I have read some amazing stories about the health benefits of hot peppers. They are extremely good for the heart and circulatory system and they boost the effectiveness of other herbs when taken together. Some doctors have found that they can stop a heart attack within minutes, they can stop bleeding in seconds (even from deep wounds), and they can stop a stroke. Hot peppers are a powerhouse of nutrients. Here are a few good links.
http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/cayenne.htm
http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/cayenne.htm
http://healingtools.tripod.com/cayemerg.html
Full Version: Hot peppers
Hi Open Mind,
Your first link makes the statement.
"The truth is that 150 years ago, heart disease was completely unheard of. Almost no one died from heart disease 150 years ago. The truth is that heart disease is a new disease. Even though the average length of life 150 years ago was much less than it is now, there were millions of people who did live past 60 years of age. They lived long enough to get heart disease - but they didn't get it. None of those people died of heart disease even when they lived to be in their 70s."
Did you know a lot of people in ancient Europe died from heart disease, had gout and arthritis. Mummies dug up in Egypt suffered from coronary artery disease, and in some cases scientists have determined that it would have been the cause of death. In days gone by it was the rich suffering from diseases of over consumption of calories, now it is the poor through lack of education in nutrition. and economic circumstances, buying cheap fatty foods.
Some people have always lived to extreme old age, the figures researchers use are average lifespan figures.
When you are doing statistics the following terms are used, mean, median, mode and range. These figures give you a better understanding of what is happening at the time.
The average (mean) is where all of the values are added together and divided by the number of values used, this gives your average value, in this case age at death.
The median is the middle number, so if you have 5 ages at death you find it easiest by adding one to the total figure and dividing by two, for instance 98, 55,36,27,55= 5 values (5+1=6/2 = 3
So the third figure is 36 so this is the median.
Your mode is the figure that reoccurs the most frequent, in this case it is 55
Your range is the difference between the extremes and in this case the range is 98-27=71
In times that have passed there would have been people living to and perhaps even exceeding 100 years, if you are a student of religion you would know about Methusalah, who alledgedly lived 904 years of something similar.
I haven't read miracles about chillies so if you could supply some credible evidence I am sure we would all appreciate it, what was it deep bleeding stopped in seconds, our paramedics would love to get hold of this for accident victims, and doctors likewise for heart attack victims.
I look forward to reading the research links (Abstracts)
Cheers
Your first link makes the statement.
"The truth is that 150 years ago, heart disease was completely unheard of. Almost no one died from heart disease 150 years ago. The truth is that heart disease is a new disease. Even though the average length of life 150 years ago was much less than it is now, there were millions of people who did live past 60 years of age. They lived long enough to get heart disease - but they didn't get it. None of those people died of heart disease even when they lived to be in their 70s."
Did you know a lot of people in ancient Europe died from heart disease, had gout and arthritis. Mummies dug up in Egypt suffered from coronary artery disease, and in some cases scientists have determined that it would have been the cause of death. In days gone by it was the rich suffering from diseases of over consumption of calories, now it is the poor through lack of education in nutrition. and economic circumstances, buying cheap fatty foods.
Some people have always lived to extreme old age, the figures researchers use are average lifespan figures.
When you are doing statistics the following terms are used, mean, median, mode and range. These figures give you a better understanding of what is happening at the time.
The average (mean) is where all of the values are added together and divided by the number of values used, this gives your average value, in this case age at death.
The median is the middle number, so if you have 5 ages at death you find it easiest by adding one to the total figure and dividing by two, for instance 98, 55,36,27,55= 5 values (5+1=6/2 = 3
So the third figure is 36 so this is the median.
Your mode is the figure that reoccurs the most frequent, in this case it is 55
Your range is the difference between the extremes and in this case the range is 98-27=71
In times that have passed there would have been people living to and perhaps even exceeding 100 years, if you are a student of religion you would know about Methusalah, who alledgedly lived 904 years of something similar.
I haven't read miracles about chillies so if you could supply some credible evidence I am sure we would all appreciate it, what was it deep bleeding stopped in seconds, our paramedics would love to get hold of this for accident victims, and doctors likewise for heart attack victims.
I look forward to reading the research links (Abstracts)
Cheers
Here are some testimonials from people that have actually used cayenne to stop bleeding and for other medicinal purposes.
http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/cayenne.html
http://www.zetatalk.com/health/theal02n.htm
http://www.herballegacy.com/Cayenne.html
Now, either they are all liars or fools that believed their lying eyes, or cayenne pepper worked. To say that the remedies that ancient cultures have used for centuries, even thousands of years are just myth is not only foolish, it's quite arrogant and it's an insult to their intelligence. I look up info on my own and I use my own intuition to make my decisions. I may look for abstracts at another time, but I don't need to read 100 studies before I'm willing to try something, though I've read that there have been many studies on cayenne. If you want to know more, look up the abstracts yourself.
http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/cayenne.html
http://www.zetatalk.com/health/theal02n.htm
http://www.herballegacy.com/Cayenne.html
Now, either they are all liars or fools that believed their lying eyes, or cayenne pepper worked. To say that the remedies that ancient cultures have used for centuries, even thousands of years are just myth is not only foolish, it's quite arrogant and it's an insult to their intelligence. I look up info on my own and I use my own intuition to make my decisions. I may look for abstracts at another time, but I don't need to read 100 studies before I'm willing to try something, though I've read that there have been many studies on cayenne. If you want to know more, look up the abstracts yourself.
