THE WAR AGAINST NATURAL MEDICINE

In the 20+ years I’ve been a practitioner in the natural health field, there have always been lobby groups (with vested interests) that have pressured governments to try to stop naturopaths and other practitioners in the natural health field from practising.

To understand what’s happening behind the scenes, I strongly recommend that you read this article to find out about this group’s attempts at trying to dominate the health field:

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3840682.html

This group’s premise is that unless something is ‘evidence-based’ it has no proven safety or efficacy and therefore it should not be taught or practised (despite herbal medicines existing for thousands of years!). 

YET the irony is that less than half of pharmaceutical drugs or medical interventions are ‘evidence-based’ and they are responsible for thousands of deaths each year!!!

What I find interesting is this groups whole stance on ‘Evidence-based’ medicine when most of the research dollars in Australia are directed at finding ‘new’ synthetic cures (i.e. Substances that can be patented so they can make pharmaceutical companies millions of dollars) – rather than funding research to confirm that plant medicines or nutrient therapies are safe and effective (which doesn’t provide profits for anyone because you can’t patent a plant or nutrient)….mind you ….Big Pharma are currently trying to patent genes which is a serious ethical concern so it looks like anything is possible………. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-06-17/news/40027721_1_gene-patents-rna-molecular-pathology

Therefore, if most of the research funding is directed at synthetic drug manufacturing, it poses the question “HOW can natural medicines become more evidence-based in this country when the funding is not available to research them?”

Interestingly however, this is not the case overseas where a large amount of research on natural medicines is carried out at universities and this research clearly demonstrates the benefits of nutrient supplements and herbal medicines. Indeed there are literally thousands of studies showing the safety and effectiveness of natural medicines in the prevention and treatment of disease – but this lobby group infer that no evidence exists when they are referring to natural health care, particularly when discussing natural health with the media.

Remember that herbal medicine is the most widely used form of medicine in the world today; it has been used for many millenia and there are thousands of published research trials that support the use of herbal medicines and nutrient therapies.

I believe that there is plenty of room for both natural and mainstream medicine and that for optimum health and wellness the public needs both – it’s just a shame not everyone holds that view!

Helping you achieve optimal wellness, hormonal balance and disease prevention with personalised, professional naturopathic health care, clinical pathology testing and individually-prescribed high-quality herbal medicines and supplements 

Want to keep up to date on the latest in health and wellbeing? Join us on Facebook by clicking this link: http://www.facebook.com/EarthMedicineHealth and “Like” our page to receive updates