If proposed, and already enacted, EU laws go unchallenged, we will be left with a much reduced choice of herbal remedies and supplements. Take action now! Write to your MEP before it’s too late! Let them know how much you treasure the right to choose to take health supplements. Template emails to send to your MEPs: • template email 1 • template email 2   Your right to take health supplements is under threat! Health choice Have you heard about the enacted and proposed restrictions on natural health products? Find out how governments and transnational corporations have set out to restrict your freedom of choice in the area of natural healthcare. If you treasure the right to take supplements and to choose what you put into your body, read on to find out what is really going on under the radar. This is about your future and that of the next generation, so take action now, before it is too late! What is happening? Under the often conflicting guises of  “consumer protection” and “free trade”, the European Union (EU) and transnational corporations are making concerted efforts to control (and essentially restrict) consumer access to natural health products. The result? A situation where big business (and particularly the pharmaceutical industry) gets what it wants, while our freedom to choose natural health products is dramatically curtailed. At a global level, the regulatory framework is being developed through the Codex Alimentarius Commission (click here for more detail). What has already happened? In May 2011, the EU's Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive came into full effect. This draconian measure banned a number of natural herbal ingredients, which had been used safely for hundreds of years. These remedies are now treated like licensed pharmaceuticals. It could have been even worse: remedies made up by herbalists could have been banned altogether. Earlier this year, the British government provided a last-minute get-out clause. EU rules allow the sale of herbal medicines prescribed by a registered health professional. So the government opened the Health Professions Council to herbalists. Now they have the right to prescribe individualised remedies. There are good reasons for drugs to be tested and licensed. They are chemicals that the body has never experienced before and can kill. The reason we have been using herbal remedies for millennia is that, correctly prescribed and used, they generally work. Indeed, as sold under food law (until April 30 2011) they had to be safer than a slice of bread! No deaths have been recorded due to herbal remedies properly sold under food law for 40 years. Objectively, there is no case to subject herbal remedies to a similar regulatory structure to pharmaceuticals. In contrast properly licensed drugs are a big killer, despite attempts to regulate away the risk. Over 40,000 deaths connected to licensed drugs are recorded in the UK alone.  Is it too late? No, but it is imperative that we all take action now! Europe is becoming the central platform for global harmonisation of food laws relating to natural health. Much of the legal infrastructure that is set to cause major problems downstream is already in place, but has yet to be felt fully as key parts of the European regulations and directives are in a transitional phase. What can I do? 1. Stand up for your rights! Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will be called to vote soon on the latest law to be implemented across all 27 Member States of the EU.  European citizens, please write to your MEP and ask him or her to stop this travesty. Let them know that you treasure your right to take natural health supplements and want the right for the health supplements industry to inform you about the health benefits of food. MEPs originally voted in favour of the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation because they thought it was going to protect consumers from false and misleading claims.  They didn't bargain on the fact that it was going to stop citizens from being informed about foods that were healthy. It's now down to you to tell MEPs how you feel. Click here for template email 1 or template email 2. 2. Get involved, take action and spread the word! Alliance for Natural Health International (ANH-Intl) is an internationally active non-governmental organisation working towards protecting and promoting natural approaches to healthcare. ANH-Intl campaigns across a wide range of fields, including for freedom of choice and the use of micronutrients and herbal products in healthcare. It also operates campaigns that aim to restrict mass fluoridation of water supplies and the use of genetically modified foods. Through its work, particularly in Europe and the USA, the ANH-Intl works to accomplish its mission through its unique application of ‘good science’ and ‘good law’. The organisation was founded in 2002 by Dr Robert Verkerk, an internationally acclaimed expert in sustainability, who has headed the organisation since this time. In December 2009 the Alliance for Natural Health joined together with the American Association for Health Freedom (AAHF), of Washington DC, to form the Alliance for Natural Health International (ANH-Intl). Click here to review all of the ANH's current campaigns.     Quick links • Why you should be concerned • Get involved! • Campaign summary • What does this mean for members of the EU?  • Briefing papers on EU directives and regulations • Why do we need to keep therapeutic natural health products on the market? • EU dumbing down our food supplements • Making different health choices can change the world • Alliance for Natural Health Health news... 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