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Norwegian Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim:

Bans mercury in products

When the environmental toxin mercury is released to the environment it is very harmful, and i.a. the development of children may be damaged as a result. The Norwegian Minister of the Environment and International Development, Erik Solheim, has therefore prohibited the use of mercury in products in Norway. Among others the use of mercury in dental materials will be prohibited. read full story

Gunpoint Medicine Becomes The Law Of The Land.

Children herded like cattle into Maryland courthouse for forced vaccinations as armed police and attack dogs stand guard
by Mike Adams

(NewsTarget) Following the State of Maryland's threats against parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated, children were herded into a Price George County courthouse being guarded by armed personnel with attack dogs. Inside, the children were forcibly vaccinated, many against their will, under orders from the State Attorney General, various State Judges and the local School Board Director, all of whom illegally conspired to threaten parents with imprisonment if they did not submit their children to vaccinations. read full article
Fox News video click here
Watch video footage taken on the day on the two youtube's below

CODEX MOVES CLOSER TO EU BLUEPRINT

November 18, 2007

The 29th session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses, held at Bad Neuenahr, Germany, ended on Friday, November 16, 2007, following a week of deliberations. This Codex committee, more than any other, is deciding the fate of international principles, guidelines, and standards affecting natural health products and health claims. The U.S.-based, international non-governmental organization (INGO), the National Health Federation (NHF), was the only INGO present representing consumers' rights to freedom of choice in healthcare, and its three-person delegation was responsible for more interventions during the course of the meetings than all other INGOs put together.
read full story

Court rules against Germany in the great garlic debate

Yesterday's landmark decision by the European Court of Justice, ruling Germany failed to fulfil its obligations concerning the free movement of goods by refusing to import garlic extract powder capsules, has paved the way for European harmonisation. read full story

Please distribute widely! 

Today the ANH has released its ground-breaking critique of the European Commission's proposal to impose EU-wide restrictions on maximum dosages of vitamins and minerals in food supplements and fortified foods. These methods are likely to form the basis for internationally agreed maximum levels for food/dietary supplements containing vitamins and minerals through Codex Alimentarius, so they have global relevance.

Note: for full ANH Position Paper, click here.
For PDF of press release, click here.

ANH PRESS RELEASE

EU COMMISSION’S PROPOSALS TO LIMIT VITAMIN AND MINERAL DOSES NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE
A group of scientists and doctors, led by Scientific Director of the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), Dr Robert Verkerk, and ANH’s Medical Director, Dr Damien Downing, is calling for the European Commission to review the methods it is contemplating using to set maximum permitted levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements and fortified foods. The scientists claim that the methods being considered are both “unscientific” and “flawed”.

Today the ANH unveils its position paper which explains its reasons for criticising the Commission’s proposals, which are planned to become law EU-wide within the next two years.  Robert Verkerk says, “The Commission claims that its methods are scientific but we have found that they do not stand up to scientific scrutiny”.

Under the Food Supplements Directive and Fortified Foods Regulation, the Commission is required to propose maximum and minimum levels of vitamins and minerals for both food supplements and fortified foods. It is expected that the levels will be finalised in 2009 and early indications are that Member States such as the UK, Netherlands, Sweden and Ireland, that have until now allowed relatively high levels, might have to face big reductions in dosages.

Dr Robert Verkerk added: “You know something is wrong when they are thinking of limiting the dose of beta-carotene to the amount you’d find in just two carrots, and restricting selenium to the amount present in less than two brazil nuts. There seems to have been no attempt to test the models against real data. If the Commission really believed these doses might be the highest safe doses, why aren’t they screaming for warning labels to be put on bags of carrots and brazil nuts?”

Dr Damien Downing, also President of the British Society of Ecological Medicine and Editor of the peer reviewed scientific journal, Journal of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine, added: “The methods are simply not fit for purpose. It is the multiple use of safety or uncertainty factors that further compounds the reduction of levels from so-called Safe Upper Levels, that are often overly cautious to begin with. The resulting maximum levels, should these be implemented in law, would prevent many consumers from ingesting the levels of vitamins and minerals needed for optimal health and would also greatly interfere with consumer choice.”

