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December 20, 2007 Is our government's commitment to deep integration and the Trilateral Cooperation Charter sparking a public health crisis? The Globe and Mail's environment reporter, Martin Mittelstaedt, wrote yesterday that, "Vitamin D tests conducted on a group of University of Toronto students have found that virtually all non-whites had insufficient levels of the sunshine vitamin, putting them at elevated risk of debilitating diseases such as osteoporosis, cancer and diabetes." The new study, which "alarmed the researchers," found that, "100 per cent of those of African origin were short of vitamin D, as were 93 per cent of South Asians (those of Indian or Pakistani origin), and 85 per cent of East Asians (those of Chinese, Indochinese or Filipino origin, among other countries). "The results indicate that Canada may have to revise its vitamin D intake levels and increase awareness about the risk of deficiencies, particularly among non-whites," added the reporter. Unfortunately, as Mittelstaedt reported on October 9, "Health Canada has a policy of harmonizing Canadian nutrition standards with those in the United States and… said it is committed to a joint review process with the Americans on vitamin D supplement levels. "Because of its desire to have North American standards, Health Canada isn't budging from its current recommendation," he wrote in October, highlighted in a previous Integrate This! post. "Health Canada says it wants to study whether a standard for the vitamin is needed and is talking to the U.S. Department of Health about a formal review... [but] it hasn't yet contacted the [Washington-based] Food and Nutrition Board to formally request such a study. Any review would cost an estimated $1-million, an amount the non-profit would have to get from the two governments before proceeding." In Too Close for Comfort (page 164), Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, wrote: "In February 2004, Mark B. McClellan, then commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration; Diane Gorman, assistant deputy minister of the Health Products and Food Branch of Health Canada; and Ernesto Enriquez Rubio, commissioner of the Federal Commission for the Protection from Sanitary Risks of Mexico, signed a 'Trilateral Cooperation Charter'. Its mission is to 'enhance communication… develop partnerships… and harmonize positions' among the countries in the areas of drugs, biologics, medical devices, food safety, and nutrition." Health Canada currently says an adequate amount of Vitamin D for those aged one to 50 is 200 IU daily; for 51 to 70 it is 400 IU, and over 70 it is 600 IU. According to a United States Department of Health and Human Services report published in October 2004, "Most individuals need 200 IU per day, although these recommendations are raised to 400 IU per day in those age 50–70, and to 600 IU per day in those over age 70." From this it would appear that the current recommended intake levels of Vitamin D in Canada and the United States are basically already the same. Averting "a public health crisis," as the University of Toronto researchers put it in Mittelstaedt's story yesterday, will require Canada to put public health ahead of its integration agenda.
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