Posted on 09/21/2010 9:43:24 PM PDT by MamaDearest
It's almost a done deal. We are about to see herbal preparations disappear, and the ability of herbalists to prescribe them will also be lost.
Big Pharma has almost reached the finish line of its decades-long battle to wipe out all competition. As of 1 April 2011—less than eight months from now—virtually all medicinal herbs will become illegal in the European Union. The approach in the United States is a bit different, but it's having the same devastating effect. The people have become nothing more than sinks for whatever swill Big Pharma and Agribusiness choose to send our way, and we have no option but to pay whatever rates they want.
Big Pharma and Agribusiness have almost completed their march to take over every aspect of health, from the food we eat to the way we care for ourselves when we're ill. Have no doubt about it: this takeover will steal what health remains to us.
It Begins Next April Fools Day
In the nastiest April Fool's Joke of all time, the European Directive on Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products (THMPD) was enacted back on 31 March 2004.(1) It laid down rules and regulations for the use of herbal products that had previously been freely traded.
This directive requires that all herbal preparations must be put through the same kind of procedure as pharmaceuticals. It makes no difference whether a herb has been in common use for thousands of years. The costs for this are far higher than most manufacturers, other than Big Pharma, can bear, with estimates ranging from £80,000 to £120,000 per herb, and with each herb of a compound having to be treated separately.
It matters not that a herb has been used safely and effectively for thousands of years. It will be treated as if it were a drug. Of course, herbs are far from that. They're preparations made from biological sources. They aren't necessarily purified, as that can change their nature and efficacy, just as it can in food. It's a distortion of their nature and the nature of herbalism to treat them like drugs. That, of course, makes no difference in the Big Pharma-ruled edifice of the EU, which has enshrined corporatism in its constitution.
Dr. Robert Verkerk of the Alliance for Natural Health, International (ANH) describes the problem of requiring drug-like compliance on herbal preparations:
Getting a classical herbal medicine from a non-European traditional medicinal culture through the EU registration scheme is akin to putting a square peg into a round hole. The regulatory regime ignores and thus has not been adapted to the specific traditions. Such adaptation is required urgently if the directive is not to discriminate against non-European cultures and consequently violate human rights.(2)
Try to imagine facing your children or grandchildren when they ask why you didn't. How will you tell them that you really weren't that interested in their welfare? How will you tell them that it was more important to watch the latest fake reality show on television than to take the time to write a simple letter?
It is only by actively protesting that this travesty against our welfare can be stopped. If we sit back in apathy, then it will happen. Our right to protect our health and that of our children is hanging in the balance. If you care for your child's or grandchild's welfare, then you must act. Speak out, for now is the moment of truth. You can sit back and do nothing, or you can speak out.
And then, once you have, talk to everyone you know. Tell them that it's time to act. There truly is no time to waste.
Trade Law To best understand how this can be happening, one needs to see that trade laws have been at the center of the moves to place all aspects of food and medicine under the control of Big Pharma and Agribusiness. If you've followed what's been happening in the United States regarding raw milk and the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) claims that foods magically become drugs when health claims are made, you may have noted that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been part of the process.
Rather than treating food and traditional medicines as human rights issues, they have been treated as trade issues. That makes the desires of large corporations the focus of food and herbal law, rather than the needs and desires of people. It's this twisting that has resulted in the FDA's making outrageously absurd statements, such as claiming that Cheerios and walnuts quite literally become drugs simply because of health claims made for them.
The goal of it all is to make the world safe for the megacorporations to trade freely. The needs and health of the people simply are not a factor in their considerations.
How to Fight This Encroachment on Our Health and Welfare
It's not a done-deal, at least, not quite. If you value your access to herbs, or if you care about access to vitamins and other supplements, please take action. Even if these issues seem meaningless to you, consider the people who do care. Should they be denied the right to the medical treatment and health maintenance of their choice?
The ANH has been active in fighting these encroachments. They are currently going to court in an attempt to stop the implementation of THMPD. We can hope that they'll succeed, but recent history shows that no legal maneuver is likely to stop this juggernaut. We cannot afford to sit back and wait for the results of their efforts. We need to see their endeavor as part of a whole, one in which each of us plays a role.
It's up to us—each and every one of us—to take action. If you live in Europe, please, send a letter or message to your Member of European Parliament. Go to this page to find out who is your MEP and the contact information. Then, send a letter that states, in no uncertain terms, that you strongly support the ANH's actions in trying to suspend the implementation of THMPD and that you hope they will also take a stand in support of the people's right to choose herbal treatments.
