How shitty is this?

LIFE UNDER CODEX

In the mid-1990s my mother, then in her 80s, had a stroke. She lived in Germany. When she left hospital, I was ready with a nutritional plan that included high-dose vitamins: C, E, and B – especially Inositol, as well as Co-enzyme Q 10. I went to the pharmacy, whose owner was a family friend for some 25 years, and handed him my list.

He handed me a small packet with a price sticker of DM 200 (then about $200) containing vitamin E capsules manufactured by one of Germany's largest pharmaceutical companies. The source was synthetic, not the "mixed" version from living plant sources I wanted which contains the whole E spectrum. The package contained a total of 10,000 international units of E, the equivalent of a mere 25 capsules of 400 IU each that we are used to buying (I take that many in 3 days). Our bottles contain 90 capsules and cost about $20. If Codex rules in Canada, we will likely pay $800 for a bottle of 90 capsules of low-quality vitamin E – if Health Canada lets us buy that many at once, and if you can find a doctor willing to prescribe it.

He then handed me a tube-shaped metal container with vitamin C effervescent tablets. Each tablet, when dissolved in water, would release 10 mg of vitamin C in a refined sugar solution. Thus, this ridiculously low amount, was to be taken in a toxic medium that would neutralize the vitamin without it doing anything at all. The cost: about $10 for 12 tablets.

Then he asked me, "What's Co-enzyme Q 10? Are you allowed to buy all this in Canada in such dangerous dosages?" When I told him what I take daily, his eyes popped. Then I asked, "Why can't I buy these supplements here?" He replied, "Well, Germany is a Codex country." Oddly, Germany has several government-run hospitals where environmental illness is treated with nutrients only, intravenous vitamin C etc. Life is full of paradoxes and few more follow below.

Codex: Picture basement-concocted vitamins sold in dark alleys alongside crack and Ecstasy.