A valuable comment from Rob Verkerk of ANH (Alliance for Natural Health) on the issue of nutrition/malnutrition.

The supplements issue - speaking as someone who has spent many years working in developing countries in sustainable agriculture - cannot be truly separated from the whole issue of nutrition/malnutrition.

As population pressure increases (particularly in the developing world) and developing countries increasingly get pressured to cultivate non-indigenous, low nutritional value crops, nutritional quality becomes increasingly compromised.

The developing country scenario is one of both macronutrient and micronutrient deficiency, whereas in developed countries it is primarily one of micronutrient deficiency.

This situation has systematically taken all the power away from the people, and provides a population control measure in developing countries (at huge cost in terms of human suffering). It also makes people increasingly dependent on the pharmaceutical industry (as diseases of all kinds run rampant) as well as the agrochemical companies, which have now effectively merged with the pharma companies.

These companies are pushing pesticides and Terminator technology on developing countries, the latter being particularly devious as farmers cannot then raise seed from their crops and become dependent on buying seed for each season's crops from these transnational corporations.

The revolution begins when you help people to unplug from this agricultural system in developing (and developed) countries and re-develop polycultures, use of indigenous crops, pesticide/synthetic fertilizer free, organic systems, etc. (this was one of the key aspects of the development work I did while at Imperial College), and secondly help people to sustain themselves on nutritional supplements that fill the gap in terms of nutritional needs.

These supplements should ideally be produced by non-pharma companies and they should evolve to support local populations financially. This is what the Rath Foundation is already doing in Southern Africa.

Does this view change your perspective a little?

Once you understand that nearly all degenerative diseases (the mainstay of the pharma companies in the developed world) can be resolved by supplementation and good diet, and that nearly all infectious diseases (the mainstay of the pharma companies in the developed world) are caused largely by compromised immune systems in turn brought on by malnutrition and dehydration, you can begin to see why the innovative supplement industry is such a pivotal part of a 'global solution'.

And that is why it is so under threat by Big Pharma, Big Food and Big Chemical.

Let's carry on changing the world!

"And the world indeed seems to be listening."

Dr Robert Verkerk
Executive Director
Alliance for Natural Health
t +44 (0)1252 371 275
m +44 (0)771 484 7225
e robv@alliance-natural-health.org
e robert.verkerk@virgin.net (personal)
w www.alliance-natural-health.org

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