Issue 63
Quest supports any move that will help guarantee public safety and would like to see all European countries have the same freedom of choice for food supplements as is currently enjoyed by Ireland, the Netherlands and the UK.
Unfortunately, as a result of the following elements contained in the Food Supplements Directive, it seems likely that some products may no longer be available.
Article 4.1
Requires all vitamins and minerals that a manufacturer uses in its supplement products to be listed in a positive list of vitamins and minerals referred to as Annex I.
All vitamins are include on the list and all minerals except Boron, Vanadium, Sulphur and Silica. Unless they are added to Annex I by July 2005, products containing these minerals can no longer be sold.
Comment: Quest use Boron in 2 of its products and Vanadium in 5 formulas.
Article 4.2
Requires that all Vitamin And mineral ingredients used by a manufacturer in its supplement products to be listed in a positive list of ingredient substances referred to as Annex II. Unless they are added to Annex II by July 2005, products containing these minerals can no longer be sold.
Comment: All of the ingredients used by Quest are included in Annex II. However, the label description for some products will change which will create unnecessary confusion amongst people using the products.
Article 5
Indicates that Upper Safe Levels (USLs) will be established for all of the vitamins and minerals listed in Annex I. Products containing higher than the USLs can no longer be sold after July 2005. The USLs are not expected to be published until mid 2004.
Comment: The delay in publishing the USLs is creating uncertainty about the future of higher potency products - which have been used safely by millions of people for decades. The supplement industry established USLs in the early 1990?s and so is not against such levels being established, but is concerned that a political fix is not applied when seeking to harmonise the traditions of all the EU member countries.
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