All herbs to be banned???

[calyx]

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is trying to force virtually anything that is beneficial to health to be classified as a drug and come under FDA regulation. This would hand the pharmaceuticals a monopoloy over healing, something they have long wanted.

"It is very clear that the FDA is intending to regulate and ultimately destroy the entire CAM industry (Complementary and Alternative Medicine). Based on the explanations in the FDA's own document, the following things are likely to occur:

All vitamins, nutritional supplements and functional foods will be stripped of their structure & function claims, reducing them to empty labels where virtually nothing at all is allowed to be stated.

Vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug. Raw juice retreats will be raided or shut down.

Growing and selling common garden herbs will get you arrested as a drug dealer.

Massage oils and handheld massagers will be regulated as "medical devices."

Yoga props, pilates machines and weight machines will be regulated as "medical devices" and require FDA approval before being sold or used.

Raw sprouts and other anti-cancer foods will be regulated as drugs.

Bottled water that "treats" dehydration will be regulated as a drug.

Massage therapists who use hot rocks as part of their therapy will have the ROCKS regulated as medical devices! (It's true. The FDA will actually look at a pile of rocks and declare, "Those are medical devices!")

Functional foods, supplements, vitamins and homeopathic remedies will disappear from store shelves, pending FDA "review." (The only things remaining will be processed junk foods and pharmaceuticals, which is exactly what Big Business wants.)

Therapeutic tea products, such as green tea, will be outlawed and confiscated.

Vitamin store owners will be arrested and prosecuted for "practicing medicine without a license."

Citizens owning personal inventories of "unapproved drugs" (vitamins and herbs) may have their homes raided at gunpoint and their inventories confiscated by armed law enforcement agents.

The importation of herbs and functional foods from all countries may be banned."

Please read the full article at http://www.NewsTarget.com/021789.html

This is friggin outrageous.

The FDA are taking comments until the 30th of April.

Edited April 12, 2007 by calyx

[transDiMenTional]

wtf? i dont know wheather to beleive this

[calyx]

wtf? i dont know wheather to beleive this

Here is the link to the FDA document itself http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/06d-0480-gld0001.pdf .

This has been brewing for a long time, alternative medicine has been taking too much of the pharmaceuticals market/profits, not to mention actually making people healthier.

As John D. Rockefeller (the founder of the modern pharmaceutical industry) said "Competition is a sin"

[Μορφέας]

they cant b for real...

[Serpent]

Bottled water that "treats" dehydration will be regulated as a drug.

sounds like a bit of bs

[ajna]

as unbelievable as it is, they're for real by the looks of it, insane

i think this is too extreme, even for the American public, i'd like to hope that such a move will jeopardise any remaining strands of integrity the FDA has, but the pharaceuitical cartel musn't be underestimated.

[Serpent]

ill have to see it to believe if that regulate water as a drug lol

[calyx]

sounds like a bit of bs

I agree the wording is a bit alarmist and sensationalised but this is for real. These may be worst case scenarios but nonetheless they are potentially real scenarios.

[Serpent]

underground health food stores... *ponder* sounds funny and ridiculous but non the less anythings possible...

something that made me singer, green tea raids lol

Edited April 12, 2007 by GiR

[Evil Genius]

In 50 years, y´all can tell your grandsons about the time of the ridiculous green tea prohibition...It´s time to fight for your right.

Edited April 12, 2007 by Evil Genius

[tonic]

Outrageous!! The most ridiculous concept ever.

[Salviador]

Simple solution, medicinal herbs become cooking herbs, and essential oils become mosquito repellent.

Haven't you heard of echinacea and rosemary lamb roast? or ginko biloba pork balls?

[ajna]

don't be caught with vege-caps in the house though Salviador - "proof of intent to consume for non-culinary purposes"

[Vertmorpheus]

Sounds a bit worrying dunnit... though as far as raided at gunpoint goes, I think that might be a bit like the people we failed to see locked up for 20 years for owning encyclopaedias with drug info in em :D Still, it's a bit over the top from the sounds of it. Esp as there would see mto be nothing stopping you from writing say a book about how great tomatos are for you, and all kind of medical issues, and then starting a tomato farm. I really can't see someone selling parsley n sage being done as dealers either, unless they fail to meet some actual standards...growing methods, marketing, hygiene etc... and taking a look round the "fresh" herb section of my local shops tells me that maybe its time some standards were enforced. There is a LOT of dodgy, fraudulent, dangerous stuff being sold with impunity at the moment. Don't get me wrong, adults can decide what they have in their bodies... but claims need greater regulation. Handing out what can be some pretty potent plants ,extracts etc with no real ... after sales service, or intitial selection or "prescription" process.. for nothing more than cash , is a bit dodgy .

