamin and mineral supplements are already subject to EU rules under a
separate directive ostensibly to protect the free movement of goods. I
should declare an interest here, I have taken vitamins and mineral
supplements for more than 40 years and continue to do so. Moreover, my
grandmother, Dame Barbara Cartland, - best known as a novelist - was
strongly committed to herbal medicines and vitamin and mineral
supplements. Indeed, my grandmother helped found, and was the first
President of, the National Association for Health.
The manufacturers and retailers of herbal medicines and vitamins tend to
be small and medium-sized businesses. The EU directives constitute a
significant regulatory burden. Already some shops and websites
specializing in natural remedies have either closed or emigrated outside
the EU; the US is one destination.
It is of course a nonsense to attempt, as the EU is doing, to regulate
natural herbs, used since time immemorial, as though they were licensed
drugs. It is difficult if not ridiculous to patent natural substances,
so companies cannot afford to do safety studies - they will not recoup
their investment
Remedies threatened include traditional herbal cures using hawthorn and
meadowsweet plus a swathe of herbs used in traditional Indian Ayurvedic,
Chinese and Amazonian remedies. If the product does not fit into a food
supplement category its sale is illegal.
The EU is trying to do the impossible. Is garlic, which some studies
show lowers cholesterol, a herb or a food? If garlic pills are sold as
“a traditional herbal medicinal product used to help maintain healthy
cholesterol levels and maintain a healthy heart” they must have a THR
number on the pack. If the same product is sold as a garlic pill it
could be classified as a food supplement and fall under a less stringent
set of rules.
This is highlighted by the different ways member states now sell herbal
remedies. The Czech Republic and the Netherlands adopted a liberal
approach so many herbal remedies are construed as ordinary foodstuffs,
which indeed they are, and escape regulation.
The UK and Belgium are more illiberal in their interpretation of the
EU’s directive, outlawing many more unregistered herbal remedies.
To add to the muddle, some plants are available in both herbal and
homeopathic products. Arnica creams contain plant extracts which have
some action on bruising. But arnica pills are homeopathic remedies that
do not contain any measurable arnica. Until now, both herbal and
homeopathic remedies have fallen under the same regulatory umbrellas.
It could have been even worse: remedies made up by herbalists could have
been banned altogether. Earlier this year the British government
provided a get-out clause. EU rules allow the sale of herbal medicines
prescribed by a registered health professional SO the government opened
the Health Professions Council to herbalists. Now they have the right to
prescribe individualised remedies.
Even though the EU is trying to do the impossible, these directives will
disadvantage the enterprises and the people involved in the world of
natural herbal remedies and vitamins. It has been demonstrated over time
that herbal remedies and vitamin and mineral supplements can have an
invaluable part to play in maintaining health - so more worrying still,
the directives are likely to be adverse to people’s overall health.
William Dartmouth
Thank you.
Dear William,
I Hope you will excuse the informal style of address but I feel we have been through a lot together since my son Michael was first extradited to Hungary. I am presently sat here with my other son Paul who you have of course met. We are searching for words that could express our gratitude to you for your fearless and relentless campaign to secure the release of Michael from that former KGB prison in Budapest.
Clearly words will never be enough to express or explain our gratitude. Our government and it's judicial system appeared powerless to intervene in my sons case, even when it became clear that he was being subjected to psychological torture. As a family we didn't know where to turn.
As the only British political party to oppose the European Arrest Warrant legislation we contacted UKIP.
Your response has been overwhelming and your personal endeavours well beyond the call of duty. You were the only British politician to take the bull by the horns and travel to Budapest, meeting the Hungarian authorities face to face and demanding justice for your constituents. A task which displayed incredible courage and fortitude in this overbearing post Communist regime.
You took their case to the European Parliament, you brought the injustice to the attention of the press, you reassured our family and Michael's friends...... The rest is history, Michael is now back with us amongst his friends and family. A wonderful conclusion to a formidable campaign.
Standing firm on the steps of the Hungarian Embassy in London, confronting the Hungarian authorities in Budapest or debating the matter on the floor of the European parliament, you never faltered in your fight for justice. As dark clouds appear to gather over European politics there will always be light as long as men as brave as you are prepared to carry the torch.
Your efforts have clearly gone beyond politics and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts, we hope that one day will be our guest of honour at The Castle Inn and Michael will be able to serve you a pint of traditional local ale.
You will always be remembered in our hearts and prayers.
Yours Sincerely,
Mark Turner, on behalf of The Turner family, and the village of Corfe Castle, The Castle Inn, 63 East Street Wareham, Dorset.
José Manuel Barroso, thanks his supporters, (which include the Tories), for choosing him as President of the European Commission.
"Mr. President, Honourable Members
First and foremost I'd like to express my warm thanks to you for this expression of enormous confidence in me. That expression of confidence is a great honour for me, it is very exciting and it also gives me a strong sense of responsibility. That expression of confidence is also a signal from this Parliament that it is fully involved in the ambitious program of activities that I have in mind for the next five years.