Jill Bell, President of the Irish Association of Health Stores, stated: “The fact that the setting of maximum dosages for vitamins and minerals is being based on such poor science makes a mockery of the EU’s attempts to regulate this area.”

The ANH is meeting today in Dublin with Green Party Health Spokesperson Senator Deirdre de Burca, as well as with the heads of other key organizations, Nutritional Therapists of Ireland, the Irish Association of Nutritional Therapy, the Irish Association of Health Stores and the Irish Health Trade Association.
The ANH’s position paper includes a consideration of features that would be required for the development of a new, scientifically valid and proportionate risk management model.  Verkerk added: “We believe a new model should be developed within an independent, academic setting rather than being subject to the often conflicting pressures of industrial stakeholders and political processes.  We are hoping that concerns about the European Commission’s proposed approach will help it to drastically alter its proposed approach to the determination of maximum levels, which would otherwise be disproportionate in its effect and may in turn be subject to legal challenge.”
ENDS.

NOTES FOR EDITORS
About the European Commission’s proposal
European Commission
Discussion Paper, June 2006: http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/labellingnutrition/supplements/discus_paper_amount_vitamins.pdf
Consultation Responses to Discussion Paper: http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/labellingnutrition/supplements/resp_discus_paper_amount_vitamins.htm
 
Alliance for Natural Health
ANH Position Paper on Maximum Permitted Levels (released 24 October 2007):
http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/_docs/ANHwebsiteDoc_290.pdf

ANH consultation response (September 2006): http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/labellingnutrition/supplements/documents/anh_en.pdf

About the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH)
The ANH was founded in 2002 and is a UK-based, internationally-active, non-governmental organization, working to help positively shape the regulatory and scientific framework affecting natural health. As an alliance, the ANH brings together, globally, scientists, medical doctors, integrative practitioners, lawyers and consumers, as well as suppliers of food supplements and other health foods, as a means of working towards the development of sustainable approaches to healthcare. The ANH has been involved in extensive consultations with the World Health Organisation, the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority and a range of EU Member State governments. The ANH brought a legal challenge to the Food Supplements Directive in 2003 which was heard in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg in 2004-5 where it received important clarification.

MenZB Vaccine Lies Continue

Saturday, 20 October 2007, 12:52 pm
Press Release: Ron Law

"Sadly, the article is littered with inaccurate data, continued lies, and very sloppy reporting," says Risk & Policy Analyst, Ron Law. read full article

Selim hit by cancer relapse

PAN Pharmaceuticals founder Jim Selim has suffered a potentially fatal relapse of leukemia after enduring the series of court actions that followed the collapse of his company in 2003.

A Federal Court judge yesterday ordered that a $400 million lawsuit brought by the liquidator of Pan Pharmaceuticals start in June next year after lawyers for Mr Selim warned he may have only 18 months to live. read full article

Is Milk Bad for Us

watch the video

Concern over large numbers of children on anti-depressants 

There has an investigation into the accuracy of figures which suggest thousands of anti-depressant prescriptions are being written each year for young children.
  
The figures have horrified some health professionals who say such large numbers of young children should never be given such drugs. 
read full article

Study: Food chemicals clearly linked to kid's behaviour 

Researchers in the UK have shown there is a clear link between chemicals in food and the behaviour of children.
 
Their food standards agency carried out the biggest survey yet and now they are calling for tougher rules on what goes into food and drinks.

see full story

Truehope Sues Health Canada

ANZTPA consultations suspended

Posted 27 August 2007
Consultations and communications on issues related to the ANZ Therapeutic Products Authority (ANZTPA) have been indefinitely suspended in the wake of the official postponement of the scheme. read article

Radio NZ - National Morning Report

National and Natural Health Sector are working on Plan B (duration: 3′25″)

mnr-20070815-0825-Therapeutic_Goods_Plan_B-064

Parliamentary Question time 14th Aug 2007

Q.9 DARIEN FENTON to the Minister of State Services: What are the consequences of the Government’s decision to defer progress on the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill at this time?

