This is a letter I have sent to David Cameron and also my local MP, the letter is about the proposed regulation and ban on natural health products and herbs. Please sign the petition at www.joininghandsinhealth.com and spread the word, the law is meant to be passed in April 2011. Which isn't far away now. Please do your bit, it DOES make a difference, maybe even write, fax or email the prime minister yourselves and help to show how strong the nation feels on this issue. (for details on contacting the prime minster go to www.number10.gov.uk )
I am hoping that by sending this letter in the post I will get a reply, which I will post in a future blog. Be interesting to see their response as I had always planned to do a degree in herbal medicine in the future, when my children are older. If the ban is approved will this degree even be available? I really hope and pray for everyone's sake that this legislation does not get passed.
Dear David Cameron,
I feel very strongly against the government (including cross-party leaders/members) secretly approving EU legislations to ban natural health products. Namely you wish to ban hundreds of natural foods, herbs and supplements.
This would be a massive infringement on human rights, democratic freedoms and personal health choice.
I have signed a petition (THE NATION SPEAKS “NO NOT IN MY NAME” www.joininghandsinhealth.com) along with millions of other people who are also opposed to this legislation being passed.
It is my understanding that thousands of herbal remedies will have to be regulated by the same methods as synthetic medicine under this new law, rendering most remedies banned and the rest with potency levels so low they’ll be virtually ineffective.
To regulate herbal medicines in the same way will be virtually impossible, as they are made and in such different environments: synthetic in a controlled laboratory and herbal remedies, grown in people’s gardens or collected from the wild. Small distributors will struggle to meet the regulations and suffer for this. Let alone the people who will suffer from not having the choice to use natural remedies anymore.
I have read that the government feels its necessary to regulate the herbs as “some” people have suffered adverse effects, and you wish to stop this happening. I would like to know how many people suffer from adverse effects, (death even) from synthetic regulated medicine compared to that of natural remedies? I really can’t see how this reasoning is justifiable at all! I would love to hear your explanation.
Plants herbs and natural remedies have been in every day use safely and effectively for thousands of years across many cultures.
Is it not true that most, if not all synthetic medicines are derived from plant/natural sources originally?
The decision to choose how we heal our selves when ill or as a preventative measure is a right we should ALL have. To take away this personal freedom to choose would be appalling.
We are meant to be a democratic society so why are we not getting a say in such important issues as this? (And many other very concerning issues, that affect us all across the board.) This regulating of natural plants seems to me a complete farce, it seems pharmaceutical companies will be the only ones that will benefit greatly from this. We should have the option to choose how we heal ourselves and our children. I do not like to take a pill for every ill, I’d much rather use a natural alternative, which is safer and more in tune with the individual on a holistic basis (healing the body, mind and spirit). I look forward to your reply to such regarding this urgent issue. Regards
A very concerned UK resident.
