For those interested in herbal medicines~

[Blueridge]

This is just FYI, and I can't confirm nor deny it's accuracy. ;) It does make me wonder if we here in America will be facing the same one day. What a shame. I received this information in a newsletter today:

 

HUNDREDS OF HERBS BANNED IN UK

Hundreds of herbal medicinal products will be banned from sale in

Britain next year under what campaigners say is a "discriminatory and

disproportionate" European law. With four months to go before the

EU-wide ban is implemented, thousands of patients face the loss of

herbal remedies that have been used in the UK for decades. From 1

May 2011, traditional herbal medicinal products must be licensed or

prescribed by a registered herbal practitioner to comply with an EU

directive passed in 2004. The directive was introduced in response to

rising concern over adverse effects caused by herbal medicines.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-

news/europe-to-ban-hundreds-of-herbal-remedies-2171781.html

[mcconnellboys]

I have no doubt this will happen here in time, too, all the more reason to learn to grow and prepare your own....

[gaillardia]

Wow. Not good! Have you been hearing anything about the senate bill i think it was sb 510...I tried researching it, mentioned it to a friend or two, they told me it was an internet hoax, but then when I checked on the gov website, it was there. Now who among us is going to sit and read that for hours? Okay, not many.

My research, at the time, showed that there were plenty of websites mentioning it in an end of the world type of thing; snopes said it was a hoax.

This bill has to do with monsanto, a mega company. It has to do with organic farming being banned and home farms/produce/seed saving being illegal, or so they said....

Don't panic, everything will be fine, is what we're told on one hand, and on the other, start saving food, don't get caught growing tomatoes or you'll be arrested, and none of those home grown eggs either...

Okay I guess this thread will be locked or deleted now. :001_huh:.

[gaillardia]

reported.

[BethInNH]

Wedding anniversary gifts?? lol:lol:

I thought that was supposed to be silver. Apparently that has changed:tongue_smilie:

[specialmama]

Wedding anniversary gifts?? lol:lol:

I thought that was supposed to be silver. Apparently that has changed:tongue_smilie:

 

BAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

Took me a minute because I didn't see "pastor Pee-Wee" :lol::lol::lol:

[specialmama]

Wedding anniversary gifts?? lol:lol:

I thought that was supposed to be silver. Apparently that has changed:tongue_smilie:

 

But don't you remember all the talk about artificial teA and how the ornaments could be placed on the coffee table? They could be silver! And your MIL would never even guess! :lol: I'd call that a great anniversary gift! :lol:

[Peela]

This is just FYI, and I can't confirm nor deny it's accuracy. ;) It does make me wonder if we here in America will be facing the same one day. What a shame. I received this information in a newsletter today:

 

HUNDREDS OF HERBS BANNED IN UK

Hundreds of herbal medicinal products will be banned from sale in

Britain next year under what campaigners say is a "discriminatory and

disproportionate" European law. With four months to go before the

EU-wide ban is implemented, thousands of patients face the loss of

herbal remedies that have been used in the UK for decades. From 1

May 2011, traditional herbal medicinal products must be licensed or

prescribed by a registered herbal practitioner to comply with an EU

directive passed in 2004. The directive was introduced in response to

rising concern over adverse effects caused by herbal medicines.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-

news/europe-to-ban-hundreds-of-herbal-remedies-2171781.html

 

What I have heard is that it has already happened in some countries of Europe such as Germany. And I thought it has gone through in Canada recently?

It is insidious and horrible, but it does seem to be happening.

I think it IS hard for people to really know until its too late...the information is out there, but there is SO much information out there that important stuff, that should cause huge public outcries, gets drowned in advertising and hoaxes.

There is denial by the Australian government that it will happen here, but we already are suffering from restrictions. I cant get organic goji berries any more- they insist on irradiating them before they come in, which immediately nullifies the organic status...and who wants to eat irradiated food anyway?

It's a mess. Food will be a big issue this century- just the right to grow your own, to obtain viable hairloom seeds rather than having to buy hybridized ones that can't reproduce, is such a human rights issue yet it is happening.

The right to buy nutitional supplements is surely a real right in a democratic country? Well, we are losing it. Along with many other things we take for granted.

