i don't understand

[Bear_Medicine]

and

[wildcarrotdances]

[dreamseeds]

Is there anything in motion now to try and change these regulations?

I am vowing to myself and to you all that EVEN if I EVER become a great herbalist with a name I WILL NEVER forget the ground from which I sprouted from and will never try to shield that ground from other sprouts like you and I.

Obviously my emotions bounce back and forth from sorrow to downright pissed about it all.

Off to send more love to the land around me and to do what I can to protect it and keep it sacred.
_________________
~Kristena~
http://www.dreamseedsorganics.com
Dreamseeds Organics Blog

[WildRose]

A voice from Canada on this issue.

Right now the Canadian Council of Herbalist Associations (CCHA) is working very hard on developing standards of practice, education, discipline procedures, and ethics of practice. This organization is made up of Herbalist Associations across the country. One for each province or territory. Then each association has a couple of reps that attend CCHA meetings etc.

As a herbalist that has been walking the path for over 20 years, i have seen herbalism and the accessibility of herbs change. I helped found a provincial association, which was a grassroots organization to start with, people are now calling it elitist with what is happening over herbalist qualifications, letters after names, who is who. It is one thing to expect a certain level of care, but another allowing the government to define who can practice and how they can. I see these eager herbalists that want this, aligning themselves with the medical community; defining themselves through the allopath lens.

Recently the midwives here were legislated. Prior to doing so, you could hire a midwife, pay out of pocket and have the baby at home or enter the hospital with the midwife having to relinquish primary care to the doctor. As a result the services are now covered under government medical care, and women can have the baby in the hospital with the midwife as the primary caregiver. Great. Except that now the home birth is no longer an option. Also certain midwives are no longer practicing because they cannot get certified by the government. So with legislation if she practices, she can be charged. I used this midwife, 2 of my friends used her. I know others that have used her services. She is simply an amazing midwife and yet she can no longer practice because she doesn't have what they the government deem necessary to practice. which i think is a nursing degree of some kind. Bullshit. She is a midwife trained midwife.

This is what happens. If herbalists think the government is doing them a favour by acknowledging them as a valid form of medicine, do not think for one moment that they will allow it in freedom. There is a cost to this acknowledgment.
_________________
The sun, with all those plants revolving around it and dependent upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do. ~Galileo

[kavawaka]

As another person who has had to give consideration to my future endeavors due to the regulatory environment, I wanted to pass along a few comments. These are just my understanding and opinion and are in no way intended to be any thing more than that.

There are no regulations requiring one to belong to AHG or any other organization. The regulations that govern ability to practice are state regulations and not Federal or GMPs. Practicing medicine without a license has been on the books for a long time in, I believe, all states. It has nothing to do with new regulations. AHG won't do anything for you here. How your state regulates practicing herbalists is up to your state government.

Concerning Federal regulations, namely DSHEA, some herbalists made efforts to get these regulations passed because the only alternative was to let the Feds design everything. This would have been a far larger travesty than what we are seeing. Don't want to sound rude here, but it is naive to think that a serious set of regulations would not have precipitated if herbalists had not participated. These regulations were coming one way or another. And in my mind, as bad as it is, it is still better than it would have been without some of these herbalists trying to help shape the outcome.

The blog recommended above suggests that GMPs were drafted because of ephedra. Ephedra was not a GMP issue; there were no botanical identity issues and the claimed harm was not caused by poor manufacturing, contamination, etc. The GMPs were promulgated by DSHEA in 1994, which required at the time that FDA develop GMPs for dietary supplements. It took years for FDA to work on them, but it was already a part of the law that many of us believe helps to protect our overall access to herbs. Ephedra was the first opportunity FDA had to invoke certain authorities they already had as part of DSHEA.

The GMPs are the regulations that are weighing so heavily on small and medium-sized manufacturers. They are oriented to those who introduce their (in our case) herbal products into commerce. As we all know, they are extremely unfriendly towards small companies. I don't believe, however, that the intention of the dietary supplement GMPs is to crush herbalism. There may certainly be some bias against us that is reflected in the degree and application of GMPs, but the over-riding principle is protecting consumer safety. We live in a regulated society and different sets of GMPs (which the government has intended to protect consumer safety) are enforced for pharmaceuticals, homeopathics, medical devices and standard foods. This is where the whole introduction of consumable products into commerce aspect of the GMPs comes in.

