Yo, Poland. Let's get it together now.

[The Kap'n]

Did you know that Poland has placed kava on its list of banned ingredients for dietary supplements?

Why? Oh, you know, just "extremely high risk of liver failure". As usual.

Kava lovers, we're fighting a world-wide battle against misinformation. It's disappointing that the same old lies and half-truths are continuing to be circulated.
It is my personal wish to make contact with one of the people involved with these decisions to understand what in the hell they keep looking at to make them arrive at such a flawed conclusion.
Personally it seems that the decision makers are looking at maybe 1/10th of the actual research on kava, only citing the papers that agree with thier stance.

Others have said the same, but I'm calling it. Actions like these are racist against diaspora that use this 3000 year old traditional beverage to connect with thier cultural past.


Source (In Polish): https://www.gov.pl/web/gis/zespol-do-spraw-suplementow-diety

 

[The Kap'n]

Below is their reasoning for this:

"Piper Methysticum

(Piper methysticum) also known as kava kava belongs to the plants of the the pepper family.

In the EFSA document entitled Compendżum oj botanicais reported to contain naturally occurring substances of possible concern for human health when used in food and food supplements found that the kavalactones contained in piper methysticum show an effect hepatotoxic.

In addition, according to the publication of the German office of the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety: "List of Substances of the Competent Federal Government and Federal State Authorities " (BVL, 2014) Piper methysticum is not recommended for food or use food ingredient due to known hazards. It can, however, be used as medicinal product.

In Belgium and the Czech Republic, the above plant was included in the list of prohibited ingredients for use in food.

According to the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC), there is sufficient evidence for the existence of a toxicological concern (carcinogenic potential in animals) with respect to herbal preparation.

The HMPC noted the presence of spontaneous adverse reactions reported the effects of drugs on the liver, including cases of liver failure that qualify for liver failure transplant, as well as deaths. The recall of such products was also found in some Member States due to safety concerns related to toxic action on the liver (EMA, 2017).

Taking into account the above premises and the supremacy of the principle that food introduced into marketing must be safe for the health of consumers, according to the Supplements Team Diets kava should not be used in dietary supplements."

https://www.gov.pl/attachment/bd5a9bf7-6ae5-4f06-9302-e7d809c61f2c

 

[Michael Nielsen]

Well FAO and WHO has approved kava as safe.

Its obvious that there is a conflict between the pharma industry and agriculture/food industry.

Its easy to be selective when finding science that support your cause.

 

[The Kap'n]

Its easy to be selective when finding science that support your cause.

You're absolutely right about that. And they were QUITE selective.

Source List:

https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/public-statement/draft-public-statement-piper-methysticum-g-forst-rhizoma_en.pdf

https://www.bvl.bund.de/SharedDocs/Berichte/08_Stoffliste_Bund_Bundeslaender/stofflisten_pflanzen_pflanzenteile_EN.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=8

 

[Michael Nielsen]

This mean that kalmwithkava.pl kavaeurope and other polish companies that sell kava will need to close down?
It would be nice if the industry could step up and provide support for this case.

 

[Michael Nielsen]

You're absolutely right about that. And they were QUITE selective.

Source List:

https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/public-statement/draft-public-statement-piper-methysticum-g-forst-rhizoma_en.pdf

https://www.bvl.bund.de/SharedDocs/Berichte/08_Stoffliste_Bund_Bundeslaender/stofflisten_pflanzen_pflanzenteile_EN.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=8

Well the industry could start a process for applying for kava as novel food.
That will give them a chance to present evidence for their cause.

 

[The Kap'n]

This mean that kalmwithkava.pl kavaeurope and other polish companies that sell kava will need to close down?
It would be nice if the industry could step up and provide support for this case.

Essentially yes. Their only option would be to sell it for topical use, and I'm not sure how that would fly.

Well the industry could start a process for applying for kava as novel food.
That will give them a chance to present evidence for their cause.

I'm raising the alarms with the people in the know. I'm personally not that up-to-date on EU and Polish law. It needs awareness and attention.

 

[Alia]

Below is their reasoning for this:

"Piper Methysticum

(Piper methysticum) also known as kava kava belongs to the plants of the the pepper family.

In the EFSA document entitled Compendżum oj botanicais reported to contain naturally occurring substances of possible concern for human health when used in food and food supplements found that the kavalactones contained in piper methysticum show an effect hepatotoxic.

In addition, according to the publication of the German office of the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety: "List of Substances of the Competent Federal Government and Federal State Authorities " (BVL, 2014) Piper methysticum is not recommended for food or use food ingredient due to known hazards. It can, however, be used as medicinal product.

In Belgium and the Czech Republic, the above plant was included in the list of prohibited ingredients for use in food.

According to the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC), there is sufficient evidence for the existence of a toxicological concern (carcinogenic potential in animals) with respect to herbal preparation.

