Therapeutic Products Act Update 

In July 2023, the Labour-led government used its absolute Parliamentary majority and urgency rules to ram through the Therapeutic Products Bill.  It was signed off by the Governor-General and is now law.

The Therapeutic Products Act is the biggest threat to the natural health products industry.

This is a change for the worse and Kiwis are the losers.

This inequitable law classifies natural health products, such as Zinc and Vitamin C that is sold over the counter or online, as pharmaceuticals that require a high degree of regulation.

These products have been regulated under the Food Act for many years without any problems.

Similar legislation was proposed in 2007 and again in 2017, however, both Bills were withdrawn after MPs agreed that natural health products posed little-to-no risk to the public in light of the fact that no-one has died or been hurt through consuming such natural remedies.

Medsafe says on its website: “The passing of the Therapeutic Products Bill marks the most significant change to the regulation of medicines, medical devices and natural health products in nearly 40 years”. 

The motivation behind the Ministry of Health’s and Medsafe’s ongoing obsession with bringing natural health products under the same regulatory control as Big Pharma medicine is deeply concerning and suspicious, when the Food Act has been and remains adequate to protect the public.

The health bureaucracy claims the legislation is needed to “keep people safe”, that natural health products pose an unacceptable risk to people’s lives, and that more regulation will increase exports.

How they came to any of those conclusions is mind-boggling.

Health practitioners may have to close their doors for fear of being jailed or excessively fined under this legislation.

The Therapeutic Products Act will only benefit large overseas-owned multi-national conglomerates, add extra unnecessary layers of bureaucracy into the system (through the creation of a specialist health unit of up to 150 people as well as increased taxation), and leave Kiwi consumers worse off and inconvenienced.

The Therapeutic Products Act is an ideological piece of legislation that was passed by an over-reaching government in favour of Big Pharma, and will have the effect of wiping out suppliers of natural health products in New Zealand and making products more expensive, more difficult to obtain. But large online sellers such as Amazon or iHerb and other US-owned tech companies will do well out it.

Help us put this right for Kiwis.

This year’s general election is the most important vote in generations. Not only because of the attack on our industry by this government, but also because of the myriad of other abhorrent policies and laws promulgated by the Labour and Green parties.

None of the parties that currently reside in our Parliament have said they will repeal the Therapeutic Products Act.

But one party has – NZ First.

At his speech in Whangarei on Sunday 30 July, Winston Peters was unequivocal: NZ First will repeal the Therapeutic Products Act.

In the last few years, the Labour-Green coalition government has forced on our population an experimental medical intervention and took away people’s livelihoods for refusing to do so. There are thousands of Kiwis who are prepared to cast their vote this year on a single issue.

We are urging every New Zealander who believes that they may be negatively impacted by the Therapeutic Products Act to vote in favour of repealing the Therapeutic Products Act by giving your party vote to NZ First.

This is the only way you can save your businesses, the natural health industry and retain your right to choose how you support your wellbeing.

We can get the Therapeutic Products Act thrown out and the Natural Health Alliance can play a key role in making this happen.

Authorised by Glenn Inwood, 566N Adelaide Road, Wellington 6023



29th May 2023

The Natural Health Alliance hosted a public meeting in Wellington, New Zealand, on the impact that the Therapeutic Products Bill will have on consumers of natural health products in New Zealand and how it will affect the ability of people to manage their own health.

The Therapeutic Products Bill proposed that natural health therapies, the sort of things that consumers buy at a health shop and which are currently regulated through the Food Act, should be intensively regulated the same way that synthetic manufactured allopathic medicines such as vaccines or serums are regulated, this is despite the fact that no-one has ever died from using natural health products.

The natural products industry is not the same as Big Pharma and the medical industrial complex. More than half of all Kiwis use natural health products in their daily lives.

Paddy Fahy

Paddy Fahy is the chairman of the Natural Health Alliance. Paddy has been in the natural heath industry for over 20 years and is well-known in the industry for his passion and commitment and believes in the power of natural remedies to aid better health.

This battle to regulate natural health products is not Paddy’s first time opposing this unnecessary government overreach, he fought it in 2007 and again in 2017.

Lisa Hansen

Lisa Hansen is a Wellington-based barrister and solicitor and represents the New Zealand Health Trust. Lisa gave a detailed explanation of the legal issues the Therapeutic Products Bill will have on Kiwi consumers and health practitioners when it becomes law.

Gary Moller

Gary Moller is a Wellington, New Zealand, based health practitioner and has been fully immersed in natural health remedies and preventative medicine since 1972, either studying or working in the field. He has three tertiary qualifications in Physical Education, rehabilitation, and sports medicine. Gary is a huge proponent of preventative medicine using natural products and has run a successful clinic for many years.