Again, herb some companies and organizations participated in drafting these in order to preempt FDA. In other words, it's better if we submit a model rather than just handing it all over to the Feds. Up until the final FDA draft, it looked like we could run a one person herb company without needing a second person for checks. But here and in other areas it did not go as some had fought for.

As we all know, it is incredibly difficult if not impossible to run a small company under these regs. It would have been even worse if the entire thing was left to FDA. Contrary to statements on the recommended blog, selling within your state at co-ops, farmer's markets, etc, provides no safe haven from GMPs. These may be less visible venues (with the internet being the most visible), but no one introducing products for consumption into the commercial food chain is completely immune.

One fortunate thing that happened in the end is the enforcement discretion for practitioners. As long as the practitioner meets some basic requirements and does not cause harm they will, for now, be left alone at the Federal level. By the way, being "licensed" to practice is not one of the FDA requirements.

I would argue that there should be enforcement discretion for small companies as well. At the same time, I understand that FDA is dealing with very small companies that, for example, are selling "herbal" products that contain pharmaceutical drugs. It's a dilemma. It would be great if the enforcement discretion could at least be extended to small companies with limited sales, limited distribution, etc.

Of course, we still have the right to teach what we want to teach, write what we want write, make what we want to make and take what we want to take. It is imperative in my mind, however, that we do not try to disrupt or change DSHEA. If this Act is opened up to being amended by Congress, I think it is fair to say that herbalism in the US would come under lethal scrutiny. There are those in the Congress of today who despise what we do with every fiber of their beings and would love to gut DSHEA. It would get far more ugly than what we are seeing to date if they were to get their way.

David

[Indigo]

In the UK our choices are being narrowed to allopathic or allopathic. Thye're running scared and yet it is illegal to remove our choices as I understand it, but that seems to be being ignored. The current targets are Herbalists, Acupuncturists, TCM practitioners (ie other herbs) I wonder how long before we are forbidden to grow anything in our gardens. Usually we follow USA, seems this time we're out in front... today in my mailbox I got this...

"The Scandal That Removes Your Freedom To Choose
Dear Reader,

It pains me to write this alert.

Over the last couple of months I’ve written extensively about a threat we all face – at least those of us who choose to look after our bodies with natural or alternative remedies before we reach for the pharmaceuticals and mainstream medicine. Now, this threat has become a reality here at Agora Lifestyles.

What am I talking about?

Well, I will set the scene with a few examples and then we see if you can join the dots...

Codex Alimentarius

In October I told you about Codex Alimentarius who, instead of being a fair- trade movement that aims to support farmers and producers in developing countries while promoting sustainability, has turned into a system of guidelines and standards that work to the advantage of the world’s corporations and food manufacturers. The Codex tentacles are wrapped around almost every aspect of what we consume.

In the alert, ‘Codex Alimentarius: How Well Are You Informed?’, I explained that Codex does not create laws but merely delivers guidelines, standards and recommendations and this is why many governments see Codex as harmless, as do corporations that benefit from these recommendations and guidelines.

The reality is that most countries have no option but to harmonise their laws to Codex. If they don’t, they face imposed sanctions by the World Trade Organisation Dispute Settlement Body (WTODSB). WTODSB is the ultimate enforcer of Codex’s rules governing the global food trade and once you’ve crossed their path you probably won’t be allowed to trade internationally. Still all of this seems far away from our front door here in London...

Major crack down on alternative medicine

The reality of this is much closer than many people realise...

A week after the alert ‘Codex Alimentarius: How Well Are You Informed?’, I reported on the fact that Herbal medicine, acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine could become a thing of the past.

In the alert ‘Herbal Medicine, Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine Under Threat in the UK’ we showed how herbal medicine, acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are under serious threat in the UK. Trade bodies believe these therapies could even cease to exist in Britain within a few years; practitioners could stop practicing and people may not be able to get some herbal pills, capsules, tinctures and ointments they use every day.

Whilst this particular matter may not bear direct reference to Codex, it is a brilliant example of how government bodies and powerful corporations can take away something valuable and integral to many peoples’ lives very quickly.

The ‘Department of Health Steering Group on the Statutory Regulation of Practitioners of Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Other Traditional Medicine Systems Practised in the United Kingdom’ published a report which recommends the regulation of acupuncturists, medical herbalists and Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners. If this regulation comes into effect with it’s ‘special licensing system’, it will give no special legal rights to practitioners. As a result, medical herbalists will not have access to some regulated herbal medicines. They will instead only be allowed to work with simple tinctures, extracts and dried herbs. Medical doctors will also not be allowed to refer patients to them.