As I said in the discussion we had before the vote, I want to work with all the political groups that have signed up to this ambitious program for a Europe of solidarity and freedom. Of course, I also need to add my particular thanks to the European Peoples' Party which before the elections took a risk in Warsaw by expressing their support for my program. Thus setting out from the very beginning a commitment to European parliamentary democracy but as I said in plenary yesterday and over the last few days as President of the Commission my party is going to be Europe and anyone who wants to come on board on this exciting journey that is the integration of Europe then they are needed to provide the necessary consensus for a united Europe.
May I take this opportunity also to add a word about my own country: Without the initiative and the support of the government there Mr. José Socrates' Prime Minister I wouldn't be able to be standing as candidate and I thank the President of the Republic Mr. Cavaco Silva. I also thank all of those who have supported me through their belief in Europe and their determination to see the European project succeed.
And to all members of this house, my sincere determination to work closer with you during the next five years so that you can build a stronger European parliamentary democracy. I believe that the European Parliament and the European Commission as a typical community institutions have a special duty towards our citizens. And that is exactly what I said I would do and that is exactly what I am going to do: A stronger Europe for freedom and solidarity.
Thank you very much."
Guest Spot - What links the Copenhagen conference with the steelworks closing in Redcar? - by renowned Sunday Telegraph columnist Christopher Booker
What is the connection between Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the Indian railway engineer who has been much in evidence at the Copenhagen climate conference, as chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and an Indian-owned steel company's decision to mothball its giant Teesside steel works next month, ripping the heart out of the town of Redcar by putting 1,700 people out of work?
Nothing of this complex story is likely to be heard in the dreary concrete shed outside Copenhagen where, as temperatures drop towards freezing, 17,000 prime ministers, officials and climate activists are earnestly discussing how the planet is warming up towards extinction. But it certainly sheds a little light on a colossal worldwide racket these delegates are helping to promote, because the end of the story is that we shall all be paying to export thousands of British jobs to new steel plants in India, for no gain in the reduction of worldwide CO2 emissions.
Thirty years ago Britain's state-owned steel industry, over-manned and highly subsidised, was the most inefficient in Europe. By 1988, after Mrs Thatcher's privatisation and having lost two thirds of its workforce, it was as efficient as any in the world. In 1999, for reasons never fully explained, much of it was sold off to the Dutch firm Corus, which in 2007 was bought by the Indian giant, Tata Steel.
One of Corus's prizes was the Redcar steel works, once Europe's largest blast furnace. It is this which is now to be mothballed, according to Corus because of worldwide "over-production". But this is transparently not the case, since its new owner, Tata, is planning to more than double its steel production in India over the next three years. Furthermore, only last month Corus announced plans to build a 20 million euro plant in the Netherlands, with the help of 15 million Euros from the EU and 5 million euros from the Dutch government. Our Government says it is unable to help over the closure of Redcar because this would not be allowed under EU state-aid rules, although Gordon Brown says he may be able to offer a little "re-training".
The real gain to Corus from stopping production at Redcar, however, is the saving it will make on its carbon allowances, allocated by the EU under its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). By ceasing to emit a potential six million tonnes of CO2 a year, Corus will benefit from carbon allowances which could soon, according to European Commission projections, be worth up to £600 million over the three years before current allocations expire.
But this is only half the story. In India, Corus's owner, Tata, plans to increase steel production from 53 million tonnes to 124 million over the same period. By replacing inefficient old plants with new ones which emit only "European levels" of CO2, Tata could claim a further £600 million under the UN's Clean Development Mechanism, which is operated by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change – the organisers of the Copenhagen conference. Under this scheme, organisations in developed countries such as Britain – ranging from electricity supply companies to the NHS – can buy the right to exceed their CO2 allocations from those in developing countries, such as India. The huge but hidden cost of these "carbon permits" will be passed on to all of us, notably through our electricity bills.
Thus, at the end of the day, Redcar will lose its biggest employer and one of the largest manufacturing plants left in Britain. Tata, having gained up to £1.2 billion from "carbon credits", will get its new steel plants – while the net amount of CO2 emitted worldwide will not have been reduced a jot.
And the connection with Dr Pachauri? Directly there is no connection at all. But it just happens that Dr Pachauri's other main job, apart from being chairman of the IPCC, is as director-general of the Tata Energy Research Institute, funded by Tata, which he has run since 1981.
He may not benefit in any way personally from Tata's exploitation of the various carbon trading schemes set up to implement the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, but it is the IPCC which provides the recommendations which drive those schemes, Last year, on official figures, buying and selling the right to emit CO2 was worth $126 billion across the world. This market, now enriching many of our leading financial institutions (not to mention Al Gore), is growing so fast that within a few years it is predicted to be worth trillions, making carbon the most valuable traded commodity in the world.
Forget Big Oil: the new world power is Big Carbon. Truly it has been a miracle of our time that they have managed to transform carbon dioxide, a gas upon which all life on earth depends, into a "pollutant", worth more than diamonds, let alone oil. And many of those now gathered in Copenhagen are making a great deal of money out of it.
Christopher Booker's The Real Global Warming Disaster (Continuum, £16.99) is available from Telegraph Books for £14.99 plus £1.25 p&p
Christopher Booker