"Sold down the river", "ruled by Brussels", "in breach of the Maastricht Treaty", "the EU wants to deny us the right to look after our own health", "a Humanitarian rights issue", "we do have our health and that of our loved ones to protect" and "Why has information not got to the general public?"

Just a few of the comments received from Positive Health readers expressing their fury, outrage and livid helplessness to prevent the inevitable passage of the EU Supplement Directive, which, barring some divine intervention on 12 March, will have gone through the European Parliament by the time you read these words.

This means that all of the 300 ingredients – forms of vitamins and minerals – missing from the list of permitted substances by early 2003 (please see our article last issue), will, following a 7-year period of derogation, no longer be legally available for sale in the UK and the EU. It will be illegal to sell products containing bioflavonoids, selenomethionine, Ester C metabolites, zinc ascorbate, any form of boron, chromium picolinate, just a few of the forbidden ingredients.

You may be astonished to discover that this outrageous state of affairs has become a fait accompli. You won't be alone, as there has been a deafening silence on this matter (to the public) from supplement manufacturers and their representative associations, although the ins and outs of this legislation have been featured in the retail health food trade press.

This is a particularly galling piece of legislation, especially in the light of the voluminous body of published scientific evidence demonstrating the efficacy of vitamins and minerals in both the prevention and treatment of many diseases, including the biggest killers – cancer and heart disease.

It is lunacy to make illegal the very ingredients which can promote health and prevent disease (see also review of Dr Atkins Vita – Nutrient Solution, page 7 and letter by Rex Newnham PhD, page 46). People should be encouraged and perhaps even rewarded for doing their utmost to promote and protect the health of themselves and their families, not threatened with criminalization for wishing to purchase calcium ascorbate (a forbidden form of vitamin C), selenomethionine, Ester C or boron.

And, particularly in light of scientific evidence (see Shane Heaton's article Organic Food and Health) that the soil has become significantly depleted of many vital minerals (trace minerals in vegetables have fallen by up to 76%), and that many people fail to get their recommended daily allowance for nutrients in their diet, it would appear that EU government officials are determined to condemn their population to ill health, and punish individuals choosing to use supplements to improve their health. This is not even considering that a significant part of the health food supplement industry would be wiped out under this Directive, leaving a poorer array of products with fewer ingredients in lower doses.

I have never understood the hysterical paranoia of government officials, dietitians, and drug company barons, always wingeing about their perceived (and mainly illusory) dangers of taking vitamin supplements. These same individuals are happy for people to eat sugar, drink wine, consume vast amounts of fats in their crisps, and to undergo the most toxic forms of dental and medical treatments, including mercury amalgam fillings, chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

In contrast, Jennifer Worth's One Hundred Years of Treating Asthma clearly describes how she and several generations of her family managed asthma with natural approaches such as breathing, exercise and steam inhalation.

A major tricky facet of this crisis is that the final doomsday scenario has yet to happen, and that the campaign to prevent its full implementation will be lengthy, procedural and based in Europe rather than the UK. It will be necessary to convince European scientists of the evidence to include these ingredients, with reasonable upper limits, on the list. The battle is set to be waged on our behalf by Consumers for Health Choice and players from within the Health Food Store and Supplement Industries, including Ralph Pike (of Vitamin B6 fame), who will be re-convening a scientific advisory committee. Readers concerned about this serious erosion of health freedom are urged to write or email me at Positive Health (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.); correspondence will be published on our internet site and passed onto the relevant organization. Watch this space for further news.