I'd like to add that there has been a massive campaign to discredit and suppress any and all natural remedies or treatments, and it has been ongoing for about 100 years. Often these remedies are more effective than conventional medicine, they rarely cause side effects, and they are far less expensive. Here is just a handful of many books that have documented this global cover-up. http://health.centreforce.com/health/industry.html
Hi Open mind,
First of all there is no arrogance in this camp and if I sound arrogant I apologise for that.
I am a full time clinician working in a field that I love and that is complementary medicine, I have been involved in complementary medicine since 1976, probably before you was born, and the last thing I want to see is complementary medicine brought into disrepute.
This is a dynamic field and it is powering forward, and because of this many leeches are fastening themselves to the body.
Now 30 years ago everything was different, if someone said something they meant it, a handshake was a contract that you did not break, so a testimonial could be taken a lot more seriously back then than today's testimonials. Money is God today and nothing is sacred, and that includes health, today testimonials are bought and traded like currency, they mean absolutely nothing, for all we know those people may not even exist.
In the past 32 years I have been sucked in by people trying to make money out of complementary medicine, in a fraudulent manner, the last one to con me was a medical doctor, that claimed he was setting up a research trial for complementary medicine using GP's and ND's, I paid my entrance fee and discovered that all he wanted to do was sell Mannatech products in a pyramid selling pattern. It was early days and there was a lot of money to be made, but I could not prostitute my beloved complementary medicine, I resigned.
You are quite right about people and organisations attempting to damage the credibility of complementary medicine, and a lot of it is funded by pharmaceutical companies from a distance, I campaign non-stop about this, writing articles in several papers and journals. We have to make sure we don't give the enemy ammunition to fire back at us, complementary medicine belongs in mainstream medicine, registered with it's own board, and regulated to keep the shonks out.
One of the ways shonks operate is to always cloud the issues, by offering magic solutions to health problems they know cannot be fixed simplistically, backed up by testimonials.
Now, rather than have an arrogant outlook against complementary medicine, I have a passion for complementary medicine, and science is backing me in this field, every day new research proves some natural medicine or modality works, often better than drug therapy. Today we have herbs that are superior to conventional drugs in the treatment of Alziemers, and these herbs come from traditional usage within different cultures, but before they can gain any credibility within the wider, more educated society, science has to validate them, which they have done (Journal of Complementary Medicine November/December 2008, Vol 7, page 32).
If inaccurate health advice is given to someone gullible enough to depend on it in a life threatening situation they may very well pay the ultimate price, and once again this will smear complementary medicine, so wherever possible testimonials are out and abstracts are in. We are our own worst enemy because we don't put the welcome mat out often enough to science, and good research is lagging behind. Like you I know a lot of it works, but we need science to prove it, so that the doubting Charlies have to accept it for the great medicine/modalities that it represents.
Cheers
First of all there is no arrogance in this camp and if I sound arrogant I apologise for that.
I am a full time clinician working in a field that I love and that is complementary medicine, I have been involved in complementary medicine since 1976, probably before you was born, and the last thing I want to see is complementary medicine brought into disrepute.
This is a dynamic field and it is powering forward, and because of this many leeches are fastening themselves to the body.
Now 30 years ago everything was different, if someone said something they meant it, a handshake was a contract that you did not break, so a testimonial could be taken a lot more seriously back then than today's testimonials. Money is God today and nothing is sacred, and that includes health, today testimonials are bought and traded like currency, they mean absolutely nothing, for all we know those people may not even exist.
In the past 32 years I have been sucked in by people trying to make money out of complementary medicine, in a fraudulent manner, the last one to con me was a medical doctor, that claimed he was setting up a research trial for complementary medicine using GP's and ND's, I paid my entrance fee and discovered that all he wanted to do was sell Mannatech products in a pyramid selling pattern. It was early days and there was a lot of money to be made, but I could not prostitute my beloved complementary medicine, I resigned.
You are quite right about people and organisations attempting to damage the credibility of complementary medicine, and a lot of it is funded by pharmaceutical companies from a distance, I campaign non-stop about this, writing articles in several papers and journals. We have to make sure we don't give the enemy ammunition to fire back at us, complementary medicine belongs in mainstream medicine, registered with it's own board, and regulated to keep the shonks out.
One of the ways shonks operate is to always cloud the issues, by offering magic solutions to health problems they know cannot be fixed simplistically, backed up by testimonials.
