Control, Control, Control – For the benefit of Big Pharma & the Elite!!

New Zealanders should be enraged by this move to take away more of our freedom. First it was an attack on our freedom of speech, then it was Covid & masks, PCR tests, lockdowns & mandatory jabs; now it is freedom to sustain & heal ourselves. NZers should sign the petition & even make a submission. Those people from other countries should take note, since if it is happening here, it is sure to occur elsewhere sooner or later.

Petition:
https://oursay.co.nz/index.php/2023/01/22/petition-hands-off-our-food-herbs-and-natural-products/

Submission (Details of procedure & what to write – not too hard!):
Added at the bottom of this post.

NZ Government Reaches for Total Medical Control via a Therapeutic Products Bill
*The following is from NZDSOS – NZ Doctors Speaking Out With Science
In the ongoing incursion of government control over every aspect of our lives, a new Therapeutic Products Bill is being rushed through public consultation with a deadline of 15 February 2023. 
Around half the NZ population take supplements, and twice before pharma’s attempts to destroy natural health has been defeated by coordinated action from health companies, practitioners and the public. 

This time is different, however. “They” plan to further prevent access to many healthy foods, not just vitamins, minerals and nutraceuticals, simply because they are used to make health products! Remember, many herbs and spices have powerful medicinal effects. They are edible plants that have become prized, over thousands of years of observation, to have particular value to human health. Of course, Big Pharma hates competition and has a clear business imperative to create as many sick customers as possible, and we see it’s greedy hand all over this latest attempt to block access to health products. 

We have to make a stand for our rights and freedoms, which are being stripped at breath-taking speed. There is a true public health emergency of course, vaccine harms, that is completely ignored, along with all the victims. Having idiotically damaged the nations immune system, now they want to stop our attempts to nourish and repair it? There is overwhelming proof of the link between poor nutrition and almost all diseases, and covid vaccine harms are no exception.

The field of nutrigenomics and epigenetics, the absolute upside of biotech innovation, have led to some astonishing benefits from targeted food factors in the form of nutraceutical products, and the drug industry knows this. Do not let the politicians sacrifice human progress on the altar of corporate greed and deception. Stand Up. Lobby. Be heard. Fight!!

For millions of years, humans and animals have maintained their health by eating the fruits of the earth.
The necessity and benefits of a broad natural diet are evident from Egyptian skeletal remains from 6000 years ago, which suggest scurvy—a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C. In 1753 a Scottish surgeon, James Lind demonstrated that scurvy could be treated with citrus fruit. The New Zealand government seems intent on changing history.

Just before Christmas, our Government introduced the Therapeutic Products Bill for its first reading. Public consultation is being rushed through the summer holidays here in the southern hemisphere and closes on February 15th. The Bill contains 423 pages of dense provisions with countless cross references. I am not sure whether any MPs actually read it before voting for its acceptance or whether the public could stand to do so. You can view my video summary of its draconian provisions here.

This is the kind of nation we will end up inhabiting:

Reverse Patenting
If a Natural Health Product is found to benefit a serious illness (such as lemons which benefit scurvy), according to the Bill it should be classed as a medicine. Consequently, according to the letter of the new law, only doctors will be allowed to prescribe lemons. Joking apart, most foods benefit serious illness. You might think there is no need to pass a law classifying them as medicines, but according to the government you would be wrong.

80% of drugs are in fact derived from the properties of plants. For years pharmaceutical companies have been trying to patent medicinal plants and secure a monopoly of their supply and use. But this effort largely failed in the patent courts. The remedy for pharmaceutical companies is contained in the Bill being introduced by our Labour government. If a plant is used to make a medicine or the molecular structure of any of its compounds is mimicked by a medicine, then the use of the actual plant should be restricted.

For this reason, in 2016, a bevy of well-paid Ministry of Health experts (???) produced an idiotic list of common plants that they envisioned should be restricted. Natural products in this list included cinnamon, eggplant, almond, mustard, tea (yes you did read that correctly), coconut, and many many others. The present Bill (the third attempt over the years to get this past Parliament) sets up the same conditions that prompted the 2016 list of restricted plants. A sort of frenzied desire to control the minutia of individual life driven by a mad instinct that the government always knows best.

More than 50% of NZ citizens use natural products, so you might think their availability should not be controlled by the government. Wrong again. The Bill requires the appointment of a regulator who will decide for us what among what we have eaten for millennia can be sold openly and what should be restricted. The idea that one person can decide for all of us what plants that grow in the earth, can be sold, eaten, or used puts New Zealand in a unique class among tin pot kingdoms. We can imagine as we gather around the family breakfast table a swarm of well-paid government experts with pens and questionnaires hovering close by for a final check.