Press Release
NZ Health Trust
13 August 2007

Natural Health sector agrees the way forward for regulation

Following the Government’s failure to pass the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill, the natural health sector has agreed an approach for better regulation of the industry.

More than 150 businesses and organisations have signed up to a joint position statement released today, which lays out how an appropriate, affordable and extensive regulatory system can be put in place. read PDF

Mr John Key outlines National's position on the Medicines Bill

Mr Key also denies having said that National would sign a proposal like that suggested by New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, despite quotes that appear to say just that. read full story

NZ First 'proposal' doesn't make the grade

National today finally received New Zealand First's 'proposal' on the Trans-Tasman Therapeutic Goods legislation and it fails to make the grade, either with us, or the Australians, says National Party Leader John Key.

"The half-page proposal arrived late this morning. It raises with National considerable concerns that would need to be resolved before it would be acceptable. read full story and
click here to see NZ Firsts Proposed Compromise to the Medicines Bill.

What does the Govt not understand about the word NO

What does the Govt not understand about the word NO, 3 Select Committees and a massive ground swell of New Zealanders have told them the proposed Joint agency is not to go ahead.  What are Phil Goff, Jim Anderton, Trevor Mallard, doing completely ignoring NZ democracy and expressing their commitment to resume negotiations when the opportunity arises.

Ministers re-affirmed both Governments’ shared vision of a world-class joint system for regulating therapeutic products. They regretted that it was not possible to proceed with negotiations towards the establishment of a joint body at this time but expressed their commitment to resume negotiations when the opportunity arose. read full story

Key says he'll back medicines agency bill

National Party leader John Key says he will sign up to the two-tiered compromise proposal on a transtasman therapeutics agency, a breakthrough that could see legislation taken off ice and passed by Christmas. read full story

Drug regulator collapse dents patient hopes

However, another medicines policy expert -- Thomas Faunce, a senior lecturer in law and medicine at the Australian National University -- greeted the collapse of the plans as a "good thing" for New Zealand. Faunce said the "stakeholder consultation" sessions held by the Australian government to shape the development of ANZTPA were "a sham and a farce" were designed to accept only department and drug industry views. read full story

Radio NZ National - Te Ahi Kaa - Hongongoi 22

20070722Hongongoi22 - 15mins

Talking about the stopped Therapeutics Bill in relation to traditional Maori Flora and Fauna

Radio NZ National - Focus on Politics

fop-20070720--Focus_On_Politics
Failure to get support for legislation which would set up an trans-Tasman agency to regulate therapeutic products.

20 July 2007 (#297)
A Weekly Report from the Keyboard of Murray McCully National MP for East Coast Bays.

The Therapeutic Goods Saga – the Cock-up of the Century

How could she have done it? How could any Minister have managed to snatch such ignominious defeat from the jaws of certain victory? Just how did Annette King manage to ensure that there was no majority in the New Zealand Parliament for what was not just a trade measure, but a trans-Tasman CER trade measure at that?
The answer is simple: Annette King is really, really arrogant. And at the sharp end of politics, really serious arrogance, mixed with a solid dose of real stupidity, can yield some very unfortunate consequences. read full article

'Lame duck' Government hits back over failed bill

The Herald - Paula Oliver
A wounded Labour has gone on the offensive over its failed attempt to introduce a transtasman regulatory agency for medicines and therapeutic products, but the party also faces accusations that it didn't consult National enough. read full article

Radio NZ National - Morning report - Medicine-Trans-Tasman Authority

Medicine-Trans-Tasman Authority - 4 min
The proposed joint Aust-NZ agency to regulate medicines and complementary health remedies put on hold by the Govt. click here for Transcript in PDF

TV3 - Colin Marshall on the government's drop of the 'anti-vitamins' bill

 

RadioLive - Opponents want natural health products bill binned

TVNZ One - Breakfast
Kay Gregory talks to Amy Adams and Annettte King regarding the Therapeutics Bill being put on hold. watch video (7:51)
or click here for transcript in PDF