Now, rather than have an arrogant outlook against complementary medicine, I have a passion for complementary medicine, and science is backing me in this field, every day new research proves some natural medicine or modality works, often better than drug therapy. Today we have herbs that are superior to conventional drugs in the treatment of Alziemers, and these herbs come from traditional usage within different cultures, but before they can gain any credibility within the wider, more educated society, science has to validate them, which they have done (Journal of Complementary Medicine November/December 2008, Vol 7, page 32).
If inaccurate health advice is given to someone gullible enough to depend on it in a life threatening situation they may very well pay the ultimate price, and once again this will smear complementary medicine, so wherever possible testimonials are out and abstracts are in. We are our own worst enemy because we don't put the welcome mat out often enough to science, and good research is lagging behind. Like you I know a lot of it works, but we need science to prove it, so that the doubting Charlies have to accept it for the great medicine/modalities that it represents.
Cheers
My mistake, I thought you were doubting the merit of alternative medicine.
Yes, studies are good if you can get them, but here in the U.S. many studies on herbs for example, are never published in medical journals no matter how dramatic the results are, and herbs certainly are not used in our hospitals either. Only drugs are prescribed and pushed because the pharmaceutical companies have a tremendous influence in the medical schools and in the hospitals and doctor's offices. It costs something like 80-100 million dollars to get a drug approved by our FDA, and only pharmaceutical companies can afford that because they charge astronomical amounts for their drugs and they basically have a monopoly. Plus, insurance companies will only cover drugs and surgery, never vitamins or herbs. You have to pay that out of pocket, and more and more people are doing exactly that. Doctors can and have been put in jail and/or their careers have been ruined for recommending natural, healthy treatments to their patients. Prescribe a toxic poison and you'll get a pat on the back for a job well done.
The media doesn't report honestly or accurately about alternative medicine either, and who do you think pays for commercials for their drugs more now than ever before, the pharmaceutical companies. Open a magazine and you'll see advertisements for drugs everywhere. So even if you have the studies for some type of alternative medicine, you won't get publicity. The FDA. the pharmaceutical companies and the media will see to that. By the way, many FDA employees later go on to work for pharmaceutical companies, and many employees of pharmaceutical companies will go work for the FDA. It's a revolving door, and some might call that a conflict of interest.
People have been brainwashed to believe that drugs are good for them. Drugs always come with side effects, and side effects are never good. They are an indication that whatever is being put into your body is not good for you, but many doctors begin to see it differently. They believe that if there aren't side effects the treatment isn't doing anything at all. Somehow, to benefit the body a treatment must do some harm as well. What a ridiculous and flawed logic that is. It's as if they've lost all common sense, and that is what medical school is meant to accomplish. Don't use your own mind, let us do the thinking and we'll tell you what to do, and if we don't tell you to do it, then it shouldn't be done. I'm not saying this is true for all doctors, but for many of them it is true. I should know, my father is a doctor. He believes in what he was taught, and if there were alternatives that were better than what is in use today, he would have learned about them. The fact that he hasn't means they haven't been proven. How wrong he is.
Of course, you're right that there are those in alternative medicine that are out to make a buck without much regard to the facts, but that's where a bit of homework comes in to play. I try to get information from multiple sources and then decide for myself. It's well worth the time and effort. After a while your radar becomes pretty finely tuned, as I think mine has become.
I recommend reading some of the articles or books by John Taylor Gatto, a former winner of the Teacher of the Year Award in New York. He has dug up some very interesting information about the origin of our education systems, and not just in the U.S., but in Europe too. It will surprise you. http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/index.htm
If you want to know the origin of many, if not all of the major problems we are facing in the world today, research the history of central banks. They are at the center of it all. They control the currencies and they claim to be part of the government, but in truth they are separate entities. They lend money to the governments and the governments (i.e. citizens) pay them back with interest which leads to inflation, and eventually the economies begin to collapse. That is what's happening right now. Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild once said, "Give me control of a nation's money supply, and I care not who makes its laws." Here is a very good video on how banks really operate. They don't tell us this in school. http://solari.com/archive/banks/
Yes, studies are good if you can get them, but here in the U.S. many studies on herbs for example, are never published in medical journals no matter how dramatic the results are, and herbs certainly are not used in our hospitals either. Only drugs are prescribed and pushed because the pharmaceutical companies have a tremendous influence in the medical schools and in the hospitals and doctor's offices. It costs something like 80-100 million dollars to get a drug approved by our FDA, and only pharmaceutical companies can afford that because they charge astronomical amounts for their drugs and they basically have a monopoly. Plus, insurance companies will only cover drugs and surgery, never vitamins or herbs. You have to pay that out of pocket, and more and more people are doing exactly that. Doctors can and have been put in jail and/or their careers have been ruined for recommending natural, healthy treatments to their patients. Prescribe a toxic poison and you'll get a pat on the back for a job well done.