The situation at the border is very similar. If a herb benefits health, it will be a medicine and therefore cannot be imported except with a permit. Border officials will be very busy examining packages and if they find anything healthy, tossing it in the bin. Am I exaggerating? No. Rauwolfia Serpentina is an Indian herb that reduces blood pressure. Studies such this one published in 2015 show it is a safe and effective treatment for high blood pressure, but it is banned here in New Zealand because some hypertension drugs contain synthetic copies of one of the many alkaloids found in the whole plant—reverse patenting at its best.

Why is the Government Intending to Regulate Natural Health Products?
A rational answer to this question is hard to find. A recent EU study found that natural health products are 45,000 times safer than pharmaceutical drugs. The government, however, apparently believes they are unsafe, but where is the evidence? It doesn’t exist. An imaginary NZ doctor explains to their teenage patient:

“Years ago, before you were born, dearly beloved, a person whose name is lost in the mists of time might have felt a little off colour after taking a vitamin tablet and then recovered quickly. Ever since then, the New Zealand government has quite rightly been very suspicious of vitamins and plants grown in soil. So they are introducing a new and very honest law for us all.” or words to that effect.

There are many continuous traditions of natural approaches to health that have been followed by cultures on every continent for thousands of years and still are. There are more modern ones too that have attracted followers guided by trained practitioners. These include Indian Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, Chiropractic, Homeopathy, etc. The idea that a regulator who is unfamiliar with these traditions should control their practice and availability is inherently flawed.

This Bill represents an attempt to impose a modern medical/pharmaceutical straight jacket on the process of medical choice. A straight jacket that will no doubt be administered by people who are unfamiliar with and even opposed to natural medicine. The apparent intention is to drive people towards pharmaceutical-based medicine. It is worth noting that modern medical misadventure and misprescription is the third leading cause of death—hardly a direction that deserves a monopoly.

The logic of insisting on total government control of medical choice escapes me. It fits with a perspective that has been steadily growing throughout the pandemic: the government is seeking to control every aspect of life and impose a kind of uniformity on the nation. This originates from a distorted one size fits all view of reality. Diversity is actually a great source of progress and happiness, not something to be stamped out—a discredited communistic perspective.

It is rather curious that for two years the government has been denying there is any connection between serious illness and mRNA vaccination despite tens of thousands of instances of illness proximate to inoculation and studies showing a statistical connection, as well as plausible biomolecular mechanisms. In contrast, on account of a very, very small handful of unproven historical complaints about natural health products, despite widespread safe use, they wish to control what we eat and what health choices we can make.

Whichever side of the vaccine debate you are on, it should be clear that the government cannot have it both ways. They can’t apply different and incompatible logic as it suits their agenda. All the more curious when many vaccine injured and long Covid sufferers are relying on natural health products to help get them through conditions which many of our medical professionals deny exist.

Last night I spoke to a medical doctor who described how his comments on the benefits of Vitamin C and D have been censored by his colleagues and officials. No surprise really, doctors only spend an hour or two learning about the principles of nutrition during the entire course of their long training. One of his colleagues told him the only benefit of vitamins is to change the colour of urine. That just about says it all. James Lind, who found that lemons cure scurvy, must be turning in his grave.

There is in fact no reasonable rationale for introducing restrictions on Natural Health Products, they are not harming anyone and studies show that many of them have significant benefits for health. The introduction of the new law will cost a lot and it will be paid for by financial levies on manufacturers, importers, suppliers, practitioners, and retailers. A single company selling 300 products, each making two health claims, will be liable for as much as $3 million in government charges. Ultimately these costs will be passed onto the public making natural health products unaffordable.

What the Bill Doesn’t Do
Gradually over the last few years, synthetic flavours and additives have been turning up in processed supermarket items. If you are buying vanilla ice cream, it is now usually labelled as containing natural vanilla flavour. This is not in fact made from natural vanilla beans, it is a synthetic flavour. The use of the term “natural” is intended to disguise this fact. In 2016 our Ministry of Health approved over 3,000 synthetic ingredients, many of them without safety testing.

The Therapeutic Products Bill will do nothing to correct the sleight of hand that is describing synthetic additives with an unknown safety profile as ‘natural’. I discuss many of the ways synthetic additives are affecting health in my book Your DNA Diet.

Nor will the Bill encourage the distribution of information about natural approaches to health that studies show are very beneficial in controlling common serious health conditions. Advice for example about diet, exercise, and the curbing of unhealthy habits such as smoking, excessive drinking, or ultra processed foods. Changes in lifestyle can be very influential in reducing cardiac problems as this BBC interview reports. Many other serious health condition outcomes could be improved in this way including cancer, obesity, diabetes, blood pressure, etc.