Government defeat on medicines spurs 'lame-duck' jibes

The Herald - Audrey Young
The Government is set to look at using ministerial powers to create domestic regulations for complementary medicines after it conceded defeat yesterday on a transtasman regulatory agency. read full article

Therapeutics bill laid aside

TVNZ - One News
The controversial Therapeutics Products and Medicines Bill has been postponed amid a groundswell of opposition. watch video (2:53)

Government puts 'anti-vitamins' bill on hold

watch video

Radio NZ - National - King on check point

NZ Health Trust - Put natural health bill out of its misery

A consumer watchdog group is calling on the Government to kill the natural health products bill once and for all so a sensible regulatory system can be developed. read full press release.

Tony Ryall MP - National Party Health Spokesman
16 July 2007 - Failure of bill shows Labour is lame duck Govt
The failure to get the numbers for its Therapeutics Products and Medicines Bill shows that the Labour Government is increasingly a lame duck government, says National Party Health spokesman Tony Ryall. read full press release

Greens - Sue Kedgley - Government backdown a victory for democracy

The announcement by Annette King today that the Therapeutic Products and Medicines bill is on hold is a victory for consumers and for democracy, and a major defeat for the Government, Green MP Sue Kedgley said today. read full press release

NZ Government - Therapeutics Products and Medicines Bill on hold

Press Release by New Zealand Government at 3:59 pm, 16 Jul 2007
Joint statement by Minister of State Services Annette KIng and Minister of Health Pete Hodgson
 
 The Government is not proceeding at this stage with legislation that would have enabled the establishment of a joint agency with Australia to regulate therapeutic products, State Services Minister Annette King announced today. read full press release

NZ First's Compromise Proposal for the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill Attempt Fails - An amendment suggested by New Zealand First would have created a separate domestic body for the complementary goods. Listen to the audio below

Radio NZ - National - 1.31 mins

Hodgson widens review of $50m health deal

5:00AM Monday July 09, 2007
By Paula Oliver
A fresh review of the handling of a multimillion-dollar Hawkes Bay health contract has been widened, after concerns were raised over a conflict of interest and the treatment of a whistleblower. read full article

Minister in $50m stoush

5:00AM Sunday July 08, 2007
By David Fisher
A former health minister and her husband are embroiled in a health board stoush, which has seen allegations of a conflict of interest worth up to $50 million and the job security of a whistleblower allegedly being threatened.
The husband of former health minister Annette King is accused of being involved in pressuring a health board whistleblower who spoke out about an alleged conflict of interest in a deal worth up to $50 million. read full story

Sir Roger says Hide-Labour talks a joke

5:00AM Saturday July 07, 2007
By Claire Trevett 
Act founder Sir Roger Douglas has described party leader Rodney Hide's talks with Labour as a joke. read full story

Cutting Through Red Tape    

Press Release by ACT New Zealand  at  3:53 pm, 07 Jul 2007
Rodney Hide Speech to ACT's Wellington Regional Conference; the Museum Hotel, Cable St, Wellington; Saturday July 7 2007
Last week, Peter Luke from the 'Christchurch Press' rang to tell me that ACT was now the only Party supporting free enterprise. read full release

TALKS CONCERN ACT SUPPORTERS ACT-LABOUR

572 words Jul 3rd 2007 4:27pm Politics/Act
b y Grant Fleming of NZPA
Wellington, July 3 NZPA - Revelations of talks between ACT and Labour have prompted uproar among ACT supporters -- forcing one of the party's MPs to urgently clarify its stance.
read full story

Act and Labour strike co-operation agreement

Labour and Act have struck a co-operation agreement, and its first major effect could be resolution of the impasse over the proposed transtasman drug agency. read full story

Wide range of legislation up for discussion with ACT - PM

Labour is prepared to discuss a range of legislation with ACT after the two parties agreed to develop a working relationship, Prime Minister Helen Clark says. read full story

Anti-vitamin bill set to change industry

Medicines bill 'gives away trade benefits'

Dietary supplements may now be safe from proposed legislation before Parliament but drug prices will rise as a result of onerous new patent obligations inherited if the bill is passed, argue Sarah Meads and Thomas Faunce. read full article

