Dear Prime Minister, Ministers & Health spokespersons.
I write to formally notify you that I object to the proposed Therapeutic Products Bill and oppose the Bills inclusion of the regulation of natural health products such as foods, herbs, Rongoa, other traditional medicines, food supplements , preventative natural health care and wellness services.
The Bill proposes:
-
to replace the Medicines Act 1981 and the Dietary Supplements Regulations 1985 to regulate therapeutic products, such as medicines, medical devices, natural health products, and active pharmaceutical ingredients
-
introduces a new regulator within the Ministry of Health, headed by an independent statutory officer, with a wider remit than the medicines regulator Medsafe
This proposal to regulate natural health lacks transparency, is extremely vague in its outline and is contrary to the interests of a vast majority of New Zealanders who value their health and preventative health care via natural alternatives.
I oppose including natural health products in this Bill because:
FINANCIAL IMPACT - Consumers and Tax Payers
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, traditional medicines and services.
Please clarify how this will impact the cost and accessibility of the foods, herbs, traditional medicines and services that you are proposing to regulate.
LACK OF CLARITY
While being extremely vague and not forthcoming about the purpose of the Bill, it at the same time is riddled with innumerable clauses which makes it too complex and impossible to understand for both industry and the general public.
Please clarify why there has been no opportunity for public forum and discussion involving all interested parties.
The Bill is very, very vague. There are no clear definitions for what constitutes a natural health practitioner or traditional medicine and traditional practice. Western herbalism, rongoa Maori, TCM, Ayurveda, and other traditional medicine systems should all be included in that, but the question is – will they be?
Nor are there any assurances that qualified members of the natural health community will be on the advisory panels, as they should be if this goes ahead.
Because of the lack of clarity you are opening the public as well as the wellness industry to risk of misinterpretation.
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
Much of the Bill is predicated on lists and rules that haven't yet been published - making it very difficult to assess what's happening. All we have is previous lists from earlier attempts at the Bill, and what is on them is very limiting and very concerning.
This Bill should, at minimum be delayed until all information has been fully disclosed with opportunity for a full public review and discussion.
The Bill also lacks transparency as it has not provided a list of allowable products and ingredients, nor what will be restricted.
In 2017, Labour collated a list of 300 common herbal ingredients that they planned to prohibit. The latest version of the proposed legislation omits such a list. We are left to assume that the previously published lists will form a basis for this new legislation if passed.
One could also argue this omission is deliberate and leaves the door open for the government to add whatever they like to the list once the bill has passed. I probably don’t have to spell out how opaque and dangerous that is.
Before this Bill is even considered, please provide full disclosure of the list of restricted and allowable products. Also that a full disclosure of the guidelines, and independent scientific literature that was used to determine what would be excluded, permitted or regulated.
LACK OF DISCLOSED REGULATOR EXPERTISE AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
This Bill will place the power to make decisions over what products we can access as consumers and as health professionals into the hands of one man (or woman), who it is unknown as to whether they will have any actual knowledge of natural health products.
The question as to how independent-but-not-actually-independent remains unclear.
Quoting directly from the Therapeutic Products Bill: “the regulator will be a public servant appointed by the Director-General of Health on the basis of their relevant knowledge and expertise. The Regulator will exercise their powers under the Bill independently of the Director General of Health and the Minister of Health, but may be subject to general policy directions issued by the Minister”
Please clarify how this statement as it contradicts itself in saying that the Regulator will be independent.
We are at risk of losing access to many of our best herbs and supplements under this legislation - even some foods - at the whim of one person with absolutely no disclosure around their background, experience or qualifications. It is well known that Doctors and Medical Professionals are provided very little training on nutrition, let alone natural health and therapeutic supplementation.
Please provide further information regarding the qualifications and industry experience of the Regulator as well as their domestic or international industry ties and any financial or political conflicts of interest.
There is an entire section dedicated to removing any animal or human-derived 'low concentration natural health products' (homeopathic), which will mean homeopaths will lose access to a significant portion of their materia medica and nosodes. We don't have the herbal medicine list at this stage, but based on prior attempts, we know that a significant number will almost certainly be included.
