Freedom of Choice in Health Care is currently addressing two issues:
1. The arbitrary movement of the Health Protection Branch to remove safe,
natural products from the market
2. The threat of Codex Alimentarius, and its control by the multinational
pharmaceutical companies, in trying to take over the health food supplement
industry
"AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION IS WORTH A POUND OF CURE".
Anonymous
Products such as amino acids, epa fish oil extract, eyebright, germanium, goldenseal, hawthorn berries, chaparral, chromium picolinate, chamomile, melatonin and many others have all been removed from the Canadian market because "alleged" health claims are made for them. The honesty and truth of the claims seems to be irrelevant. As an example, it is illegal to claim on a label or product literature that Vitamin C prevents scurvy.
As products are removed they become unavailable in Canada, or they are assigned DIN numbers and large fees must be paid by manufacturers, importers and retailers to the HPB in order to legally sell the products. This multilevel taxation was supposed to be eliminated with the GST. We must stop the removal and restriction of products and the DIN qualification.
Codex is empowered by the Government to set standards of operation for the health industry. Over 90 percent of the organizations "allowed" to send delegates to the Codex meetings represent giant multi-national pharmaceutical corporations. The only "consumer" organization is the International Organization of Consumer Unions. Neither the natural health industry, nor the general public has any representation at Codex meetings.
Canada's Codex representative is a staff member of the HPB. We must ensure that our government representatives are aware that the H.P.B. support of Codex proposal is unacceptable to Canadians.
"IGNORANCE OF ANY POLICE STATE PHILOSOPHY IS FAR MORE DANGEROUS THAN IGNORANCE OF THE MOST VIRULENT DISEASE."
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Where we have synthetic drugs with no history of past use it makes sense that we need to test for obvious or not-obvious acute or sub-acute toxicity. Where we are using natural foods used by generations of populations without harm it is ludicrous to suggest that we should waste enormous amounts of money in drug testing, and restrict sales of completely safe natural products.
Consider the following comparison of medical reliability of two "remedies" per the New England Journal of Medicine, August 22, 1996 which found the drug Proscer for the treatment of benign prostate enlarge-ment to be no more effective than a placebo.
Herbal treatment: Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens)
Drug Treatment: Proscar (finasteride)
Cost: Saw palmetto $12.00 per mth
Proscar $60.00 per mth
Efficacy: Saw palmetto 60% to 90%
Proscar 37% to zero
Side effects: Saw palmetto none/slight
Proscar impotence, decreased libido,
ejaculation disorders.
If there was less concern about profit, and more openness to traditional and natural health care alternatives, many more patients could be helped at lower cost and with fewer side effects. With escalating health care cost we cannot afford to ignore options that help people.
Our purpose is to obtain a just and equalized system in which every individual can freely choose their preferred method of treatment in maintaining their health.
Our mission is to procure improvements to the health care system, while protection the right to "freedom of Choice" of the individual and honoring patient satisfaction as the main criteria for successful treatment.
"THE PHYSICIAN SHOULD NOT TREAT THE AILMENT, BUT THE PATIENT WHO IS SUFFERING FROM IT". Mainonides
PUBLIC HEATLH CARE IS IN CRISIS!
Our present health care system is on the verge of collapse. Costs are escalation, and drug-resistant strains of bacteria are making the threat of new epidemics a reality.
There are many contributors to this precarious situation:
The failure to recognize natural and alternative forms of healthcare
The failure to consider the wholistic nature of the human body
The failure to teach nutrition and nutritional body chemistry in our medical schools
The failure to consider the importance of prevention, and the continued reliance on expensive and often dangerous "silver-bullet" drugs
PUBLIC AWARENESS IS INCREASING!
With the movement of the information age, people are educating themselves and their awareness has created two major trends:
A shift from curative to preventative medicine
A desire and preference for more natural, drug-free, less invasive and low-risk methods.
It is time for our governments to accommodate the growing number of Canadians who are aware of their options and who want to choose the methods of treatment used to maintain and improve their health.
" The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease". Thomas A. Edison
WE NEED YOUR HELP, NOW!
If you're concerned about the Health Protection Branch limiting access to safe natural health products, we want you to know that we, at Freedom of Choice in Health Care, are doing something about it. Please read the attached news release.
Working together, Canadians can stop the HPB!
To succeed, we NEED your help.
Please send us, in writing, any examples of Canadians facing serious health risks because they are unable to get products that have been banned by the HPB. We, also, need examples of abusive conduct by HPB inspectors including removal of product or stopping shipments at the border. Any examples provided will only be used with the consent of those involved.
We also need your help to fund the legal action. A contribution of $100.00 is a small cost if your business is threatened by the practices of the HPB. Make your cheques payable to Freedom of Choice In Health Care and mail it now.
All of this must be placed in the context of the potential conflict of interest between the government and large pharmaceutical companies. Increasingly, doctors and others in-the know are calling for the cozy relationship between the pharmaceutical companies and the government to be examined. There is a revolving door where a number of bureaucrats know that lucrative jobs in the large drug companies await them, and magnificent conferences abroad are one form of gratitude that is bestowed upon underpaid bureaucrats.
For Canadians, what is at stake is their very health, which cannot be sacrificed for profit and greed. While banning harmless dietary supplements, Health Canada is allowing highly profitable drugs that are proven to cause deadly side effects. Dr. Michelle Brill-Edwards is already on record as having resigned the Health Protection Branch because of this.
While the HPB has a role to protect consumers from unsafe products in the marketplace, Freedom of Choice in Health Care is challenging the government's authority to intervene when Canadians have been using these natural products, without harm, for decades.
Repeated demands have been made for a detailed explanation of the HPB's concerns about the safety of natural health supplements, which have been completely ignored by both the bureaucrats and the politicians. "We find ourselves with no other recourse than to take legal action," Nelson added. In the meantime, lawyer Doug Barnett has called for "whistle blowers" to step forward with any useful information. According to Barnett, whose firm has launched a number of class actions, "these people of conscience can be very helpful because they know all the dirty little secrets that corporate and government abusers try to keep hidden".