If you find it difficult to write such a letter, click here for a sample (in the universal .rtf format) suggested by ANH. Feel free to use it.
Placemark to read tomorrow.
Hmmmmmm
Note to self, invest in blackmarket Herb futures.
Time to love and serve God and get off the sinking ship of Godless Progressive Humanism.
Shame on me for actually reading the directive, but this kinda stuck out:
“Herbal medicines must be now manufactured under Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) to ensure the quality of the finished product and also demonstrate safety.”
The final destination of all this global/commie movement is to reduce humankind to cattle, raised and supervised by an elite class for their pleasure!
This is Satanic IMHO
Ping.
Not all of us, but the UN is definitely attempting and in some nations is defining a lot more than what we eat or use medicinally.
And suuuuure, they’re going to do this for seasoning herbs, as well.
“Elf” and Safety has gone overboard in EU (pronounced ewww) land.
That statement doesn't really tell us anything about how they plan to regulate herbs and herbal products. All sorts of absurd requirements can fall under such nice sounding phrases as "good manufacturing practices" and "demonstrate safety".
Sort of like "We're the government and we're here to help you".
Herbs have been used for centuries, and now these bureaucrats must tell everyone how they can be used.
Time to try to grow and propagate the ones I would most likely need.
. This directive requires that all herbal preparations must be put through the same kind of procedure as pharmaceuticals. It makes no difference whether a herb has been in common use for thousands of years.
. If you've followed what's been happening in the United States regarding raw milk and the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) claims that foods magically become drugs when health claims are made, you may have noted that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been part of the process.
I consider myself ungovernable....
The “Won” appointed Michael Taylor (Vice President of Monsanto) as the “Safe Food Czar”.....and, we all remember the info about Monsanto, don’t we? (they scrubbed it from the internet for a while).
Monsanto is the reason Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are stockpiling heirloom seeds in the Arctic.
Whoever controls the food, controls the people.....and EVERYONE has heard of Agenda 21, haven’t they?
I’m glad you posted this!!!!
And, does everyone know that they have been “pasteurizing” ALMONDS for the past couple of years!!!!????
How many people have gotten sick from ALMONDS???
Pasteurization depletes almonds of their goodness.....JUST what the government of the USA wants....dead food.
Dead food=decimated people. Agenda 21.
They can’t stop you from growing and collecting your own herbs and making your own preparations. They sure won’t stop me from using herbs or teaching about them. Unless they want a Rx for a lead sleeping pill.
What about what happened to L-Tryptophane?
A perfectly healthy substance that killed a bunch of people because some of the stuff that was sold wasn't pure.
And what did "Big Herba" do? Did they protest the elimination of L-Tryptophane from the shelves? No. Did they do some sort of self-policing and discover which manufacturers were selling adulterated products so that those who sold healthy ones could continue to sell their wares?
No. What "Big Herba" did was cave-in to the government, lie low, and then when the heat was off start selling L-Tryptophane again. This time claiming that all is well, and every version of it sold by every manufacturer is perfectly hunky-dory.
What about "Red Yeast Rice"? Now you can get two kinds. The kind that has the active ingredient which infringes on Lipitor's patent, and the kind that doesn't and is completely useless.
So either people buy the stuff that violates the law and may help them with their high cholesterol (or kill them with the side-effects) or they flush their money down a rat hole buying stuff that is totally useless.
"Big Herba" can go suck eggs! The average consumer cannot be expected to have a $1,000,000 chemistry lab in his home to identify all of the possible ingredients in everything they purchase. There is a role for government, or private labs like an Underwriters Laboratory for herbs/vitamins. Any producer of herbs/vitamins that can't afford to have their stuff tested can deal with the consequences: go out of business or get their pants sued off.
Almond producers win case, right to sell untreated almonds
Snip: A 2007 USDA rule requiring that US producers must pasteurize or chemically treat all almonds may soon no longer be in force. Almond growers could be allowed to sell unpasteurized raw almonds, as the result of a ruling Tuesday by the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C, according to a news report.
The 2007 rule was a response to prior outbreaks of Salmonella linked to the production and sale of raw almonds in the U.S. The USDA rule requires that almonds produced in the United States must be pasteurized or chemically treated to prevent salmonella outbreaks.
Monsanto - the evil corporation in your refrigerator
Snips: Founded by Missouri pharmacist John Francis Queeny in 1901, Monsanto is literally everywhere. Just about every non-organic food product available to consumers has some sort of connection with Monsanto.
Well that’s a big load of misinformation. Thanks a lot.
A pharmaceutical given by doctor's prescription for high cholesterol can have side effects too!
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