If you haven’t heard of the new bill coming in you might be interested in a few key points. The NZCA (Chiropractors association) have taken a stance in opposition, these are some of the many reasons.
• It aims to control and limit the options people have to access natural healthcare instead of pharmaceuticals or medical intervention.
• There is minimal to no evidence that Natural health products are causing harm to people in NZ (compared to pharmaceuticals which are the third cause of death in people in the western world). • The bill takes away the patients right to choose which treatment suits them best.
• Total power is given to ‘regulators’ to ban, extortionately fine, and over regulate with no transparency, right of appeal, or value on traditional and cultural uses. • It directly contravenes the Treaty of Waitangi and the thousands of years of Maori, Asian, and European use of natural medicines and practices.
• The bill will take away or restrict access to products which have been helping and working for people on their health journeys.
The bill has come in very fast and there has not been due time for people and organisations affected by the bill to respond. Submissions close on the 5th of March. People should have the right to choose the healthcare they desire, and this bill in its present form is undue regulation for therapies and health practices which haven’t posed risk.