The media doesn't report honestly or accurately about alternative medicine either, and who do you think pays for commercials for their drugs more now than ever before, the pharmaceutical companies. Open a magazine and you'll see advertisements for drugs everywhere. So even if you have the studies for some type of alternative medicine, you won't get publicity. The FDA. the pharmaceutical companies and the media will see to that. By the way, many FDA employees later go on to work for pharmaceutical companies, and many employees of pharmaceutical companies will go work for the FDA. It's a revolving door, and some might call that a conflict of interest.
People have been brainwashed to believe that drugs are good for them. Drugs always come with side effects, and side effects are never good. They are an indication that whatever is being put into your body is not good for you, but many doctors begin to see it differently. They believe that if there aren't side effects the treatment isn't doing anything at all. Somehow, to benefit the body a treatment must do some harm as well. What a ridiculous and flawed logic that is. It's as if they've lost all common sense, and that is what medical school is meant to accomplish. Don't use your own mind, let us do the thinking and we'll tell you what to do, and if we don't tell you to do it, then it shouldn't be done. I'm not saying this is true for all doctors, but for many of them it is true. I should know, my father is a doctor. He believes in what he was taught, and if there were alternatives that were better than what is in use today, he would have learned about them. The fact that he hasn't means they haven't been proven. How wrong he is.
Of course, you're right that there are those in alternative medicine that are out to make a buck without much regard to the facts, but that's where a bit of homework comes in to play. I try to get information from multiple sources and then decide for myself. It's well worth the time and effort. After a while your radar becomes pretty finely tuned, as I think mine has become.
I recommend reading some of the articles or books by John Taylor Gatto, a former winner of the Teacher of the Year Award in New York. He has dug up some very interesting information about the origin of our education systems, and not just in the U.S., but in Europe too. It will surprise you. http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/index.htm
If you want to know the origin of many, if not all of the major problems we are facing in the world today, research the history of central banks. They are at the center of it all. They control the currencies and they claim to be part of the government, but in truth they are separate entities. They lend money to the governments and the governments (i.e. citizens) pay them back with interest which leads to inflation, and eventually the economies begin to collapse. That is what's happening right now. Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild once said, "Give me control of a nation's money supply, and I care not who makes its laws." Here is a very good video on how banks really operate. They don't tell us this in school. http://solari.com/archive/banks/
Hi Open Mind,
I wrote a very brief column for "Regional Publishers"( they are a group of newspapers in regional Australia) this week, they only wanted 300 words so I had to condense it, I do everything I can to promote scientific Naturopathy to hasten it's registration and regulation to stop people giving advice they are not qualified to give, and improve the education of existing Naturopaths, here it is.
Registration of Naturopaths on Track
Professor Stephen Myers, one time Merimbula Naturopath and now a Doctor and Research Scientist, Director of the complementary medicine research unit at Southern Cross University and part of the editorial board of the peer reviewed “Journal of Complementary Medicine”.
In Stephen’s editorial for November /December he forecasts registration for Naturopaths/Western Herbalists in the near future.
July 2010 will see a single national registration system for health practitioners, this will commence by registering the nine professions that have registration in every state now, after this is completed professions that are partially registered will be considered for national registration, we currently have seven professions registered in some states, including Traditional Chinese Medicine, registered in Victoria since June 2000.
It should then be Naturopathy’s turn. The Victorian Government funded a research project into the practise and scope of Naturopathy/Western Herbalism (WHM) in Australia in 2002. The results of the investigation were handed to the Victorian Government in late 2003. Using the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council’s criteria for the regulation of unregulated professions (AHMAC) they found.
1. It is clearly appropriate for health ministers to exercise responsibility for regulating Naturopathy and WHM.
2. The activities and scope of practice, and practice context of Naturopathy and WHM pose a significant risk of harm to the health and safety of the public. This considers the risk of toxicity of specific herbal medicines and risk associated with the clinical judgement of practitioners without appropriate education, and the minimisation of these risks should be a priority of both the government and the professions.
3. The existing regulatory mechanisms employed by the government and professions are inadequate to safeguard the consumers of Naturopathy and WHM.
4. Naturopathy and WHM are defined professions, with defined modalities for which it is possible to implement regulation.
A couple of websites for you.
http://www.doctormurray.com/about.htm
http://www.bastyr.edu/
Cheers
I wrote a very brief column for "Regional Publishers"( they are a group of newspapers in regional Australia) this week, they only wanted 300 words so I had to condense it, I do everything I can to promote scientific Naturopathy to hasten it's registration and regulation to stop people giving advice they are not qualified to give, and improve the education of existing Naturopaths, here it is.
Registration of Naturopaths on Track
Professor Stephen Myers, one time Merimbula Naturopath and now a Doctor and Research Scientist, Director of the complementary medicine research unit at Southern Cross University and part of the editorial board of the peer reviewed “Journal of Complementary Medicine”.