On the other hand, the way dh and I see it is....all those bottles are not actually teh best way to get our nutrition, anyway. Much better to work with the herbs themselves, to eat well etc. So if it goes that way, so be it...we will find a way.

[Blueridge]

I have no doubt this will happen here in time, too, all the more reason to learn to grow and prepare your own....

 

Good point. Last year I ordered a lovely assortment of medicinal herb seeds from here:

http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/seeds/seeds.php#s_life

Such a nice resource for seeds, books, packaging. They also have a sweet kit of a few medicinal seeds and a little booklet for children.

[Wyndie]

I just received this update from Weston A Price. I realize this does not address the op, but it seems to affects at least a portion of the concern.

 

INFORMATION UPDATE ON FOOD SAFETY

 

Dear Members,

 

We are pleased that the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act currently on its

way to the President contains the amendment proposed by Sen. Jon Tester

(MT) and Sen. Kay Hagan (NC) that protects thousands of small farms and small

processing facilities from onerous and expensive new federal regulations.

 

We know that different people have different views on the Federal Food

Safety Modernization Act as a whole some supported it, some opposed it, and

others stayed neutral. Regardless of these differences, however, the

Tester-Hagan amendment provides important protections for local producers. This victory is thanks to the thousands of emails, phone calls, sign on letters

to Senators, letters to the editor, and other grassroots actions that you

took part in.

 

The protections for small producers provoked an 11th hour flip flop on the

part of the large industrial scale produce growers and processors. United

Fresh and other large commodity groups that had supported the bill for

over a year turned around and opposed it due to the Tester-Hagan amendment,

underscoring how exceptional this victory is. Because of the industry

opposition, we will need to be vigilant against attempts to strip out the

small-farm protections in the next Congress or to weaken them through the

rulemaking or enforcement processes.

 

Since there has been confusion about the Tester-Hagan amendment, below is

a brief summary. This summary obviously does not cover all of the various

scenarios that food producers will face in determining what is, and is not,

required of them under the bill; it is intended only as a brief overview.

 

We plan to work on fact sheets to help producers, as well as proposals for

how the FDA should interpret and implement the portions of the bill that

have been left to the agencys rulemaking process. If your organization

would like to be involved in an informal working group on this project, please

let us know.

 

SUMMARY

 

I. FACILITIES: businesses that store, hold, manufacture or process food

All facilities must still register with the FDA, as has been the case

since passage of the Bioterrorism Act of 2002. Farms and retail food

establishments are exempt, but these were narrowly defined under the

Bioterrorism Act.

 

The Tester-Hagan amendment clarifies that businesses that sell more than

half of their products directly to individual consumers are exempt as

retail food establishments even if they process the food at a different

location than where the sale occurs, such as a farmers market or farm stand.

 

Qualifying facilities, while they must register, are exempt from the

provisions of Sec. 103 of the food safety bill, the Hazard Analysis and

Preventive Controls. Qualifying facilities are those that have gross sales of

less than $500,000 (averaged over three years, and adjusted for inflation)

and that sell more than half to qualifying end users. Qualifying facilities

can either demonstrate compliance with state and local laws or submit a

short summary of their plan to analyze hazards and prevention.

 

Qualifying end users are individual consumers (with no limitation on

location) or restaurants and retail establishments that are either in-state or

within 275 miles of the facility.

 

FDA is also directed to define very small facilities that are exempt from

Section 103s Hazard Analysis and Preventative Control requirements. The

definition is to be based on the results of a study that looks at the

incidence of foodborne illness in relation to food producers scale and type of

operation.

 

 

II. FARMS

Small-scale, direct-marketing farms are exempt from the provisions of Sec.

105, the produce safety standards in which FDA would regulate growing and

harvesting practices. Exempt farms are those with sales of less than

$500,000 (averaged over three years, and adjusted for inflation) and that sell

more than half to qualifying end users. Qualifying end users are defined the

same as in the facilities definition.

 

 

A big thank you to Judith McGeary of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance

and Margaret E. MacDonald of the Western Organization of Resource Councils

for their tireless work on the Tester-Hagan amendment

 

 

[missiemick]

I think the U.S. has already started this process with the new Food Bill and with their attacks on Raw Milk. It won't be long now . . .