How will the 2023 Therapeutic Products Bill affect the Availability of Natural Health Products?

An Open message to Parliament.

Why are they regulating natural health products?

How will the therapeutic products Bill affect us?

What does the public want?

The public are aware that research findings on diet, nutrition, and lifestyle indicate that there are proven health benefits.

Over 50% of the public use natural health products and alternative approaches to health care.

The public realise there are many traditional sources of information about what products can be used safely.

If an individual suffers from a chronic or serious illness, or simply wants to maintain health, they need to retain their options to research and choose the most effective treatment for them.

The new bill will regulate all natural health products that claim to benefit health.

This is an enabling bill. As a result, the government will appoint a regulator who will then decide for you what products can be sold and what health claims can be made.

Well, what will the regulator decide?

In 2016, the Ministry of Health published a draft list of 5500 approved and all restricted ingredients. Most likely, the decisions of the new regulator, when appointed, will be based on this list.

Let’s answer the public’s first question.

Are all these ingredients safe?

The 2016 Ministry of Health permitted list included 3000 synthetic and chemical additives.

A closer look shows that the permitted list includes many additives which are suspected of causing illness and cancer. Including:

FD&C red No. 2
Amaranth, No. 3
Erythrosine No. 4
Ponceau

All are banned in the USA by the FDA.

A 2007 study in the UK found a possible link between six food dyes, a preservative and hyperactivity in children. All these compounds are likely to be permitted by the bill.

Thousands of artificial fragrances and flavours have been approved, even though they have not been tested properly.

Here’s an example of a pre-approved synthetic product. This cheap popular drink is available in New Zealand supermarkets. All of its ingredients have already been approved by the Ministry of Health.