In Stephen’s editorial for November /December he forecasts registration for Naturopaths/Western Herbalists in the near future.
July 2010 will see a single national registration system for health practitioners, this will commence by registering the nine professions that have registration in every state now, after this is completed professions that are partially registered will be considered for national registration, we currently have seven professions registered in some states, including Traditional Chinese Medicine, registered in Victoria since June 2000.
It should then be Naturopathy’s turn. The Victorian Government funded a research project into the practise and scope of Naturopathy/Western Herbalism (WHM) in Australia in 2002. The results of the investigation were handed to the Victorian Government in late 2003. Using the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council’s criteria for the regulation of unregulated professions (AHMAC) they found.
1. It is clearly appropriate for health ministers to exercise responsibility for regulating Naturopathy and WHM.
2. The activities and scope of practice, and practice context of Naturopathy and WHM pose a significant risk of harm to the health and safety of the public. This considers the risk of toxicity of specific herbal medicines and risk associated with the clinical judgement of practitioners without appropriate education, and the minimisation of these risks should be a priority of both the government and the professions.
3. The existing regulatory mechanisms employed by the government and professions are inadequate to safeguard the consumers of Naturopathy and WHM.
4. Naturopathy and WHM are defined professions, with defined modalities for which it is possible to implement regulation.
A couple of websites for you.
http://www.doctormurray.com/about.htm
http://www.bastyr.edu/
Cheers
You wrote under number 2, "This considers the risk of toxicity of specific herbal medicines and risk associated with the clinical judgement of practitioners without appropriate education, and the minimisation of these risks should be a priority of both the government and the professions."
That sounds like using Risk Assessment to assess nutrients, which as the critics of Codex Alimentarius say is the wrong science (toxicology) for assessing nutrients because it treats nutrients as toxins, and they are not toxins, they are necessary for life. http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=157
Consider that there are far more complications and dangers associated with drugs, which are already regulated, than there are with supplements, which are not regulated. If the real reason for this regulation is for our protection, why not impose more strict regulations on drugs? They cause about 100,000 deaths a year in the United States alone, and that number of deaths is from drugs that were properly administered. Many more die from overdoses, receiving the wrong drug for their condition, and so on. Deaths associated with supplements probably don't even reach 100 each year in the U.S.
As the governments try to take away our choices and freedoms, they aren't going to come right out and tell us that's what they're doing. They will always try to convince us that it's for our own good, that it is necessary for our protection and/or security. One of our former Presidents, Benjamin Franklin, said "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." I agree.
Now I'll check out your most recent links.
That sounds like using Risk Assessment to assess nutrients, which as the critics of Codex Alimentarius say is the wrong science (toxicology) for assessing nutrients because it treats nutrients as toxins, and they are not toxins, they are necessary for life. http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=157
Consider that there are far more complications and dangers associated with drugs, which are already regulated, than there are with supplements, which are not regulated. If the real reason for this regulation is for our protection, why not impose more strict regulations on drugs? They cause about 100,000 deaths a year in the United States alone, and that number of deaths is from drugs that were properly administered. Many more die from overdoses, receiving the wrong drug for their condition, and so on. Deaths associated with supplements probably don't even reach 100 each year in the U.S.
As the governments try to take away our choices and freedoms, they aren't going to come right out and tell us that's what they're doing. They will always try to convince us that it's for our own good, that it is necessary for our protection and/or security. One of our former Presidents, Benjamin Franklin, said "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." I agree.
Now I'll check out your most recent links.
Hi Open Mind,
I am not sure of what to make of this Doctor peddling this "conspiracy theory" on Codex, she might be right but I would check other sources of information, such as the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians.
http://www.naturopathic.org/
Our Australian position on codex has been clarified on many occasions, here is the official position.This position adopted in 2005 is still the same.
Therapeutic Goods Administration
TGA - safeguarding public health & safety in Australia by regulating medicines, medical devices, blood & tissues
* Safety information
* About the TGA
* Information for
* Regulation
* News
* Contact the TGA
Home > Regulation > Complementary medicines > Codex
Regulation
Regulated by the TGA
* Medical devices
* Complementary medicines
* OTC medicines
* Prescription medicines
* Blood & tissues
* IVDs & other therapeutic goods
Related information
* Advertising
* Clinical trials
* Committees
* Cosmetics
* Fees/payments
* Labelling/packaging
* Legislation
* Online services
* Regulatory reform
* Scheduling medicines/poisons
Codex
Fact sheet
May 2005
* Proposed Codex guidelines will not impact on the way vitamin and mineral supplements are regulated in Australia
* What is the Codex Alimentarius Commission?
* The regulation of vitamin and mineral supplements in Australia
Proposed Codex guidelines will not impact on the way vitamin and mineral supplements are regulated in Australia
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is aware that many consumers have expressed concerns that the draft Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements, as developed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), will have an effect on the regulation of vitamin and mineral supplements in Australia. These concerns appear to originate from information posted on several Internet sites.