Rt Hon Winston Peters

The Rt Hon Winston Peters is New Zealand’s longest serving politician, entering Parliament in 1979. He is the leader of New Zealand First political party, which he started in 1993 after leaving the then ruling National Party.

Mr. Peters successfully overturned similar attempts to regulate natural health products in 2007 and 2017, and has thrown his support behind efforts to overturn the Therapeutic Products Bill.

Dr Bruce Dooley

American medical practitioner, Dr. Bruce Dooley, who now makes Takaka, Golden Bay, South Island of New Zealand his home, gave a presentation to the public meeting on the Therapeutic Products Bill held in Wellington, New Zealand, in May 2023.

Bruce has been practicing Functional C.A.M. Integrative Medicine since 1990.

The Therapeutic Products Bill proposed that natural health therapies, the sort of things that consumers buy at a health shop and which are currently regulated through the Food Act, should be intensively regulated the same way that synthetic manufactured allopathic medicines such as vaccines or serums are regulated, this is despite the fact that no-one has ever died from using natural health products.

The natural products industry is not the same as Big Pharma and the medical industrial complex. More than half of all Kiwis use natural health products in their daily lives.

Through Dr. Dooley’s work, he understood the influence that medical boards have on how health is practiced and managed in the Western world. In the mid 1990s, Bruce ran into opposition from the Florida Board of Medicine over his advocating EDTA Chelation Therapy for arterial disease.

As a result of this battle and his being on the Board of the American College for the Advancement of Medicine (a 1,200-strong CAM physician organisation), he learned about the 110-year-old Federation of State Medical Boards.

Attending two of FSMB’s annual meetings “undercover” in 1998 and 1999, he then gave testimony in Washington DC before the 2001 Clinton White House Commission on CAM and revealed FSMB’s massive control over the U.S. Medical Boards and their efforts to wipe out CAM and other natural therapies.

Bruce has a Bachelor of Science from St. Joseph’s University (Philadelphia), a Masters of Science in Immunology at Villanova University (Pennsylvania), and earnt his Medical Degree at Thomas Jefferson Medical College (Philadelphia)

You can view the videos of what these experts had to say, but clicking on the Natural Health Alliance link here






Press Release from 19th April 2023

CONTENTIOUS THERAPEUTIC PRODUCTS BILL THREATENS LIVELIHOODS OF KIWI IMPORTERS

https://www.naturalhealthalliance.co.nz/contentious-therapeutic-products-bill-threatens-livelihoods-of-kiwi-importers

Importers and suppliers of natural health products in New Zealand will be forced out of business if the Therapeutic Products Bill currently before Parliament is passed into law as it stands.
 
The proposed legislation will make it too expensive for importers of natural health products to comply with regulations, forcing them out of business and directing consumer spending away from local providers in favour of the large, overseas online sellers.
 
The Natural Health Alliance chairman Paddy Fahy has been fielding comments from his membership (natural health products retailers, distributors and health practitioners) and who have voiced their concerns about the potential impact on their services if the proposed legislation is approved.
 
“The proposed legislation, if passed, will literally strangle the life out of importers and sellers of natural health products. The Alliance strongly opposes the bill in its current form. We recommend that natural health products are removed from bill and, if deemed necessary, separate regulations developed for this industry,” Mr. Fahy said.

The government and our health bureaucrats know that natural health products are typically inherently safe yet the current proposed legislation defaults to banning them for sale in New Zealand unless regulated through an unnecessary regime that is disproportionate to the industry.
 
Mr. Fahy said there are numerous issues of concern within the proposed legislation, but the over-riding issue is that local importers and suppliers will most likely be driven out of business and consumers forced to buy from large, online overseas-based sellers, such a iHerb and Amazon. “These same Big Tech companies who made billions of dollars from increased business as a result of the Covid lockdowns now stand to benefit from this legislation while Kiwi businesses once again end up as a footnote in history,” he said. “Silicon Valley will make the margins and the business models of local New Zealand health product importers will be quickly strangled.”
 
Mr Fahy said the successive governments have made several attempts since the 1990s to develop and implement a regulatory framework for natural health products, but each time common sense has prevailed and the proposed legislation was pulled from the Parliamentary programme.
 
“We are not averse to having a discussion around a regulatory regime that is outside the Food Act, but to lump natural health products with the medical industrial complex is unnecessary and a breach of good faith agreements between industry and government.”
 
