ANH-Intl e-Alert: ANH morphs into ANH-Leaks

18th November 2011

What we did

Our decision to leak a Reading University academic’s letter, that used misinformation in an attempt to influence the UK’s Health Minister, wasn’t taken lightly. Information can look very plausible when it’s on a top university’s (top 40 anyway) letterhead — and there are still some people out there who believe that academics are impartial and care about the greater good for society.

Why we did it

The problem is that Professor Elizabeth Williamson — either of her own volition, or because she was put up to it by others — was trying to get the UK Health Minister to push his medicines agency to ban a wide range of food supplements relied on for years by thousands of UK consumers, and practitioners.  So, yesterday, we not only leaked the good professor’s letter, but we also put our responses online and sent them electronically and hard copy (yes, recorded delivery) to both Professor Williamson and the Minister, Andrew Lansley. Oh, and we copied the letters to a string of people and organisations, ranging from MPs, MEPs, government officials and many of the key Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) associations.

What you could do if you’re British, or even European

It would be really helpful if you shared the story as widely as you can, because we’re only going to find a solution to the madness if all the arguments are out in the open.

What you could do if you’re American

US readers should check out and share another feature this week that shows just how the US government has been setting itself up to deliver the same kind of repressive system we’re experiencing here in Europe. Americans stopped repressive regulation back in 1994, and they can stop it again — but only if they know about it. So please share this feature on social networks, websites and by email as widely as you can. And of course stay tuned with all the amazing work done by our colleagues at ANH-USA which also needs all the support it can get.

What we hope will happen

We’re hoping that even those who’ve opposed the idea of our legal challenge — that’s still in preparation — will begin to realise the necessity for a legal resolution to the current confusion over herbal products in the EU. Prof Williamson and others complain about recent European Court of Justice rulings on herbs, but that’s only because they’re actually sensible and don’t turn all herbs into drugs! And that’s the very reason why we’ve been working so hard to get our case into this same Luxembourg court.

Dr Verkerk’s blog

The stress of the week forced ANH-Intl’s founder and executive director, Rob Verkerk, to return to his blog. Check out his iPad musings about a new healthcare system based around nurturing the body  — and see if you can play your part in the revolution he dreams about. If you like what you read, share it. Intention is after all the medium of change.

We need your support

We thank you for the donations many of you made towards our judicial review on the EU herbal issue. We’re metering the funds slowly to our lawyers as we continue to work with them, being still confident we can get to the finish line for the first phase in the High Court in London. But none of these funds support the work of the ANH team. Without your support we wouldn’t be able to do this work. Anything you can donate towards our core campaigns will be very gratefully received. Thank you. 

Here are our stories for the week. Share away….knowledge is empowerment!

‘ANH-Leaks’ exposes academic letter and responds openly on EU herb directive

ANH-Intl aims to force transparent debate on EU and UK herb laws

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First do no harm

When will doctors start to nurture their patients?

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Boy kills friend because of Prozac

Is pill popping really in the interest of today’s adolescents?

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Not worth the CASH: report says unrefined salts “as dangerous as refined salt”

Poorly researched document should be taken with a pinch of the white stuff

Read More