The proposed Codex Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements will NOT apply in Australia and will have NO IMPACT on the way these types of products are regulated in Australia.
In Australia, vitamin and mineral supplements are regulated as complementary medicines. As such, they are required to meet the same standards of quality and safety as other types of complementary medicines under Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. The TGA is responsible for the regulation of these medicines in Australia. In some other countries, these products are regulated as foods and are subject to the standards and guidelines that apply to food.
What is the Codex Alimentarius Commission?
The Codex Alimentarius Commission was established in 1963 by two United Nations organisations, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization. Its main purpose is to protect consumer health and to ensure fair practices in international food trade, through the development of food standards and guidelines.
Codex standards and guidelines are developed by committees of the Commission, which are open to all member countries, including Australia. The Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses has developed draft Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements.
The draft Codex Guidelines for Vitamins and Mineral Food Supplements specifically state that they apply in countries where vitamin and mineral supplements are regulated as foods. As these products are regulated as medicines in Australia, they will not be affected by the proposed Codex Guidelines.
The regulation of vitamin and mineral supplements in Australia
The Australian Government acknowledges and supports the right of consumers to be able to make informed choices on matters related to health, and to expect that medicines available in Australia, including vitamin and mineral supplements, will be safe and of high quality.
Australia has a risk-based system where the level of evaluation and regulatory control of a medicine is based on the relative risk of the product and the seriousness of the condition for which it is intended to be used. All therapeutic goods must be entered in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods before they can be supplied in, or exported from, Australia, and must be manufactured in accordance with the principles of Good Manufacturing Practice, which ensures they are of acceptable quality.
Most complementary medicines, including most vitamin and mineral supplements are considered to be low risk medicines, as they may only contain substances that have been approved by the TGA as being of low risk. While low risk medicines must meet certain requirements related to quality and safety, they are not individually evaluated by the TGA for effectiveness. Low risk complementary medicines are generally restricted from making claims referring to serious diseases or conditions, or claims relating to the treatment, management, cure or prevention of any condition or disease. However, sponsors of such medicines are required to hold evidence to support claims made for their products and to make such evidence available to the TGA upon request.
The current Australian regulatory framework for complementary medicines under Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 is not subject to the standards and guidelines of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. It is administered by the TGA and provides Australians with timely access to complementary medicines that are safe and of high quality.
A propaganda campaign was launched in Australia by people who could profit by scaring people, years ago, Aussies don't roll over, we fought back and got clarification, as did New Zealand, and I am pretty sure the American Naturopaths would be screaming if codex was going to harm them.
Let me attempt to answer some of your queries.
Vitamins and minerals are all researched pretty well, and every now and then a timely warning will appear from some University study to remind us that they can also do harm as well as good, or they maybe useless in some treatment regimes. What I was referring to was herbal medicines. Herbal medicine is a crude drug, and if it does not have a drug like effect how is it possible for it to do good, you can't have it both ways, if it is capable of doing good, it is also capable of doing harm. We use herbs a lot and we also know that some herbs can kill when used inappropriately, Karva is an example, Karva has killed a few people through liver failure. The use of the word "toxin" in reference to vitamins surprises me, it seems to be deliberately used incorrectly to scare people.
Herbs on the other hand must be considered capable of having a negative effect in some cases such as where a patient maybe suffering from compromised organs, or the strength is wrong, or even the identification of the herb is incorrect. Another possibility that does occur is where manufacturer's do not put enough of the active constituents into their herbal preparations and as a consequence the herb is ineffective, and we have seen this happen.
Naturopaths work as primary care practitioners often in single practitioner clinics, as I do. They are called upon to make some very serious decisions regarding patient care such as, when to treat, duration of treatment, when to refer to another practitioner. We see a lot of patients with chronic illness, or where mainstream medicine has been ineffective, or where a parent has a bias against mainstream medicine and inappropriately takes their offspring to a naturopath for a life threatening condition, this happens from time to time with babies. We need well educated practitioners who will not get involved in dereliction of duty of patient care.
Your quite right when you say "there are far more complications and dangers associated with drugs"
it is not a level playing field, if one person dies from a health product it hits every newspaper and is blown out of proportion, whereas if someone dies from a pharmaceutical drug it is smoothed over.
Here is an example of what you are saying.
.
THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE MEDIA: DEATH SCARES
Paul Macgregor
One death from royal jelly raises calls for banning the substance, yet four deaths from anti-smoking drug Zyban leads to recommendations for improved warnings. Diversity's Associate Editor Paul Macgregor asks why deaths from natural therapies seem more scary?
In Australia for a unregulated profession to be regulated and hence registered you have to prove there is a risk to the public, and there is a risk, there doesn't have to be more risk than some regulated professions, just a risk of harm.
