Dunedin Resident Launches Protest March

People called out on to the streets over new natural remedies law

A parliamentary Select Committee is due to report The Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill back to Parliament, for its second and third readings.

If passed, control of dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals and industries providing medical devices in New Zealand will transfer to the Australia New Zealand Therapeutics Products Authority – an offshore entity set up under Australian law, and headquartered in Canberra.

I tend to steer clear of politics, partly because I don’t feel I really understand them and partly because, the bits I think I do understand don’t make much sense or seem very honest.

I’ve been aware of the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill for some time now and have put in submissions and talked to people about it, but in a way kept my head down thinking that ultimately sense would prevail.

Unfortunately that didn’t seem to be the case and I felt quite disheartened and frustrated to find that nothing was taking place in Dunedin when I saw there were protests being organized nationally in April. After all, this was a huge issue and, in my mind, a ludicrous proposal that made no sense whatsoever as far as the people of New Zealand were concerned.

So I decided to do it myself, organizing a public rally for this Saturday to allow Dunedin people a chance to express their deep concern at this dangerous and silly legislation.

My concerns about this Bill are varied and I don’t pretend to understand all the nuances and machinations which may be involved but my concerns are real none the less. I am a consumer of natural health products. I use them for myself and my family, including my pets. I consciously choose to use these because they can support and maintain health rather than simply treating symptoms of ill health.

As a health worker I fully agree that regulation of products we consume is required. I want to know that what I think I’m buying is exactly what I get. But I don’t need a regulatory body in/governed by Australia to tell me what I can and can’t buy, and I certainly don’t want local New Zealand businesses to close because they can’t afford the additional expense that this bill will inflict on them. Any necessary regulation can be carried out here in New Zealand.

In this time of uncertainty with peak oil and climate change amongst other things we need more than ever to preserve and enhance our ability to provide for ourselves, and the prospect of natural health products being categorized as pharmaceuticals and being controlled by big business (often American) is in no way appealing to me. Why would it be?

The cost of the products I use will rise hugely; the choice available to me will shrink drastically and many things such as traditional medicines will become unavailable, going by what’s already happened in Australia.

I can see no plausible reason why this bill is being pushed for. I can’t see any way it improves health outcomes for us as a nation and it may simply be that the natural health industry is a mere pawn in some larger agenda.

This is why I decided to try to organize a public rally. The whole move behind the Bill feels dishonest. It is being wrapped up as somehow being for the public good but I just don’t believe it. It is removing my choices on how I want to care for my health and that doesn’t work for me and I know it doesn’t work for lots of other people in New Zealand.

I hope that the many people who feel the same way will join me and send a clear message to our politicians.

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