AMENDMENTS TO THERAPEUTIC PRODUCTS BILL UNDER CONSIDERATION
HEALTH-REGULATION

333 words Jun 18th 2007 5:58pm Politics/Politics
Wellington, June 18 NZPA - Discussions are continuing over the problematic Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill, which appeared to have reached an impasse last week when a select committee said it could not recommend it be passed. read full story

Health Group Says Therapeutic Amendment A Sidestep

11:11 am, 17 Jun 2007 
A health lobby group says New Zealand First's amendment to the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill is a temporary sidestep to get it through Parliament.
The select committee considering the bill, which seeks to establish a trans-Tasman agency to regulate medicinal and complementary products, is deadlocked. New Zealand First's amendment would create a separate domestic body for the complementary goods. But Dave Sloan, from the New Zealand Health Trust, says a two tier system would be expensive and unnecessary. He says within five to ten years, natural products would merge with therapeutic products and there would only be one agency. Mr Sloan says all natural products should be excluded from the bill.

TVNZ - SUNDAY
Cameron Bennett investigates the TGA issue
Watch the video - Sunday: Hard Pill to Swallow (13:04)

Winston’s Therapeutics plan is an expensive sham

Media release by Dave Sloan
The so-called ‘solution’ to the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill proposed by Winston Peters is little more than a sham, said the founder of the consumer watchdog the NZ Health Trust. read full story

United Future Press Release
Hon Peter Dunne - 15 Jun 2007

United Future on Australia-New Zealand therapeutic goods legislation On the eve of the report back of the Australia-New Zealand Therapeutic Goods Agency legislation, United Future leader Peter Dunne has set out his party's position on the proposed legislation.
"In August last year we advised the government that we would be prepared to support the legislation provided it related to pharmaceutical products only. read full release

SELECT COMMITTEE FAILS TO REACH AGREEMENT ON THERAPEUTICS BILL    

By Sophie Hazelhurst, of NZPA.

Wellington, June 15 NZPA - The select committee charged with considering the polarising Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill has been unable to reach agreement, it reported today.
read full story

Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill (103-1) (15 June 2007)

Govt Admin Committee report released today click here for the PDF

The Government Administration Committee has examined the Therapeutic Products and
Medicines Bill. We have been unable to reach agreement and therefore cannot recommend
that the bill be passed.

Deal on disputed medicine bill close

5:00AM Thursday June 14, 2007
By Paula Oliver  - The Herald

A compromise on the highly contentious proposal of a transtasman regulatory agency for medicines and therapeutic products is very close to gaining enough parliamentary support to pass. read full article

Sue Kedgley on the Breakfast show TV1

U turn on medicine bill (4:27)

U-turn on medicines bill

TVNZ Channel One - watch the video U-turn on medicines bill (01:44)
The government has been forced to make changes to a controversial bill that could have banned hundreds of homeopathic remedies. read full story

NZ FIRST SAYS COMPROMISE ON REGULATION WOULD SATISFY INDUSTRY
HEALTH-REGULATION 741 words
Wellington, June 13 NZPA -

New Zealand First says it has worked out a compromise on legislation to set up a trans-Tasman regulatory regime for medicines and dietary supplements that should satisfy the industry.

Watch Amy Adams on Closeup
Close Up: Dietary supplements (13:24) -

Close Up talks to Dr Stuart Jessamine from the Ministry of Health  and to Amy Adams, legal advisor to the New Zealand Health Trust. But first, Gill Higgins looks at the effects of the bill.

Opponents of medicine bill protest outside All Blacks test

Letter received today from Peter Brown MP

So, in a nutshell, I recommended that the New Zealand First caucus oppose the bill as it is. Should the Government remove complementary medicines from its ambit we could, indeed should, support the bill.  Complementary medicines could then be covered by separate legislation. Organisations which want/need to trade in Australia should be allowed to opt into the Australian regulations exactly as they do now.

