Action needed now, your right to grow and use herbs is at stake!
Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:42 am (PST)
There is a matter that I feel I must bring to your attention. At
first the emails trickled into me, and then flooded. I checked with
many friends I know with herbal websites, and they experienced the
same thing.
At first I thought it was a hoax, or perhaps an overreaction. Then,
as I did more research myself, I saw that it was neither a hoax nor
an overreaction.
I struggled with sending this to the Herbal Branches list. After all,
I promised to just send herbal lessons. Then, I realized that this IS
an herbal lesson. Its a lesson in how we need to protect our access
to herbs and herbal information. That in this day and age we cannot
take it for granted. AND it is a lesson in how important it is to, as
Susun Weed says, be your own herbal expert.
First, I will paste an email I got, then I will tell you what you can
do
Thanks for understanding the importance of the situation we all face
now as people who use herbs. I fe lt it was more important to notify
you than to later be sorry that I didnt. Long term subscribers know
that in 2 and a half years I have never used this list for such a
reason.
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FDA Attacks Complementary and Alternative Health Care
I just spent three days reading, re-reading, researching and
discussing the proposed FDA guidelines for "Complementary and
Alternative Medicine" with two FDA attorneys. You can download a copy
of this proposal for yourself below.
When I first heard about this FDA attack on complementary and
alternative health care, I considered it another "Chicken Little"
rumor. On further study, I’m appalled at the speed with which the
pharmaceutical companies are implementing Codex Alimentarius in the
USA. If you don’t suspect the pharmaceutical companies control the
FDA, you may want to research that further by visiting:
www.healthfreedomusa.org
This insidious proposal is designed to redefine every complementary
and alternative health care modality and product as "medicine." This
has direct implications on the services and products provided by
every alternative health care professional. There is no facet of
complementary and alternative health care that is not affected. If
the FDA adopts this proposal, all natural health care would be
illegal even for medical doctors.
Essential oils, herbs, herbal remedies, homeopathic remedies,
minerals, nutritional supplements, plant enzymes and vitamins are
redefined in this proposal as "medicine." Very simply, medicine is
under the jurisdiction of the FDA and, by law, only licensed medical
doctors may prescribe "medicines." Anybody else who advises,
advocates, counsels, distributes, markets, recommends or suggests
anybody use "medicine" is practicing medicine without a license. This
is a felony in the USA punishable by fines and incarceration.
Aromatherapy, auricular therapy, biofeedback, color therapy,
homeopathy, hypnotism, naturopathy, neurotherapy, nutritional
consulting, reflexology, sound therapy and wellness consulting are
among the alternative health modalities being redefined
as "Alternative Medicine."
This subtle change of vocabulary from "alternative health care"
to "alternative medicine" makes all of these industries subject to
control by the FDA as medicine. Only medical doctors would be allowed
to provide, prescribe and supervise the delivery of these services.
Anybody else who provided any of these services would be practicing
medicine without a license and subject to incarceration and fines.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is we have until April 30, 2007 to voice our opinion
against this proposal to eliminate complementary and alternative
health care in America. Almost 100,000 people have already filed
their objection. According to Dr. Rima Laibow, medical director of
the Natural Therapies Foundation, we need 50 times that many people
to respond by the end of the month.
Peace,
John Gilbert
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You can read the actual FDA document here at the FDA web site AND
SUBMIT A RESPONSE
You can go here to find out how to contact your Senator or
Congressperson to let them know what you think
www.congress.org
Please forward this to your email lists. Use the whole thing or copy
and paste parts of it. Whatever you feel good about.
Thanks again for your support in keeping herbs and herbal information
accessible to all.
Sincerely,
John M. Gallagher, L.Ac.
www.Learning Herbs.com