June 7th, 2008 — Every Signature Counts

1. How is medicine effected?

   The requirement for adequate testing and registration of all drugs and new medicines that come onto the market extends today also to all natural remedies that are sold, even if these have been used to good effect for generations.

   There are guidelines for methods of testing and analysis that have to be adhered to. And the expense of registering each name amongst a range of well over a thousand different preparations is sometimes prohibitive where there is no great demand for a product.

   Despite all this, there is a perceptible demand for the branch of medicine itself, leading to a strong lobby in many countries to devise other methods of testing and a different basis for judgement than for a potentially harmful or perhaps useless drug.

   This lobby needs to be preserved, and needs also to function at European level, where there exists considerable authority in determining what is traded through its various states.

   That there is much to be concerned about here can be seen in number of papers and court cases around these issues.
   
   More here: http://www.eliant.eu/new/lang/en/?p=37
   
   

2. How is Agriculture effected?

   The biological-dynamic method of agriculture is a particular method of organic farming, with its own manner of fertilizing the land, based solely on natural products.
   Similarly, consumers of these products expect them to be natural without any artificial additives, preservatives and so on.

   Example 1

   In the case of baby foods, there is stipulation by the EU Parliament that baby cereal mixes contain a minimum of 25 µg/100 kJ of Vitamin B1 This is twice as high as that demanded by the WHO for similar products, and there is no natural grain, diluted with natural milk that can meet this level. This forces manufacturers of natural baby products, such as Demeter, to supplement their bio-dynamically grown, completely natural baby cereal with extra Vitamin B1 – undermining both the individual right of choice of the parents as well as the definition of what can and cannot be sold as a natural product.

   Example 2

   The EU parliament has proved to be extremely GMO-friendly in all cases where a regulating of the co-existence of GMO's together with organic producers has become essential. No lobby on the green side has so far been able to move them to take the following important steps:

   • The onus is on GMO producers to ensure a zero-contamination level for other growers.
   • Genetic contamination of foodstuffs must be eliminated altogether and not be permitted the present tolerance level of contamination of 0.9%.
   • The costs of this co-existence and the accompanying ecological and economic damages are to be carried solely by the GMO growers (principle of the originator of the damage)
   • The various regions of the EU should have the autonomy to decide whether they wish to allow the production of GMO’s within their region or not.

   From the two examples above, it should be clear how important the strengthening of the lobby of the organic/bio-dynamic sector of agriculture is. Further example and a detailed outline of the above 2 examples can be found on the Eliant site here:

   http://www.eliant.eu/new/lang/en/?p=36

    

3. Why is Eliant asking for help in collecting 1 Million signatures to present to the EU Parliament?

   The EU parliament is open to a reasonable representation on issues which affect the human rights of its citizens. But a petition only the reaches the “critical mass” required when at least 1 million persons have signed. We are hoping that with the backing of this visible support, we will become an interesting partner for other large organisation pursuing similar aims as those we represent.

4. How is education effected?

   There are a number of recommendations from the parliament in Brussels regarding child rights and the right of a child to education. We know that there are instances in some countries where such issues as early childhood learning are recommended and this could extend to the European level, where the parliament is in a continuous process of discussing educational policies. We need a voice there that pleads for the parent’s right to an education of their choice, and is able to give input into the recommendations that originate from the European Parliament.
   

   The Waldorf schools:

   Was the first school to put the principle social justice in education into practice. Young people are educated together, irrespective of social background, abilities and vocation. The Waldorf school wasthe first comprehensive school to replace the principle of selection by a pedagogy of encouragement and support.
   
   Adult education, where there is professional training available in education, medicine, natural sciences, speech and drama, painting, sculpture, music, entrepreneurship, agriculture and gardening. In a number of countries it is possible to do a bachelor’s degree in a few of these subjects.
   
   

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