Drugs v Natural Products

Whenever you log unto a site giving information about natural vitamins, medicines, etc you are sure to encounter the statement that it has not been tested by the Food and Drug Administration. This is because most of these sites are based in the US. But things are no different here in England.

Only the other day we were informed that Alternative Medicines should be removed from the Health Service as they cost money and the government wanted to stop, what they said, was the overspend by the various Local Health Authorities.

But this was challenged, and rightly so. This should not be the criteria. The only thing that should be taken into consideration is whether they work and how they compared with what is now called Conventional Medicine.

This term in completely misleading. It is true it is what most people turn in both the United Kingdom and the US. But most of what is on offer is very new and in spite of their protestations to the contrary are untested.

This is given as another reason why "Alternative Medicines" should be refused, i.e. that they have not had the testing that drugs have.

But those who want them to be available say that they have been tested by the best method, i.e. that people have been taking them for years and have benefitted from doing so.

It is true that the drugs are tested, but how are they tested? Firstly on animals, which many object to, on the grounds that this is ineffective. And that sooner or later they have to be tested on human beings and when this is done human beings react differently to animals.

This arouses strong emotions with people taking the law into their own hands, as in the case of some of those who objected removing the bones of the mother of one of those who bred animals for research, promising to return them when they closed the farm down, but failing to do so.

Another controversial aspect of testing is that of using those who have mental illness in other countries, particularly India, as guinea pigs, not telling them they are part of a trial and certainly not paying them for taking part and often leaving them worse than they were before.

But, as we have seen, people are rejecting this and turning to Natural Health Products. But, again, as has been shown, others have joined this by claiming that their products are natural, when in many cases they are not.