Soil & Health
Association of New Zealand Inc (est 1941) Healthy
Soil - Healthy Food - Healthy People |
New Zealand's leading source of information on Organics & Sustainable Living
Let's keep those tried and true remedies01-05-2007Organic NZ - May/June 2007 Philippa Jamieson checks out a herbal medicine business that is under threat from the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill. The premises of ARTEMIS Herbal Medicine are just as warm and sunny as the beautiful Dunedin day outside. Sandra Clair shows me into her office, and offers me a cup of one of her herbal teas: ‘Tummy Tea’, to help me digest my lunch. Sandra is a Swiss herbalist who moved to New Zealand in 1995. Her training was a three-year apprenticeship with a Catholic nun who was a herbalist and midwife, whose traditions go back to the twelfth century and the knowledge of Hildegard of Bingen. Sandra also has a Masters in ethnomedicine (University of Berne) and is in her last year of a post-graduate degree in health science (University of New England, Australia). In 1998 she founded ARTEMIS Herbal Medicine, and has built a successful business. In 2005 they moved to new premises in South Dunedin. ARTEMIS has been steadily growing and, while there are still areas they can expand into in the New Zealand market, they are now looking at export, which is one of the reasons behind their recent application for organic status. But all the efforts of Sandra and her team of six staff could be in vain if the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill is passed into law. The Bill is a big threat not just to the health choices of New Zealanders, but also to local businesses and employment. “It would be a very sad day for New Zealand if this were introduced," says Sandra. "There would be a loss of access to a range of remedies that are proven to work. In Australia hundreds of businesses went under. I was absolutely dismayed at the few remedies they had when I visited Australia – mostly mass-produced herbal medicines resembling pharmaceutical drugs.” If the Bill goes through, the effect on ARTEMIS would be mainly financial, leading to a discontinuation of products. “We spent a lot of money upgrading the premises to food grade, and got an A – the highest grading. If we had to renovate the premises to pharmaceutical standard, it would not be financially viable,” says Sandra. “With very few exceptions like Australia most countries, including the USA, manufacture herbal medicines under food regulations (food-GMP) instead of pharmaceutical GMP and there is no reason – other than commercially disadvantaging nonpharmaceutical health companies – why New Zealand can’t continue this sensible regime.” Artemis is totally committed to organics, because it makes environmental sense, and there are no chemical residues in the remedies. All the herbs used in the therapeutic herbal teas, fresh-plant creams and tinctures are already certified organic or ‘wild-crafted’, and now ARTEMIS has applied for organic certification so that the whole process (growing and processing) is certified as meeting organic standards. Sandra's philosophy is to use fresh, good quality herbs. Teas are sold loose, because tea bags filter out some of the active constituents – and the flavour. Those herbs that are wildcrafted are harvested in a sustainable way from unpolluted areas. St John’s wort is one of the main herbs harvested from the wild (in the Wanaka area), because it grows much better by itself than when people try to cultivate it. The choice for the government is stark. Choice number one is to support people’s freedom to make choices about their health, and to support the local natural health industry, including organic growers, and businesses such as Artemis that produce high quality natural remedies with centuries of proof that they work and are safe. Choice number two is to support a pharmaceutical model for natural health products, resulting in a reduced range of products, many of which will be mass-produced overseas by multinational companies. Our health is in our hands – let’s keep it that way. |
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Soil & Health
Association of New Zealand Inc (est 1941) Healthy
Soil - Healthy Food - Healthy People |
