Directive challenged in court

Food supplements: A legal challenge of the controversial EU Food Supplements Directive will be heard in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg today.

The challenge has been mounted by the natural health lobby group, Alliance for Natural Health, following a legal challenge of the same directive in the High Court in London last year.

In that case, Mr Justice Richards referred the case to the European Court, saying there was an arguable case that the EU Food Supplements Directive was unlawful and would unfairly affect millions of people, threatening both health and trade.

"We are hopeful that the European Court in Luxembourg will invalidate the quite unnecessary ban on a wide range of perfectly safe natural food-derived ingredients which comprise most of the advanced food supplements," said Dr Robert Verkerk, executive director of the Alliance for Natural Health.

The Food Supplements Directive will, from August 2005, allow only products which are contained on a specific "positive list" to be sold in the EU. The alliance has argued that this "positive list" omits more than 300 widely used forms of vitamins and minerals.

Meanwhile, Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment has recommended maximum levels for vitamins and minerals that are well below those commonly present in health stores in Ireland and Britain.

Many European countries have considered multiples of Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for nutrients as a means of assessing safety as many people take vitamins and minerals in larger quantities than the RDAs. When the directive comes into force, maximum limits will be set following risk assessments.