This will have a significant and detrimental impact on traditional medicine:

• The public will lose the choice of a wide range of high quality herbal remedies.

• Traditional remedies from China and India will only be available through the Internet or backstreet suppliers – thus posing a serious health risk to the public.

• The public will forever lose important professional expertise in ensuring standards for herbal medicine, including opportunities for integrative healthcare with mainstream health professionals.

• A number of businesses that have specialised in manufacturing top quality herbal products for professional use only (e.g. MediHerb products) will cease business.

Not a healthy gut-feeling

Exactly a day later on 20 October 2009, we ran the alert ‘Gagging Order Imposed On Probiotics – More Nutrients and Supplements Soon To Follow’. This alert dealt with the issue where the voluntary UK advertising watchdog, Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), has told Danone to cease broadcasting TV adverts that state its one-shot probiotic drinking yoghurt, could boost the immune system of children...

That’s right. We are no longer allowed to know when something natural is good for us or our children!

All of this has happened in the wake of the October 1 publication of about 500 health claim opinions by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) which stunned the industry with a 70 per cent failure rate.

Not a single botanical or probiotic claim drew a positive opinion. What this means in layman’s terms is that 523 (to be precise) botanicals and probiotics need to change their marketing with reference to the way they make claims about the benefits of these products and nutrients, or else they will not be allowed to go on store shelves (or like we’ve seen with Danone, to advertise their products).

Some of the food and supplements that are affected by the EFSA negative claim opinions are folate (foetal and infant development), Omega-3 (some aspects of heart health), glucosamine and chondroitin (joint health). It is becoming more and more apparent that the 2006 Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation is going to deliver a highly restrictive health claims regime – perhaps the most restrictive in the world...

The European Commission has now set themselves the goal to process all the health claim opinions issued by EFSA, by the end of January 2010. This means that the effects on supermarket shelves and health food stores will be felt by us, as early as July 2010.

Not just scaremongering... there’s someone knocking on our door

Now, earlier this month we’ve been prevented from marketing our Forbidden Cures report, containing information on alternative medicine the ‘health police’ clearly don’t want you to have.

By the end of the day on 24 November 2009 we will have been forced to withdraw the Forbidden Cures report and its related 13 free special reports from circulation.

So, from now on, the only way that anyone will ever hear about these groundbreaking natural cures – and the new discoveries our team of experts at the Health Sciences Institute are making every month - is by receiving our monthly HSI members’ journal.

Although we can still write about the cures that natural medicine has to offer in our monthly journal, we can’t advertise the fact that that’s what we do.

Effectively, we’ve been told to do our valuable work in silence...

How long before they ban us from writing the truth about these natural cures in our newsletter as well? Your guess is as good as mine . . .

All I know is that the combined forces of the medical establishment, the pharmaceutical companies and Brussels ‘dictocrats’ are lining up to make sure that they control what you’re allowed to know about. "

From HSI

[Greenlady]

Oh please, not the Codex Alimentarius scare letters again...
I get so tired of them.

As far as I know, it is simply not true.
The only people I get this Codex-crap from, are conspiracy-thinking 'floaters' (we call them, people who don't have their feet on the ground but their heads high up in the clouds, mainly trying to sell us spiritual stuff).
I haven't heard of any serious herbalist, supplement manufacturer or university professor who is really scared of this.

So I take it with a large pinch of salt and I delete them from my inbox.

What does seem to be true though, is that the regulation about whatever claims you can make on your products, is going to be a whole lot stricter.

For example, right now we can't say Comfrey is for wounds, cuts and blue spots, because that implies a medical claim.
So we talk around it, saying it 'promotes a healthy skin' or something like that. Under the new General Food Law, we're not even allowed to say that anymore. So it becomes quite impossible to publicly tell people what your herbs are doing.
You still can tell them in a one-on-one situation though, but you can't put it on the label.
I still have to check on the cosmetics law (under which the balms etc are) but this is the case for every tea or tincture. Nice, huh?
_________________
Herbalist, Mother, Wife, Mother&Child-Centre-holder, Carrying Consultant, Cloth diaper Consultant, ft Student... but most of all... Herbalist ;-)