I am delighted to be able to inform you that New Zealand First had adopted my recommendations totally. read full letter

Therapeutic industry okay with regulation but not what's on offer

                            HOKITIKA RALLIES AGAINST THERAPEUTIC CONTROL BILL
2.6.07

The organisers of the Hokitika rally protesting against the government’s Therapeutic Goods and Medicines Bill are thrilled with the turnout of well over 100 people in the town today.
read full article

Greens wary of therapeutic bill

2nd June 2007 - TVNZ
Claims that the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill will put a stop to the sale of dodgy herbal pills are being shrugged off by the Green Party.

If it goes ahead, the new bill will put all supplementary medicines under the control of an Australian regulator. read full story

OFF PAT - By Pat Booth
Article in Central Leader

Easier, apparently, to get the message from Big Business than ordinary Kiwis.
read article

Your Views: Move affects what products you can buy

17 Pages 4:00PM Friday May 25, 2007 - The Herald

Hundreds of popular products will be forced off shelves by a new body that will regulate medicines, international cosmetics heavyweight Johnson & Johnson claims.

"More than 1000 of New Zealanders' best-loved cosmetics, sunscreens and dietary supplements will be unavailable under the Government's move to create a joint Therapeutic Goods Agency with Australia," the company said last night. read full story

From the Press 24th May 2007 - Thanks to Mike Moreu
This cartoon illustrates the underlying story in a nutshell

Editorial: Australians' drastic cure is not for us

5:00AM Thursday May 24, 2007

Sugar coating for contentious medicines and therapeutic products bill

5:00AM Thursday May 24, 2007
By Audrey Young 

Nicola Grace on George FM

Former United Future MP Gordon Copeland to vote against NZ-Aust medicines agency

5:00AM Tuesday May 22, 2007
By Martin Johnston - The Herald

Health law threatens '1000 products'
5:00AM Monday May 21, 2007
Cosmetics Heavyweight claims household names could be banned
Hundreds of popular products will be forced off shelves by a new body that will regulate medicines, international cosmetics heavyweight Johnson & Johnson claims.
read the media release

Paul Holmes talks to Helen Clark
Newstalk ZB 21st May 2007

Tony Ryall MP
National Party Health Spokesman

19 May 2007

Trans-Tasman proposal bad for local consumers and business

The proposed Trans-Tasman regulation of natural health products will be bad for New Zealand consumers and business, National Party Health spokesman Tony Ryall told a rally of 250 people in Tauranga this morning. read full story

Red Umbrella Rally reported on Prime News 19th May 2007

Letter sent to the Editor Dominion Post Friday 11th May 07

Sir,

Minister Annette King is quite misleading in her response to Sue Kedgley (11 May).  She bases her arguments on a series of half-truths, and her subjective belief that the proposed level of regulation is “appropriate” to the level of risk natural health products pose.
For example she asserts as fact that “Rongoa Maori will not be regulated” under the legislation.  The indisputable fact is that there is no exemption in the Bill for Rongoa Maori, in fact it does not even rate a mention.  Individual remedies made up on a one-off basis may be excluded, but as soon as practitioners want to use it for multiple clients, or commercialise a traditional remedy, it would be caught by the legislation.
When you cut through the spin, under the Government’s Bill the small and medium-sized companies that comprise two-thirds of the NZ sector will be decimated, while the large multinational companies represented by Natural Products NZ will pick over their corpses and do quite nicely thank you.

Best regards
David Sloan

RED UMBRELLA's OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT
14th May 2007

RED UMBRELLA VIGIL TAKES ‘ANTI-VITAMIN BILL’ PROTEST TO PARLIAMENT TOMORROW

Protesters share their stories with MPs and warn Parliament about bill’s impact on health consumers’ rights

Monday, May 14 2007 -- Tomorrow (Tuesday May 15) marks the start of the Red Umbrella Vigil on Parliament as protests gear up against the proposed Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill. read PDF

Health products: the great Aussie takeover

Planned new controls on the sale of natural remedies are more about kowtowing to Australia than protecting New Zealanders, writes AMY ADAMS.