The HMPC noted the presence of spontaneous adverse reactions reported the effects of drugs on the liver, including cases of liver failure that qualify for liver failure transplant, as well as deaths. The recall of such products was also found in some Member States due to safety concerns related to toxic action on the liver (EMA, 2017).

Taking into account the above premises and the supremacy of the principle that food introduced into marketing must be safe for the health of consumers, according to the Supplements Team Diets kava should not be used in dietary supplements."

https://www.gov.pl/attachment/bd5a9bf7-6ae5-4f06-9302-e7d809c61f2c

Calling this out will be made more difficult due to language barriers.

 

[yiki]

Horrible news....is this done, or just proposed legislation?
Can't this insanity just end...

 

[The Kap'n]

Calling this out will be made more difficult due to language barriers.

And this is why it's awesome that we have Polish speaking members among our ranks

 

[Michael Nielsen]

Its not a polish matter this needs to adress on higher levels (eu) since members follow directions coming from eu. It's stuff like this

Piperis methystici rhizoma - herbal medicinal product | European Medicines Agency

www.ema.europa.eu

 

[Michael Nielsen]

Novell food might also be a option

Introduction | Novel Foods And Ingredients | Food Legislation | Legislation | The Food Safety Authority of Ireland

Welcome to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland website. Here you can get food industry information, find food legislation, check for FSAI latest news or make an online complaint.

www.fsai.ie

 

[Alia]

And this is why it's awesome that we have Polish speaking members among our ranks

Well the fact is that WTO guy did offer an impartial forum to appeal or at least present a case to the EU.
I think the question would be who would be allowed to approach the WTO with a case?

 

[The Kap'n]

Well the industry could start a process for applying for kava as novel food.
That will give them a chance to present evidence for their cause.

Novel food status requires documented use in the in the country prior to 1993. If they can document that, then they have a case.

 

[The Kap'n]

Well the fact is that WTO guy did offer an impartial forum to appeal or at least present a case to the EU.
I think the question would be who would be allowed to approach the WTO with a case?

Well crap!

We gotta get more up to date with these things. We should have been there.

 

[Michael Nielsen]

Novel food status requires documented use in the in the country prior to 1993. If they can document that, then they have a case.

I was thinking about Traditional Foods from Third Countries.

 

[The Kap'n]

A comment about the current issue from the individual which lead the reversing of Poland's laws scheduling kava in the same classification as cocaine.

"This decision (to make it illegal to sell kava as a dietary supplement) is not at all surprising. We've been saying this for many years.


Basically, before 2018 kava was considered an illegal narcotic in Poland (like meth, opium and others) with extremely heavy penalties (long prison sentences) for possession, trade, importation. We launched our campaign to overturn the ban and it took us over 5 years to achieve it. I was losing hope at times. We operated totally not-for-profit and informally worked long hours on this thing but we succeeded by presenting accurate data, engaging policy makers, legislators (we gained support of two members of parliament), regulators, even some media people. But what our success meant was that kava wasn't narcotic anymore. It didn't mean that it would automatically become food or dietary supplement. These have strict definitions and requirements in the European Union. GIS (Polish version of the FDA) was clear on this point and so were we. Kava is just like any plant material that is not used for eating or medicine (like, let's say, bamboo, pine tree cones, saw dust). You can have it, you can buy it, sell it, but not in a restaurant or for people to consume. There was this one "loophole" that allows people to register new products as supplements and they can sell them for as long as the product is not on that "black list" and for as long as no formal ruling is made. This is how many shops did it. We've been warning them saying that this situation wouldn't last forever. It was obvious to us that the Germans (and maybe Belgians) would apply a lot of pressure on GIS to align their rules together. I am surprised it lasted this long to be honest. I think COVID-19 meant GIS was too busy maybe .


Some shops were smart and didn't invest big money, they didn't build their own brands but just distributed branded products from outside the Union. Others were maybe more reckless (or maybe "optimistic" and looks like they spent funds to get their own brand.


So the situation now is clear. Still better than elsewhere in the Union because people are allowed to import kava to Poland for their own use, they can have it and in theory sell it for other uses. But I think this means it will be very niche product. Few people will want to buy something that is labelled as "dog supplement" or "garden compost". And maybe regulators can crack down on it harder if they see it happening. Maybe not in Poland because GIS rules out listing kava as a prohibited substance, but who knows what happens at the Union level.


The only long term solution is to get kava recognized as food. Either as novel food or just a food product on the basis of enforcing WTO rules. We may need engagement from the Pacific governments at the European level and we need more exporters to actually spend money on legal action. I know some are doing it already, but I think bigger, more coordinated efforts are really needed. "

 

[kastom_lif]

O kurwa.

 

[Michael Nielsen]

@Edward