I've attached a press release regarding the agreement with the gov and the green party and a proposed public consultation on health products.

Given our obvious interest in this kind of thing, I would think it appropriate that we should make a submission.

What do you think?




Public consultation on natural health products
Friday, 19 March 2010, 1:08 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Government

Public consultation on natural health products

The Ministry of Health today launched a two-month public consultation period on a proposed regulatory scheme for the fast-growing natural health products industry.

Associate Health Minister Jonathan Coleman said the results of the public consultation process will guide the drafting of a Natural Health Products Bill, which is expected to begin later this year.

“I would like to encourage both consumers and industry representatives to take this opportunity to have their voices heard,” says Dr Coleman.
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Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed last year, the Green and National Parties agreed to work together on three shared policy initiatives. One of these initiatives is to develop a regulatory scheme for natural health products that will give the public confidence that such products are safe and true to label.

Green Party Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says, "I am delighted that at long last we are developing a stand alone New Zealand based regulatory system for natural health products."

Dr Coleman says the current legislation governing natural health products is outdated, inadequate and quite restrictive.

“A regulated industry will give consumers increased confidence about the safety of products. It is expected that providing assurance about the safety, efficacy and quality of the products will also facilitate the uptake of natural health products within the primary healthcare setting,” he says.

Ms Kedgley added, “A regulatory scheme will help industry increase sales and expand into export markets.”

There are around 450 companies that currently supply some 6,600 natural health products in the New Zealand market. About a third of these companies have a turnover of between $5 million and $20 million, whilst 14 per cent have a turnover of more than $20 million. The rest of the companies have a turnover ranging from $100,000 to $5 million.

The consultation paper on natural health products is now available on the Ministry of Health’s website (www.moh.govt.nz). Submissions on the paper close on 17 May 2010.

ENDS

"There are around 450 companies that currently supply some 6,600 natural health products in the New Zealand market. About a third of these companies have a turnover of between $5 million and $20 million, whilst 14 per cent have a turnover of more than $20 million. The rest of the companies have a turnover ranging from $100,000 to $5 million".

One thing that bugs me when people are critical of 'Big Pharma', is that there are plenty of 'natural health' companies earning over $20m a year, who obviously individually and/or as a consortium have more than enough resources to properly prove their claims of efficacy - if they were actually interested in doing so.

Yet looking in any natural 'health' store and you see thousands of products that make claims without the companies behind them bothering to back them up with evidence.

“A regulated industry will give consumers increased confidence about the safety of products. It is expected that providing assurance about the safety, efficacy and quality of the products will also facilitate the uptake of natural health products within the primary healthcare setting,”

I find it unlikely that 'providing assurance about safety, efficacy' will actually lead to an uptake of natural products, as I suspect many would be found to be less safe and effective than conventional alternatives if properly double-blind tested.

I will read up on the bill, but I am also skeptical if the NZ government has the ability to enforce proper control over the industry - it seems world wide that natural health companies just tweak there claims or describe the products as food to avoid regulation.

Hello Grant

I take your point on whether or not the Gummint will actually do any follow up. That said i think that it would be worth putting a point or two forwards. My ideas are along the following lines.

1. Quality production techniques, [no bugs getting into the bottles]
2. Clear designation on labels what it is. [get rid of snake oil]
3. Clear unambiguous listing of contents.
4. No weasel words in supposed benefits, ie. Resveritrol 'supports' heart care, what the hell does that mean?
5. If claims are made, then they have to be supported by the literature.
6. Ombudsman for the public to challenge manufacturers.
7. One line forum for users to comment on products.
8. a monitoring function to ensure the minimum standards for production are maintained.

That's just off the top of my head so far. And constitutes a starter for ten.

All the best

Bill

I think it is a good idea to make a submission. It might also be sensible to check with other skeptic/rationalist groups to see if they are doing something similar, in which case we might be able to reinforce each others submissions.

A good place to start, I suppose, is with the requirements for labelling of pharamaceutical products. Why not have the same rules? It might be worth discussing with a doctor -- there were a couple of sensible ones at the last meeting.

Great idea, I'd be happy to help out in any way.

Could I suggest that if anyone knows of other submissions being planned, they list them on this site. It could help with coordinating things.

Also, a lot of us have professional contacts that could help so this thread may be a good place to list tricky questions (e.g. the labelling question above)