The Therapeutic Products Bill proposes new charges of up to $1000 per product SKU imposed, meaning importers and suppliers collectively will face an increase of millions of dollars in government taxes just to stay in business. “It is estimated that compliance costs to industry will more than double. Industry currently pays up to around $10 million in fees to the Ministry, but the proposed law change will see another $10 million to $15 million from industry.”
 
The government accepts that natural health products are extremely safe, with minimal to zero risk of serious harm, injury or death, yet the current proposed legislation defaults to proactively banning the importation, distribution and retailing of these products unless they’re accompanied by a highly regulated regime as if they are inherently dangerous and a threat to the public good.
 
“Evidence shows there is a miniscule to zero safety or quality problems with natural health products that need addressing or are not already addressed through existing consumer protection legislation and regulation.”
 
“New Zealand is not a leader in this area of integrative health, and so by default we look internationally to the leaders in manufacturing, mainly in the United States and the European Union, that abide by strict FDA and EU health regulations respectively. By that very process, importers are already supplying products that have been through a rigorous safety regime,” Mr. Fahy said.
 
“The main effect of this legislation will be to restrict the health care choices, personal preferences and cultural practices of those who want options other than a Western, drug-based medicalised allopathic model of health that is promoted by the medical industrial complex,” he said.
 
In conclusion: 

• The Bill proposes new and considerable additional taxes on the Natural Health Products industry;

• The Bill gives the Government a “regulatory blank cheque” with the Ministry of Health asking industry to “trust us, but we don’t know full costs to industry yet”;

• The inclusion of natural health products in the Bill is based on misinformation and fallacies;

• The legislation will not enhance exports;

• Natural health products are safe with zero to minimal concerns (so what is the Bill attempting to fix?).

The Natural Health Alliance represents over 30 separate importing or direct selling companies as well as professional natural health practitioners operating individually or as a business.

Our members sell approximately 5,000 separate individual products on the New Zealand market. Probably three quarters of our members’ products are imported, from the US and EU but also other countries, with the remainder manufactured locally in New Zealand.

Our members alone would have an annual market turnover of over $200 million, the entire natural products industry overall contributes over three quarters of a billion dollars to the New Zealand economy, which is what you would expect for a mature industry that’s been operating in New Zealand for well over 40 years.  Many of our smaller company members supply low volume products to assist customers in maintaining health and wellness.
 
“Importantly, the work of the natural health products industry works on correcting nutritional imbalances, which if left untreated can lead to chronic and costly long-term health problems and an obligation on the public health system.”
 
Mr Fahy said there will be local and Australian-based manufacturers who are poised to benefit from the legislation through increased market share as local importers and suppliers drop away, but mostly it will be the big online overseas-owned retailers like iHerb and Amazon that will be laughing all the way to the bank as consumers are forced to buy direct from overseas instead of working through local suppliers, who also provide add-on services such nutritional advice.

The Natural Health Alliance will hold a Public Meeting on the

Therapeutic Products Bill in Wellington

When:  12 noon to 2pm on Tuesday 2 May, 2023, Public Trust Hall, 131-135 Lambton Quay, Wellington Central.

Speakers:

Paddy Fahy, Natural Health Alliance;

Rt Hon Winston Peters, leader, NZ First;

Dr. Guy Hatchard, International Advocate for Natural Medicine;

Lisa Hansen, barrister, NZ Health Trust;

Dr. Bruce Dooley, GP and integrative therapy practitioner;

Gary Moller, World Champion Cyclist and Health Practitioner
 
Overview of the
Natural Health Product Industry
 
The Natural Health Industry embraces dietary/food supplements, including herbal, vitamin and mineral combinations, traditional medicines such as Rongoa Rakau, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurvedic, Naturopaths, Medical Herbal and many others.

here is no known information on the number of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) products, nor Indian Ayurveda; both would be substantial. Practitioners provide their clients with both commercially manufactured ‘practitioner’ products and products made for specific clients.
 
Best estimates have consistently arrived at approximately 20,000 products. Alliance members alone market up to 5,000 individual products. (The Ministry of Health erroneously states that there are 10,000 but they provide no evidence to support that claim despite being given higher figures by industry over considerable years.)
 
Over 50 percent of the population are regular users of dietary supplements and other Natural Health Products and services in New Zealand. In 2004, approximately 25 percent of all New Zealanders utilised the services of a natural healthcare practitioner. The industry has grown considerably over the past 20 years.
 
Over 50 percent of clients stated their reason for using CAM practitioners was because the CAM practitioners “provide help with conditions that other health care providers are unable to treat.”
 
Some New Zealand companies often sell and market products that larger companies find uneconomic as small, practitioner based businesses tend to be more focused toward consumer needs than corporate bottom line.