This year we have had one man die while in the care of a naturopath, who took him off his medication for kidney failure and gave bad advice by telling him he could go on a water fast, and he would be okay. WRONG he died after 11 days.
Another naturopath treated a baby born with a hole in it's heart, the parents had a bias against mainstream medicine and went to a naturopath, against the advice given by the treating doctor. The naturopath claimed some herbal treatment would repair the hole in a few weeks, and you guessed it, a baby lost it's life needlessly. The condition could have been repaired by an operation
Any life lost needlessly is one too many regardless of whether mainstream or complementary medicine caused it, we need to make it as safe as possible for consumers.
In 1984 our Government of the day attempted to make vitamins/minerals only available by prescription. We all came out fighting, we wrote to ministers, we signed petitions, we put up public notices to inform the public that their rights were being taken away, and we put so much heat on the Government they had to drop the legislation or face extinction at the next federal election. There is a right way and a wrong way to achieve things.
The next step in our journey is to achieve regulation and registration, so we are protected from further assaults funded by pharmaceutical companies from afar. We have achieved University degrees for our practitioners and health insurance coverage, we are not going to jeopardise the ground won by doing anything stupid now.
Hope I have answered your questions satisfactorily.
Cheers
I am not sure of what to make of this Doctor peddling this "conspiracy theory" on Codex, she might be right but I would check other sources of information, such as the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians.
http://www.naturopathic.org/
Our Australian position on codex has been clarified on many occasions, here is the official position.This position adopted in 2005 is still the same.
Therapeutic Goods Administration
TGA - safeguarding public health & safety in Australia by regulating medicines, medical devices, blood & tissues
* Safety information
* About the TGA
* Information for
* Regulation
* News
* Contact the TGA
Home > Regulation > Complementary medicines > Codex
Regulation
Regulated by the TGA
* Medical devices
* Complementary medicines
* OTC medicines
* Prescription medicines
* Blood & tissues
* IVDs & other therapeutic goods
Related information
* Advertising
* Clinical trials
* Committees
* Cosmetics
* Fees/payments
* Labelling/packaging
* Legislation
* Online services
* Regulatory reform
* Scheduling medicines/poisons
Codex
Fact sheet
May 2005
* Proposed Codex guidelines will not impact on the way vitamin and mineral supplements are regulated in Australia
* What is the Codex Alimentarius Commission?
* The regulation of vitamin and mineral supplements in Australia
Proposed Codex guidelines will not impact on the way vitamin and mineral supplements are regulated in Australia
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is aware that many consumers have expressed concerns that the draft Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements, as developed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), will have an effect on the regulation of vitamin and mineral supplements in Australia. These concerns appear to originate from information posted on several Internet sites.
The proposed Codex Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements will NOT apply in Australia and will have NO IMPACT on the way these types of products are regulated in Australia.
In Australia, vitamin and mineral supplements are regulated as complementary medicines. As such, they are required to meet the same standards of quality and safety as other types of complementary medicines under Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. The TGA is responsible for the regulation of these medicines in Australia. In some other countries, these products are regulated as foods and are subject to the standards and guidelines that apply to food.
What is the Codex Alimentarius Commission?
The Codex Alimentarius Commission was established in 1963 by two United Nations organisations, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization. Its main purpose is to protect consumer health and to ensure fair practices in international food trade, through the development of food standards and guidelines.
Codex standards and guidelines are developed by committees of the Commission, which are open to all member countries, including Australia. The Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses has developed draft Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements.
The draft Codex Guidelines for Vitamins and Mineral Food Supplements specifically state that they apply in countries where vitamin and mineral supplements are regulated as foods. As these products are regulated as medicines in Australia, they will not be affected by the proposed Codex Guidelines.
The regulation of vitamin and mineral supplements in Australia
The Australian Government acknowledges and supports the right of consumers to be able to make informed choices on matters related to health, and to expect that medicines available in Australia, including vitamin and mineral supplements, will be safe and of high quality.
Australia has a risk-based system where the level of evaluation and regulatory control of a medicine is based on the relative risk of the product and the seriousness of the condition for which it is intended to be used. All therapeutic goods must be entered in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods before they can be supplied in, or exported from, Australia, and must be manufactured in accordance with the principles of Good Manufacturing Practice, which ensures they are of acceptable quality.
Most complementary medicines, including most vitamin and mineral supplements are considered to be low risk medicines, as they may only contain substances that have been approved by the TGA as being of low risk. While low risk medicines must meet certain requirements related to quality and safety, they are not individually evaluated by the TGA for effectiveness. Low risk complementary medicines are generally restricted from making claims referring to serious diseases or conditions, or claims relating to the treatment, management, cure or prevention of any condition or disease. However, sponsors of such medicines are required to hold evidence to support claims made for their products and to make such evidence available to the TGA upon request.
The current Australian regulatory framework for complementary medicines under Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 is not subject to the standards and guidelines of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. It is administered by the TGA and provides Australians with timely access to complementary medicines that are safe and of high quality.