Something being regulated as a drug doesn't mean exactly what it means here either... plenty of things that are a bit iffy here can be had in bigarse super value tubs at the local shops over there... they are still regulated, in that you have to meet certain whatevers to be able to produce em commerically... but you CAN still sell them. What it means is that you probably won't be able to sell something as "add-focus" all natural add treatment anymore...but can still sell it as a mix of fish oil and minerals with no other claims.Fair enough. I think we all want the "truth" about plants and health to be known, and while snake oil sellers (present company excepted ) are running all over the net selling this herb for weight loss and that herb for impotence...well... if nothing else it makes me think too much about fat impotent people But seriously, there are a lot of products and people out there that are almost 100 percent full of shit.If the products fail to heal you consider yourself lucky, a good deal of em can make you sick as hell. If someone is selling sprouts as medicinal goods or even as food then yeah, I WANT their op inspected...a lot of food poisoning potential there. And no crop sold as medicine should be treated with pesiticides, but a lot of em have been. Gatorade shouldn't be sold as being a more sensible choice during excercise than water.

govts are going to make rules, the best it seems we can do in response is to just not listen. Grow it . Bugger em. Make tea from your sage for sore throats, how will they know?Don't irk the neighbours and you shouldn't have any dramas :D If the powers that be are in the meantime busting the chemist up the road for selling ginkgo as a proven alzheimers drug for 40 bucks a bottle to people at their wits end , running out of hope.... maybe being left alone is enough.

I guess this package of oppression might be ok really if it's balanced out with the govt involved taking a good look at what plants CAN be included in the list of options available for treatment...then people that really don't want to take prozac can still end up on the wort, but still see a GP rather than just browse the internet with a visa card.

edit...though it is all a bit scary for plant lovers everywhere....just knock back a handful of something vaguely labelled as "valerian extract"... I'm sure they're safe, there's flowers on the bottle right?

Edited April 12, 2007 by greendreams

[ENtiTY]

What kind of a government would let such a thing come about, I mean really! Bottled water! You've gotta be f'ing joking. Who the hell do these mother F'er think they are!

This is criminal! Multi national conglomerate FUCKS! Gonna need an FDA approval to take a shit soon.

These pricks need to be taken down a peg or 6.

[Auxin]

This paper may be worded horribly badly, leaving the door open for tremendous oppression but I think its main point is valid, there are 'alternative medicine' people out there harming and killing folks as a result of misinformation and inadequate labeling. I saw one "goji" berry seller that told cancer patients to quit taking anti-cancer drugs and eat "goji" berries instead, another "goji" seller claimed that the berries alter electron spin on a subatomic level to slow aging They then proceeded to sell 10% "goji" juice for an insanely high price (I use quotes because "goji" is a made up word and tibetan 'goji' berries dont even exist... you can get the same exact thing for 1/5 the cost). Another example is grapefruit and St. johns wort, both alter the bodys metabolic processes enough to cause some ordinary medicines to be lethal, if the hazards are known and worked with properly its no real danger but people die because there is no warning label on either product (yes I do honestly think there should be a drug interaction warning sticker on every grapefruit, despite its hype as a 'harmless health food' its really a very potent drug). For fuck sake I even saw a 'alternative medicine' seller selling ordinary mineral water for a ridiculously high price claiming that it cures cancer.

People should not be allowed to make absurd medical claims to the weak and ignorant just to scam money out of them.

hmm one group of people tried to sell me a religion they claimed could cure cancer, AIDS, mental illness, and masturbation and "cure" homosexuality. I admit I would get a perverse satisfaction if those people were banned from advocating their unregulated medical procedures like praying and bribing god in the hopes of miracle healing

Oh and harry, by all means, boycott US goods... I've been telling people to do so over US oppression and warcrimes for years.

I'm an american and I dont mind, really. My government is insane

Edited April 12, 2007 by Auxin

[chilli]

Big ups GreenDreams and Auxin, pretty much my first reaction. Mind you, it does sound like they're trying to use the opportunity to get a monopoly on the market.

One point of concern I have is this: governments often try to push through these really bizarre orwellian laws that outrage everybody, then they reword it, soften it up a bit, and people are much more accepting because it sounds so much more reasonable. Then, a few years later they do the same thing and incrementally we become conditioned to more and more restriction of our basic freedoms until something like the US Patriot Act and its Australian and British counterparts get pushed through with relatively little protest... the frog in the kettle etc.

[Torsten]

in a nutshell, this law is about labelling, NOT about availability.

The reason why this law is needed is because of the recent trend of making strong claims about foods that are at best vague. For example, lycopene was shown to have anti cancer properties, so every tomato product now claims to be an anti cancer remedy. This often neglects that cancer causing crap these products also contain. So, while your plain tomato paste MAY be anti cancer, your high salt, high chemical, high sugar ketchup is unlikely to be of any benefit.