If the government wishes to encourage improvements in health and longevity, it would do well to launch a public education program about natural health products and approaches rather than seek to limit their use.

SUBMISSION:
https://www.parliament.nz/en/ECommitteeSubmission/53SCHE_SCF_BILL_130084/CreateSubmission
You could use some of what appears below.

Lawyer Sue Grey’s message on the petition:
The proposal to regulate foods and herbs and traditional medicines is unlawful, irrational, unreasonable and unnecessary and is contrary to the interests of New Zealanders.

I am opposed to this bill because:
Foods, herbs and traditional medicines belong to the people, not the government.
It is contrary to the interests of New Zealanders to restrict affordable access to our foods, herbs and traditional medicines.
The Bill is too complex and impossible to understand.The Bill is a poorly disguised attempt to privatise and block access to natural remedies with layers of costly red tape.
The Bill fails to recognise the considerable difference in risk between artificial and novel pharmaceutical drugs and natural products and that Pharmaceutical drugs are a significant cause of harm and death, whereas food and herbs are not.
New Zealanders need access to natural health practitioners. It is wrong to threaten them with civil and criminal penalties.

The NZ Government has NO mandate to reduce or remove our access to cheap, effective herbs, spices and nutritional supplements. This bill stinks of excessive influence of foreign corporations, and weak government that puts their profit ahead of our health.
Please take our foods, herbs and other safe, effective, traditional natural health products out of the Therapeutic Products Bill!

Another Example:
Dear Prime Minister, Ministers & Health spokespersons.

I write to formally notify you that I object to and oppose the inclusion of foods, herbs, Rongoa and other traditional medicines and food supplements in the proposed Therapeutic Products Bill.
The proposal to regulate foods and herbs and traditional medicines is unlawful, irrational, unreasonable and unnecessary and is contrary to the interests of New Zealanders.
I am opposed because:
Foods, herbs and traditional medicines belong to the people, not the government.
It is contrary to the interests of New Zealanders to restrict affordable access to our foods, herbs and traditional medicines
The Bill is too complex and impossible to understand
The Bill is a poorly disguised attempt to privatise and block access to natural remedies with layers of costly red tape
The Bill fails to recognise the considerable difference in risk between artificial and novel pharmaceutical drugs and natural products and that Pharmaceutical drugs are a significant cause of harm and death, whereas food and herbs are not.
New Zealanders need access to natural health practitioners. It is wrong to threaten them with civil and criminal penalties.
The NZ Government has NO mandate to reduce or remove our access to cheap, effective herbs, spices and nutritional supplements. This bill stinks of excessive influence of foreign corporations, and weak government that puts their profit ahead of our health
Please take our foods, herbs and other safe, effective, traditional natural health products out of the Therapeutic Products Bill!

%%your signature%%

Some Hints About Making a Submission:
MPs don’t like to read through screeds of evidence or hear your life story. They also won’t react well to you denigrating them either.

Keep it short
Make it personal but not long-winded
State what you want. You do not need to justify yourself. MPs work for us.
Useful comments you can add:
We don’t want natural health products regulated
Natural health products are much safer than many over-the-counter medications
We trust our own bodies and know what they need
Access to natural health supplements takes the pressure off the New Zealand health system by helping people to stay well
At least 50% of New Zealanders use supplements
As Maori, we have a right to easily access Rongoa, our traditional medicine
New Zealand boasts many people from diverse backgrounds. We all demand access to traditional medicine that has been used for centuries, whether it be Rongoa – Traditional Maori, Traditional Chinese Medicine or Traditional Western Herbal Medicine and everything in between.

Dr Guy Hatchard’s Points to Consider:
More than 50% of the NZ public use Natural Products. The structure of the proposed Bill is very
concerning. It establishes a regulator who will be empowered to take decisions and control
availability, it does not adequately specify what factors should influence his decisions. In other
words, it is an enabling bill of the type favoured by repressive regimes. Someone will be deciding
about and restricting our health options and choices.
There is absolutely no need to regulate Natural Health Products. The 2016 Natural Products Bill
planned by Labour pre 2008 was eventually abandoned after careful consideration of its impact. As
was the case then, I don’t see any evidence that the public is being disadvantaged under current
regulations nor is there any evidence they are being harmed by Natural Products. This is another
area where the government has no need to tighten regulation.
The Bill will place additional financial burdens on manufacturers and end users and it will introduce
uncertainty about products that have been sold and relied upon by millions of NZers. It will
substantially raise the cost of Natural health Products as the Bill specifies that the manufacturers
will bearing the costs of extensive and unnecessary regulation.
It is an underhand move to structure the Bill as regulation without specifying content. This is
designed to disperse and deflect public interest because as it stands the Natural Health Products
section has little indication about possible actions of the regulator, it is a blank cheque. It is sneaky
to have a short consultation period which spans the summer break.
The very long list of common herbals planned to be banned under the 2016 bill drawn up by
Medsafe with the help of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (funded by
pharmaceutical interests) is still in existence. Some of these are even used regularly and
traditionally in cooking. Under the Bill there is nothing to stop the new regulator from simply
adopting this list as soon as appointed. This list would greatly disrupt the availability of traditional
remedies which many NZers rely on to maintain their health.

