NEW ZEALAND ASSOCIATION OF CHINESE MEDICAL HERBALISTS - NZACMH
MEDIA RELEASE
Kiwis will suffer in new bill that bans Chinese Medicine
Tuesday 12 Dec 2006
Today the ANZTPA bill will have it's first reading in parliament. These new laws aim to regulate the natural health
products industry. Instead they favour the commercial interests of the establishment and aim to restrict and outlaw much
of the flourishing complementary health industry. With our failing health system, many kiwis are turning to centuries
old medicine and paying privately for their healthcare. This new system will outlaw many herbal products currently in
use, despite no deaths and very few adverse reactions. As a result many kiwis will be driven back to the sinking ship of
the public health system.
Traditional Chinese Medicine has developed for at least two millenia with over 10,000 different natural products
prescribed for every ailment under the sun. In the last decade kiwis have turned to it in droves with an estimated
four-fold increase in the number of practising Chinese Herbalists in the country. This takes the load off the public
health system but also eats into the profits of the pharmaceutical and other medical companies. The risk to the public
from trained practitioners is very low. However there is still some risk and we support the concept of regulating the
industry. We DO NOT support regulations that attempt to kill the industry and laws that will in fact increase the risk
to public health.
The system is already failing in Australia. Chinese herbal products that do pass the regulations end up with labels in
English that list different ingredients to those that the manufacturers have written in Chinese. High Quality FDA
(Federal Drug Administration) approved herbal products currently imported from the USA will be effectvely banned. This
has created an únder the table' market in Australia with an estimated 30% of all Chinese herbs now sold in Melbourne
outside the law. This black market encourages the use of dangerous products, increasing public health risk. Asians are
the fastest growing population group in the counrtry and China our biggest potential market. The NZACMH fails to
understand how these racist laws will benefit the people of New Zealand.
Ends