The law as it is proposed in the US is similar, yet weaker than the law we currently have in australia. Virtually all herbs are available here, yet making any sort of therapeutic claim about them is difficult and needs to be backed up by expensive science. While this is annoying for all the honest herbalists, it does also prevent fraudulent claims by rip off merchants.

Personally I don't feel anythign wrong with people having to do their own research about a product or with having to go to a herbalist to receive their 'prescriptions'. Herbs are not safe in inskilled and uninformed hands, and many people who use herbs these days really shouldn't without more education or supervision.

I have never been an opponent of labelling restrictions for herb. I only have one criticism of the australian labelling laws and that is that we can't list historical or traditional knowledge on the label as this is interpreted as making a therapeutic claim. Other than that I feel that with so much money orientated and dishonest herbalism around I can't see a problem with restrictive labelling as long as it does not affect supply and availability.

[calyx]

The majority of herbs have been proven to be safe over thousands of years of usage by thousands of people . For a pharmaceutical to be "proven" to be safe it takes less than a decade and a handful of very well paid scientists.

Vioxx, a "proven safe" substance was shown to kill 50,000 people and it is still on the market. If any herb (except tobacco) killed 5 people it would be history.

I am all for anything dangerous to be off the market, lets just keep the playing field level.

Edited April 13, 2007 by calyx

[calyx]

I really hope you are right Torsten (and you usually are ) and this is just about labelling.

EEEEK have I become one of those god damned fear mongers?

[stonewolf]

*breathes a sigh of relief after reading torstens post*

so im not going to have to stock up on green tea and get a safe to keep it in.

[Ace]

Lol - or move overseas to a country that hasnt banned tea Man, if it came down to that (which, over time, I could see happening), I think I'd pack my bags and go somewhere that has logical laws - like HOLLAND!!

[SaBReT00tH]

*breathes a sigh of relief after reading torstens post*

so im not going to have to stock up on green tea and get a safe to keep it in.

Agreed!

[bogga]

Here is more about the sicko industry ... 3 Video to grab

http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3759004

We Become Silent - The Last Days of Health Freedom (2006)

International award-winning filmmaker Kevin P. Miller of Well TV announced the release of a new documentary about the threat to medical freedom of choice. 'We Become Silent: The Last Days of Health Freedom' details the ongoing attempts by multinational pharmaceutical interests and giant food companies — in concert with the WTO, the WHO and others — to limit the public’s access to herbs, vitamins and other therapies.

'We Become Silent’ is narrated by Dame Judi Dench, the noted UK actress who has won multiple Golden Globe awards, an Oscar, and a Tony for her on-stage work, in addition to dozens of other honors throughout her prestigious career.

We Become Silent

Pharmaceutical giants and other globalized bureaucratic interests are threatening our very health freedoms. Our access to natural foods, vitamins, and herbs will be severely crippled, and eventually non existent.

QUOTES FROM THIS DOCUMENTARY

“Fear preys on the most vulnerable among us. Fear sells. And nowhere is fear peddled more shamelessly than in the fields of medicine and human nutrition. And of course the fear mongers are also praying on fear of disease. And the solution that the fear mongers give us are drugs. Yet drugs are the single most dangerous thing we can put in our mouths.”"Fear anesthetizes us. It coerces us, making us believe we can do little on our own to prevent or treat disease. And forces whole nations to kneel at the alters of the drug industries. It’s a sad fact that pharmaceuticals have become the dope of modern man. And make no mistake, we are addicted. Last year between 3 and 5 billion prescriptions were written in the U.S. alone.”

“But the fear machine is well oiled by petrochemical dollars, and a near worldwide monopoly in health care. It works overtime to prevent the truth about dietary supplements from getting out to the public.

=====================================================

How fucked we get by the pharmaceutical industry... total corruption

“Big Bucks, Big Pharma”

(45 min, Ronit Ridberg, 2005) “Big Bucks, Big Pharma” pulls back the curtain on the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry to expose the insidious ways that illness is used, manipulated, and in some instances created, for capital gain. Media scholars and health professionals help us understand the ways in which direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising glamorizes and normalizes the use of prescription medication, and works in tandem with both industry-sponsored medical education/research and promotion to doctors. “Big Bucks, Big Pharma” challenges us to ask important questions about the consequences of relying on a for-profit industry for our health and well-being. From the Media Education Foundation.

Big Pharma is one of Washington's most powerful interest groups.

============================================

PBS.FRONTLINE.Dangerous.Prescription

As medications assume ever-larger roles in health care, the importance of FDA approval mounts. But what do average Americans know about the FDA process? What happens when a drug product harms consumers, and what role do drug companies play in approving and monitoring drugs? DANGEROUS PRESCRIPTION offers a FRONTLINE investigation into the FDA and drug safety, showing how effective the FDA is at identifying drugs that don't work or cause harm.