A propaganda campaign was launched in Australia by people who could profit by scaring people, years ago, Aussies don't roll over, we fought back and got clarification, as did New Zealand, and I am pretty sure the American Naturopaths would be screaming if codex was going to harm them.
Let me attempt to answer some of your queries.
Vitamins and minerals are all researched pretty well, and every now and then a timely warning will appear from some University study to remind us that they can also do harm as well as good, or they maybe useless in some treatment regimes. What I was referring to was herbal medicines. Herbal medicine is a crude drug, and if it does not have a drug like effect how is it possible for it to do good, you can't have it both ways, if it is capable of doing good, it is also capable of doing harm. We use herbs a lot and we also know that some herbs can kill when used inappropriately, Karva is an example, Karva has killed a few people through liver failure. The use of the word "toxin" in reference to vitamins surprises me, it seems to be deliberately used incorrectly to scare people.
Herbs on the other hand must be considered capable of having a negative effect in some cases such as where a patient maybe suffering from compromised organs, or the strength is wrong, or even the identification of the herb is incorrect. Another possibility that does occur is where manufacturer's do not put enough of the active constituents into their herbal preparations and as a consequence the herb is ineffective, and we have seen this happen.
Naturopaths work as primary care practitioners often in single practitioner clinics, as I do. They are called upon to make some very serious decisions regarding patient care such as, when to treat, duration of treatment, when to refer to another practitioner. We see a lot of patients with chronic illness, or where mainstream medicine has been ineffective, or where a parent has a bias against mainstream medicine and inappropriately takes their offspring to a naturopath for a life threatening condition, this happens from time to time with babies. We need well educated practitioners who will not get involved in dereliction of duty of patient care.
Your quite right when you say "there are far more complications and dangers associated with drugs"
it is not a level playing field, if one person dies from a health product it hits every newspaper and is blown out of proportion, whereas if someone dies from a pharmaceutical drug it is smoothed over.
Here is an example of what you are saying.
.
THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE MEDIA: DEATH SCARES
Paul Macgregor
One death from royal jelly raises calls for banning the substance, yet four deaths from anti-smoking drug Zyban leads to recommendations for improved warnings. Diversity's Associate Editor Paul Macgregor asks why deaths from natural therapies seem more scary?
In Australia for a unregulated profession to be regulated and hence registered you have to prove there is a risk to the public, and there is a risk, there doesn't have to be more risk than some regulated professions, just a risk of harm.
This year we have had one man die while in the care of a naturopath, who took him off his medication for kidney failure and gave bad advice by telling him he could go on a water fast, and he would be okay. WRONG he died after 11 days.
Another naturopath treated a baby born with a hole in it's heart, the parents had a bias against mainstream medicine and went to a naturopath, against the advice given by the treating doctor. The naturopath claimed some herbal treatment would repair the hole in a few weeks, and you guessed it, a baby lost it's life needlessly. The condition could have been repaired by an operation
Any life lost needlessly is one too many regardless of whether mainstream or complementary medicine caused it, we need to make it as safe as possible for consumers.
In 1984 our Government of the day attempted to make vitamins/minerals only available by prescription. We all came out fighting, we wrote to ministers, we signed petitions, we put up public notices to inform the public that their rights were being taken away, and we put so much heat on the Government they had to drop the legislation or face extinction at the next federal election. There is a right way and a wrong way to achieve things.
The next step in our journey is to achieve regulation and registration, so we are protected from further assaults funded by pharmaceutical companies from afar. We have achieved University degrees for our practitioners and health insurance coverage, we are not going to jeopardise the ground won by doing anything stupid now.
Hope I have answered your questions satisfactorily.
Cheers
Rima E. Laibow, MD (this doctor) is far from being the only one stressing the dangers of Codex Alimentarius. Here are some more websites that point out the extreme danger, and as you read this article you'll find that regardless of what your countries stance is on Codex at this moment, it can all change literally overnight.
http://www.livingnutrition.com/articles/codex.html
http://www.natural-health-information-cent...imentarius.html
http://www.livingnutrition.com/articles/codex.html
http://www.natural-health-information-cent...imentarius.html
Hi open mind i saw your links but hot peppers doesn't suits to all..... by having lots of hot peppers they put into ulcer it will burn your intestines,,,, some heat bodies they dont suit they get stomach problems,,,,
drug rehab
drug rehab
Hi
Find ways to include heart-healthy habits into your lifestyle — and you may well enjoy a healthier life for years to come. For more ways to make your heart a healthy heart log on to Healthy Heart , which offers an on-line e-book with tips to have a fit and strong heart.
Find ways to include heart-healthy habits into your lifestyle — and you may well enjoy a healthier life for years to come. For more ways to make your heart a healthy heart log on to Healthy Heart , which offers an on-line e-book with tips to have a fit and strong heart.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.