It is unfair for the government to ask for the general public’s feedback without providing this information, therefore this Bill should be delayed until this information is made available to the public.
LACK OF HEALTH AND INDUSTRY IMPACT REPORTS
This Bill will place the power to make decisions over what products we can access as consumers and as health professionals into the hands of one man (or woman), who it is unknown as to whether they will have any actual knowledge of natural health products.
The question as to how independent-but-not-actually-independent remains unclear.
Quoting directly from the Therapeutic Products Bill: “the regulator will be a public servant appointed by the Director-General of Health on the basis of their relevant knowledge and expertise. The Regulator will exercise their powers under the Bill independently of the Director General of Health and the Minister of Health, but may be subject to general policy directions issued by the Minister”
Please clarify how this statement as it contradicts itself in saying that the Regulator will be independent.
We are at risk of losing access to many of our best herbs and supplements under this legislation - even some foods - at the whim of one person with absolutely no disclosure around their background, experience or qualifications. It is well known that Doctors and Medical Professionals are provided very little training on nutrition, let alone natural health and therapeutic supplementation.
Please provide further information regarding the qualifications and industry experience of the Regulator as well as their domestic or international industry ties and any financial or political conflicts of interest.
There is an entire section dedicated to removing any animal or human-derived 'low concentration natural health products' (homeopathic), which will mean homeopaths will lose access to a significant portion of their materia medica and nosodes. We don't have the herbal medicine list at this stage, but based on prior attempts, we know that a significant number will almost certainly be included.
It is unfair for the government to ask for the general public’s feedback without providing this information, therefore this Bill should be delayed until this information is made available to the public.
LOSS OF TRUST IN THE GOVERNMENT
Documents released under the Official Information Act reveal that a government paper recommended that NHPs remain out of the Therapeutic Products legislation.
During meetings across the country, officials promised that Natural Health Products would not be included in the proposed law.
The inclusion of Natural Health Products in the Therapeutic Products Bill is yet another broken promise by Labour.
The following sections from this 2018 government paper clearly show that the advice was to keep NHPs out of the Therapeutic Products legislation.
Please provide the justification as to why this Bill has completed disregarded those recommendations.
DISCRIMINATION
This Bill fails to acknowledge or recognise how natural health and traditional foods/medicines also plays an important cultural and spiritual role and is discriminatory as a result, thus should be, at the very least, delayed until it can fully disclose how it will not discriminate.
IMPACT ON AN ALREADY OVERBURDENED HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
New Zealanders need access to natural health practitioners. It is wrong to limit the public’s choice to access natural health care or to threaten practitioners with civil and criminal penalties.
Natural health practitioners' will be censored as their ability to tell you about the healing properties of virtually anything is under threat - if they make a therapeutic claim that hasn't been approved on a list that has yet to be printed, as a practitioner they face a $200,000 fine and/or up to five years in prison.
The idea that a government-appointed regulator (with no due osier if this regulator will even have the knowledge about natural medicines) can control the activities of dozens of complementary medicine practitioners is beyond absurd . Each complementary healthcare system has its own internal standards, which have proved quite sufficient for decades, if not hundreds of years, in some cases.
Information that this has fully been assessed should also be disclosed and released to the public and complementary healthcare industry.
Restricting access of these products and services will only lead to further burden on an already overwhelmed medical system. If the people of NZ were truly the governments priority, they would focus on strategies that would foster collaboration between natural health and conventional health care to ease this burden.
At minimum, independent impact statement reports should be disclosed showing that the Bill’s impact on the medical system has been fully assessed
LACK OF DISCLOSURE OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE
In this Bill, the NZ Government has not been transparent about the influence of foreign corporations and organisations will have, and the role they will play in Regulation of these products and services.
Please provide full disclosure of all interested parties, their financial ties and conflicts of interest with this Bill.
This is the third attempt in recent years to introduce extreme regulation of the public’s healthcare choices, specifically natural products.
Earlier attempts failed because of vocal public opposition.
The NZ Government is meant to work in the best interest of the people of New Zealand, its tax payers, not for industry whether that be foreign or domestic influence.
With this in mind, please consider the greater implications of your actions as I’m sure the voting public will come next election.
