My friend Anna Valentine runs courses up North under the banner “Food is Medicine”
Anna is a chef, recipe creator, cookbook author, food photographer, forager, plant medicine maker, mother and passionate plant-based foodie.
“Using nature to enhance your health is where it’s at and is extremely pertinent at the moment”, she says in a newsletter to followers, explaining why she opposes the Therapeutic Products Bill.
“Mother nature grows medicinal plants for us for free, all we need to do is learn what amazing qualities each and every plant has to offer and trust me it’s mind blowing and I want to be able to continue sharing this with you all, which I won’t be able to do if they pass this bill.”
She fears that she could be fined thousands of dollars for sharing and holding classes showing people what plants they can use to benefit health naturally, as it could be deemed illegal if the bill is passed.
“Things like cinnamon, mustard, cardamon, kawakawa, even aloe vera, coconut, turmeric, ginger any plant that has health giving properties and can be made into medicine will be regulated, even removed from the shelves so you cannot access it."
“Plants are nature, we are nature, everything we humans need for our health is found in nature. You cannot restrict plant healing or the growing of our own plants in our own gardens. This bill is deplorable and a disgusting abuse of our human rights to choose what we put in our own bodies. As we are supposed to live in a democracy we all need to stand up for our rights to use nature as our medicine if we choose to, like our ancestors did. We owe it to our children and future generations to have the freedom to live in harmony with nature.”
The chair of the Health Committee has called for public submissions on the Therapeutic Products Bill.
Anna has written a clear message to the committee.
“This is a written objection, informing you of my opposition to the proposed Therapeutic Products Bill amendments. It appears that this bill is intent on limiting and controlling our ability to freely access natural health products including vitamin and mineral supplements, traditional Rongoā Māori, homeopathic remedies, herbal remedies, traditional Chinese medicine, foods and plants for health and wellbeing purposes. It is a fundamental right to use and benefit from what nature has freely provided and make our own decisions on how to manage our health. I strongly question why the government has this agenda to tighten and regulate our right to access products which serve our physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual health and wellbeing. To propose cinnamon (for example) be regulated is unfathomable, as are any foods/medicines which are proposed by this bill. I note consumer safety as one of the concerns with which you state it is necessary to provide greater regulation. However there is no available data indicating safety concerns on the natural products you wish to control. Plants are nature, we are nature, everything we humans need for our health is found in nature. You can not restrict plant healing or the growing of our own plants, if we the people of New Zealand choose to use it for our health. This bill is deplorable and a disgusting abuse of our human rights to choose what we put into or bodies. Health isn't gene therapy, cell and tissue therapies or anything to do with AI, we are humans, the suggestion of this is a disgrace to our intelligence and all humanity. We the people of New Zealand say no to this bill.”
The closing date for submissions is 11.59pm Sunday, 5 March 2023
Changes that the bill proposes include:
requiring therapeutic products to receive a market authorisation before they could be imported into, exported from, or supplied in New Zealand
providing for the regulation of a range of controlled activities
establishing a Therapeutics Products Regulator