The Press | Friday, 11 May 2007

New Zealanders face losing their access to thousands of safe and effective natural supplements if the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill is passed. That is the inescapable reality. Read full story

Te Karere News -The proposed ANZTPA treaty would affect Maori WAI262 claim
From Te Karere news : 10th May Thursday

Sarah Meads and Thomas Faunce: Bill risks medicine price rise

5:00AM Wednesday May 09, 2007

This week the Sunday Group on Radio NZ - National looks at The Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill.

File Size:13.9MB
Date: (Sun, 06 May 2007 10:05:00
Chris Laidlaw, Alicia Melrose, Patrick Fahey, Pipa Mc kay, Annette King

The Sunday Group

New Bill a Bitter Pill for Athlete

Sunday Star Times - 6th May 2007
By Rosalind Le Bas Walker

Allison Roe MBE, says New Zealanders are "facing a life or death health choice" with the proposed Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill.
"If we make this glaring mistake, it will change the course of NZ history for the worse," says Roe, 50, who owes much of her athletic career to the success of complementary therapies.

"The big flaw in this Bill," she says, "is that it attempts to apply regulations upon natural products with levels of control applied to pharmaceutical drugs."

read the PDF

Amy Adams on Kiwi FM May 3rd 07

Karen Hay of Kiwi FM interviews Amy Adams spokesperson for NZ Health Trust, clarifies and comments on the short comings of Annette King's statements from the previous days interview.

TVNZ News

Cosmetic claims challenged

TVNZ news

Concerns over Omega 3 supplements

From Radio 95bFM interviews after the rallies on the 28th April 2007

Photos from the Auckland Rally click here to view them all

Organisers pleased with turn-out to ''anti-vitamin bill'' protest
TV3 - Sat, 28 Apr 2007 12:06pm

At the National Party Southern regional Conference - Key Notes

" Kiwis are sensing what I see every time I return to Parliament. Helen Clark has lost her mojo. That's right, she's lost her mojo. And the Labour Party has lost the pulse of the people. Labour has lost the pulse of the people and it has lost New Zealanders' hearts.
'Third-term-itis' has well and truly sunk in. It's up to National to ensure this 'third-term-itis' is terminal.
The Labour Government is now nothing more than a lame duck government. They no longer have a parliamentary majority. They are simply marking time, with the number of defeats mounting at an increasingly rapid rate.
Labour can't get the numbers on its trans-Tasman therapeutics legislation, its proposal for state funding of political parties, and so on. The latest example is the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Amendment Bill, where the Government is headed for yet another embarrassing defeat.
The Labour Government is actually stuck in neutral, and the danger is that the country is going to go into reverse. "
http://www.national.org.nz/Article.aspx?ArticleID=10062

"Leave Our Vitamins Alone" Rally song

Leave our vitamins alone

The Dominion Post
Friday 27/4/07
Page: 5
Section: Features
SAYING NO TO AUSSIE RULES
Handing control of our natural health products to an offshore agency would be a disaster, writes Green MP Sue Kedgley.
A controversial bill making its way through Parliament at the moment would, if passed, result in hundreds of herbs and natural supplements becoming illegal.  The move has angered many New Zealanders, who are taking to the streets tomorrow to protest.
read full article

THE Pan Pharmaceuticals saga is nearing a close, with former boss Jim Selim acquitted in the NSW Supreme Court of two charges of procuring another person to destroy test results.
Read PDF

Court finds Pan Pharmacceuticals Innocent

18 APRIL 2007
SENATOR LYN ALLISON
AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS LEADER

DEMOCRATS DEMAND HOWARD APOLOGISE FOR PAN PHARMACEUTICALS WITCHUNT
Read PDF

aft-20070417-1635-The_Panel

Parliament Question Time 5th April 07

Question 7. Hon PETER DUNNE to the Minister of State Services: Does she have confidence that the Government has the necessary support to pass the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill?

Our Health Our Choice
Say No to Aussie Rules

 This Saturday 31st March 9.30am
Queen Elizabeth Square Rally
(Bottom of Queen St, Customer Street down by the Fountain in the square itself)

http://www.houseofradianceintl.com/Health_Freedom_NZ.htm

Minister slams health system
By JOANNA DAVIS - The Press | Tuesday, 27 March 2007

Health Minister Pete Hodgson admits the health system is riddled with problems.