Traditional medicine has its own standards of practice. It is of note that Indian traditional medicine
Ayurveda would be particularly affected. Something of concern to a large segment of our
population and incidentally the Indian government. The same is true of Chinese herbal medicine.
This is government overreach at its worst. The idea that a government appointed regulator can
control the activities of dozens of complementary medicine practitioners is beyond absurd. Each
system of complementary health care has its own internal standards which have proved quite
sufficient for decades if not hundreds of years in some cases.
The 2016 MoH of permitted/restricted substances which will probably be adopted allowed more
than 3000 synthetic additives to be used without adequate safety testing, but restricted traditional
herbs that have been used safely for hundreds of years. Why would the government want to do
this?

Example – Long, but you could use parts of it:
To the Health Select Committee
OBJECTION to the Therapeutic Products Bill
This is a written objection informing you of my opposition to the proposed Therapeutic Products Bill
amendments.
It appears that the current Labour government is intent on limiting and controlling our ability to
freely access natural health products including vitamin and mineral supplements, traditional Maori
remedies, homeopathic remedies, herbal remedies, traditional Chinese medicine, condiments and
animal products such as deer velvet and fish oil capsules for health and wellbeing purposes. It is a
fundamental right to use and benefit from what nature has freely provided and make our own
decisions on how to manage our health. I strongly question why the government has this agenda to
tighten and regulate our right to access products which serve our physical, mental, emotional,
social and spiritual health and wellbeing.
Confidence in our medical system is at an all-time low and coupled with this we know that
pharmaceutical drugs are one of the leading causes of harm, injury and death in the world,
therefore it is unconscionable that restrictions and tightening of natural health products is being
proposed.
To propose cinnamon (for example) be regulated is unfathomable when fatal medicine related
deaths in New Zealand are of far greater concern. I note consumer safety as one of the concerns
with which you state it is necessary to provide greater regulation. However there is no available
data indicating safety concerns on the natural products you wish to control, but there is no
shortage of data indicating the safety concerns, risks, adverse reactions, side effects and worse
from pharmaceutical products which I believe are part of an agenda to encourage greater Big
Pharma influence and control in our country.
Published medical paper with data from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2013 extracted from the
National Coronial Information System indicating 703 medicine-related deaths. FYI searching for
deaths on turmeric and coconut could not be found in a search. Please supply details if you have
other data, unless you are searching and a death from coconut was indicated as being when one
fell on the head of the unfortunate person under the tree. Please be advised – this does not count.
Link: Fatal Toxicity Indices for Medicine-Related Deaths in New Zealand, 2008-2013 – PubMed
(nih.gov)
New Zealand consumers are aware that research indicating findings on nutrition, diet and lifestyle
factors provide proven health benefits. It is fair to say our kiwi identity is shaped to a large extent
by the unique natural surrounds of land and sea which provide and give support to the health and
wellbeing of our people as well as supporting an incredibly diverse and growing industry of health
products, ingredients, and foods that are unique to our country. For example kawa kawa, green
lipped mussels, bee pollen.
The holistic view to understanding the body and caring for the whole person is an approach to
health which considers multidimensional aspects of wellness and using natural health products is
strongly connected to this view as it harnesses the benefits of the products which are not part of
the conventional allopathic model. The allopathic model strongly supports pharmaceutical usage
and while this has its place it cannot override evidence that health products have a valuable role to
support wellbeing and enable favourable health outcomes.

Consumers in New Zealand must have this basic right to decide how they manage their own health
and wellbeing and the government has no place in restricting access to natural health products
unless this is part of an agenda to push unsuspecting New Zealanders into the alleopathic model
for healthcare which is strongly under the authority of pharmaceutical companies. This pathway
will lead to poorer health outcomes and loss of identity as a nation and for this the government will
be responsible.
I therefore stand against the Therapeutic Products Bill and oppose the amendments which are yet
again another attack on our freedoms and our rights to consume or use products of our choice.
This is a disgraceful and shameful piece of legislation and has no place in New Zealand and if it
comes to law you can be certain that we the people will ensure all those members of parliament
that vote for this will be actively campaigned against and replaced with ethical, conscious thinking
individuals who represent the true, healthy voice of New Zealanders.