YOUR LETTER TO COMMISSIONER DALLI ~ TIME IS RUNNING OUT

Letter to the European Commission ~ please amend to suit your own style

Commissioner John Dalli
Health & Consumer Protection Directorate
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DG Health & Consumer Protection
B-1049 Brussels
BELGIUM

[date]

Dear Commissioner Dalli,

THE FOOD SUPPLEMENTS DIRECTIVE
Setting Maximum Levels for Vitamins & Minerals

I am writing to you on a most urgent matter that is of great concern to me and my family. We are all users of dietary supplements to keep well and maintain good health and have been watching the slow progress of the Food Supplements Directive (Vitamins and Minerals) with interest.

I understand the aim is that we all benefit from the expected harmonization of the market in these supplements and your attempt to remove barriers to trade across all Member Stares is most welcome – as is your stated intention of promoting consumer choice. My family are looking forward to obtaining a much wider range of safe and appropriately labelled supplements, but are now concerned that this might not be the case.

I understand that officials at the Health and Consumer Protection division have reached the final stages of the regulations – namely the setting of dose levels for each nutrient, and that we can expect to learn their proposals in the next few weeks or months. What has alarmed me is that I am told they are also under pressure from some Member State Governments, such as France and Germany, plus a number of lobbying organisations to set very low, restrictive maximum permitted dose levels – a situation I believe would be disastrous.

It is important that you note my concerns and those of my family in this matter. It is essential that the decisions are made on the basis of sound science. We do not wish to have low levels imposed on us when we have been using higher safe doses for many years – and because there is well documented scientific information supporting the products as beneficial.

Certainly, consumers want quality products, accurately labelled and safe. But please don’t set the levels artificially low; give us the information and we will make our own informed choices.
I look forward to your response. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,
[insert your name and address]