News Letter no 34.
Hello again to all those interested in defending the rights of NZ health consumers.
In this newsletter we look at;
* Upcoming national rallies and protest action
* Update on the progress of the ANZTPA legislation
* The acquittal of Pan Pharmaceuticals boss Jim Selim
* Our Website improvements.
National Protest Action
Those of you in the Auckland and other regions may have already heard about or attended some of the rallies that have been held in opposition to the Therapeutics Products Bill. The Rallies haven’t been organised by NZ Health trust but by the very active Nicola Grace from AK with the help of many dedicated people around NZ. They have been very helpful in raising public awareness of the seriousness of these issues and have generated some good media coverage. This weekend nationwide protest action is planned with events so far scheduled for Saturday 28 April in Auckland, Wellington, Tauranga, Whangarei and Christchurch; Click here http://www.healthfreedom.co.nz/protests.html for specific details, activities and info on the rallies.
We urge as many of you as possible to attend one of these rallies as a demonstration of the strength of outrage at these potentially devastating reforms. If you can help promote the rallies in any centre or would like to arrange something in your own town please contact Nicola or us urgently as these rallies are planed to be on going events.
ANZTPA Legislation
The scheduled select committee hearings on the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill have all now been completed and we await the release of the report in June. The clear majority of submitters to the hearings talking about the establishment of ANZTPA were in strong opposition to the Bill and it seemed equally clear to observers of the hearings that, whilst the Labour MP's were supporting the Bill, the remainder of the committee took the matter very seriously and listened to submitters with an open mind.
Remember though that regardless of what the Select Committee report may say, the Government is not bound by it and has already once announced its determination to ignore a report unfavourable to its plans when it made it clear in December 2003 that it would proceed to sign the ANZTPA treaty with Australia regardless of views of the Health Select Committee. This was despite the many months of work that had gone into compiling the committee's very detailed and considered report.
In the house it still looks like the Government WILL NOT have the numbers to pass the legislation. Even with the support of NZ First and United Future at first reading the Government only managed a majority of 1 vote. With Taito Phillip Field pledging to vote against the Bill the Government look to be in real trouble on this one.
Acquittal of Jim Selim
From Australia we can report that Pan Pharmaceuticals boss Jim Selim has been acquitted of the charges brought against him after the Australian TGA destroyed his business through an unprecedented recall of Pan NHP products. You may remember that despite there having been reports only of some reactions to one Pan product and that product being a pharmaceutical not an NHP, this issue was dramatised by the TGA as demonstrating massive safety issues with these NHP's. A claim which they have totally failed to back up in the years since.
This whole case serves to illustrate exactly the heavy handed, "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality that concerns us so greatly about a TGA styled regime that is being proposed to be brought into NZ.
Oor Website Improvements
We have made some improvements to our website, I would like you to check out the”Must View” page that has many very informative video’s to watch on it.
http://www.nzhealthtrust.co.nz/must_read.html I hope it does not take to long to open the page if you are on dial up connection.
If you know of any relevant good videos we may be able to host them in this section.
On the “Fluoride Debate” page http://www.nzhealthtrust.co.nz/fluoride_news.html there is also many good videos to watch.
On the “News” page http://www.nzhealthtrust.co.nz/news.html we have added audio’s recordings of interesting radio clips that I think are very worthwhile listening too.
On the Home page http://www.nzhealthtrust.co.nz/index.html under the heading “What you Can Do” has some actions you can take to spread the word to other like minded people that are alarmed at the proposal to regulate Natural Health Products as unsafe Pharmaceuticals in another country and the resulting unacceptable out comes that causes for the consumer. We are still working on improving the features of these activities so if any one has some ideas for features we would be grateful.
You can also link through to the New Health Website http://www.newhealth.co.nz/index.php and join up at no cost and with no obligation if you haven't already done so.
As always we'll keep you posted of all further developments.
Best regards
Dave Sloan
