Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 19/7/23

New law strikes at snake oil peddling, but rongoā healers will be spared because regulators can’t define what they do

The Government claims to be delivering certainty to displaced homeowners affected by the recent North Island extreme weather events, providing an interim payment to support them when their insurance payments for temporary accommodation run out.

But certainty for taxpayers is missing from the press statement from the Minister for Social Development and Employment, Carmel Sepuloni. It contains not one figure with a dollar sign. which means the sum being budgeted by the government for this initiative is a mystery.

Point of Order: How health officials kept quiet (it seems) about secrecy provisions injected into the Therapeutic Products Bill

Malcolm Harbrow has been described on a previous Point of Order post as an admirably dogged campaigner against governmental secrecy on his No Right Turn blog.

This week he has gone into battle again, this time railing against government officials who – when advising members of Parliament of issues raised in submissions to select committees – fail to draw attention to concerns the public have raised but which the officials might prefer were buried.

Point of Order: Modernising our medicines regulatory regimen.....

.....Medsafe is being replaced but traditional Māori healing will be exempted

When the Therapeutic Products Bill was introduced in Parliament in November last year, Health Minister Andrew Little said it was intended “to modernise the way medicines, medical devices and natural health products are regulated”.

The result of more than a decade of policy work, the Bill replaces the Medicines Act 1981 and Dietary Supplements Regulations 1985 with “a comprehensive regulatory regime that is fit for the future”, Little said.

It replaces Medsafe with a new regulator.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 14/6/23

Statements gush from the Beehive but there’s a dearth of figures for taxpayers who might want to check the costings

A gush of press statements has poured from the Beehive in the past 24 hours.

Ministers, plainly, have been busy. But they were sparing with their information when it came to telling us how much is being spent on the initiatives and what-have-you they were announcing.

Sandra Goudie: More Shonky Legislation?

Right now we have 24 days to make submissions to the Therapeutics Products Bill.

On the basis of protecting us all from harmful product, the Bill will have one person appointed by the Minister as a Regulator. A public servant subject to Ministerial oversight.

That one person is supposed to “foster and maintain an independent and effective system to regulate”.

Medicines, medical devices, API’s (active pharmaceutical ingredients), and biotech products are all subject to the Regulator's oversight.

However, for no discernable reason, NHP’s (Natural Health Products) have been included.

Guy Hatchard: The New Zealand Government Reaches for Total Medical Control

For millions of years, humans and animals have maintained their health by eating the fruits of the earth.

The necessity and benefits of a broad natural diet are evident from Egyptian skeletal remains from 6000 years ago, which suggest scurvy—a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C. In 1753 a Scottish surgeon, James Lind demonstrated that scurvy could be treated with citrus fruit. The New Zealand government seems intent on changing history.

Guy Hatchard: Natural Products Regulation — An Overreach of Government Control

Civilisations come and go through the ages. When governments empower people they harness the intelligence and creativity of their citizens for the good of all, when they seek to control their populations they fall into decline.

Following three years of pandemic control, governments are not stopping there. Here in New Zealand, the government has introduced the “Therapeutic Products Bill” which will control how products which appear to benefit health are manufactured, prescribed, imported, advertised, supplied and exported.