Hodgson yesterday described the health system as one where fiefdoms, traditions, egos and rituals abound.

Delays, poor and inequitable access to care and "adverse events" such as drug errors were part of the "unreliable" practice of medicine, he told a Wellington medical conference. click here for full story

Media Alert

Focus on Politics tonight, Friday 23rd March, on Radio New Zealand National at 6.30pm will focus on opposition to the Therapeutic Products and Medicines bill.

For those that missed it we have it recorded below

20070323-0638-Focus_On_Politics-064

mnr Therapeutic Goods

Taito Philip Field has delivered a fatal blow to the Government's plan to set up a joint agency with Australia on medicines.
from Morning Report (14 Mar 2007)

Questions for Oral Answer

Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill—Level of Support in House
READ THE PDF

Mar 13th 2007 5:42pm
NZPA
Parliament BILL LIKELY A DEAD DUCK AFTER FIELD SAYS HE WON'T VOTE FOR IT
HEALTH-REGULATION 758 words


By Sue Eden of NZPA

Wellington, March 13 NZPA - The future of a new trans-Tasman regulatory regime for complementary medicines is looking shaky after independent MP Taito Phillip Field said today he would oppose the government legislation setting it up. read full story

USE OF SOME ANTIOXIDANT SUPPLEMENTS MAY INCREASE MORTALITY RISK
CHICAGO-Contradicting claims of disease prevention, an analysis
of previous studies indicates that the antioxidant supplements
beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E may increase the risk of
death, according to a meta-analysis and review article in the
February 28 issue of JAMA. read full article
here is the link for the JAMA report

Rebuttals to this Media Release and Report

Alliance for Natural Health rebuttal - 'vitamins kill' - no they don't!
Solgar Rebuttal
Patrick Holford rebuttal
Council for Responsible Nutrition rebuttal
Mercola rebuttal
Complimentary Health Council AU response

NO DEATHS FROM VITAMINS:
Poison Control Statistics Prove Supplements' Safety

(OMNS Feb 23, 2007) There was not even one death caused by vitamins in
2005, according to the most recent statistics available from the US
National Poisoning and Exposure Database. The 129-page annual report
of the American Association of Poison Control Centers published in the
journal Clinical Toxicology (1) shows zero deaths from multiple
vitamins; zero deaths from any of the B vitamins; zero deaths from
vitamins A, C, D, or E; and zero deaths from any other vitamin.
Over half of the U.S. population takes daily vitamin supplements. Even
if each of those people took only one single tablet per day, that
makes 145,000,000 individual doses per day, for a total of over 53
billion doses annually. Since many persons take additional vitamins,
the numbers are considerably higher, and the safety of vitamins all
the more remarkable.

Young John sings in a minor key

HERE'S JOHNNY: Though the two Johns, Key and Howard, have a lot in common, the therapeutic products and medicine bill, to set up a trans-Tasman agency is a stciking point, Mr Howard and Australia want the agency, and Mr key is opposed to it. read full article

Field vote a relief for Labour

HAYDON DEWES - The Dominion Post | Saturday, 17 February 2007

Labour is trying to appear indifferent - but is privately breathing a big sigh of relief - after outcast MP Phillip Field pledged his crucial vote to his former party. read full article

Keep your nose out of Kiwi politics thanks John

Green Party Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley is calling on the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard not to meddle in New Zealand politics by lobbying MPs to vote for a trans Tasman therapeutic goods body during his visit here. read full article

Australia wants Key to back Govt on transtasman health body

5:00AM Thursday February 15, 2007
By Audrey Young 

Australian Prime Minister John Howard is expected to press National leader John Key heavily tomorrow to support the bill before Parliament establishing a transtasman regulatory agency for therapeutic medicines.

And oddly enough, the importance of him persuading National has increased greatly since Labour's decision on Tuesday to expel Taito Phillip Field. The Therapeutic Product and Medicines Bill is one of the pieces of legislation that may be affected by the fact that Labour will no longer rely on Mr Field's vote. read full story

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