Herbal Medicine

Only one more day to get enough signatures to stop this insanity. The EU is trying to put in legislation to make it more or less impossible for small companies to sell their well tried and trusted herbal remedies. And we as the consumer will be deprived of choice. For the exact proposals/legislation and for signing the petition please see the link below.

http://www.avaaz.org/de/eu_herbal_medicine_ban/?vl  


Why am I writing about this? First and foremost I am a trained practitioner, not specifically in Herbal Medicine but in Acupuncture, Homeopathy and Kinesiology. I have been practising for over 20 years and I see Alternative Medicine as a real alternative, as a choice people should have.


As a person I want to have the choice to decide how I view and how deal with illness. I want to be able to choose treatments where I have control over what I am exposed to, what I swallow and what is happening to my body and my mind.


What I really object to in all these campaigns directed at Alternative Medicine is that as a practitioner I get vilified and as a user I am told I am irresponsible. 


Funnily enough since I have started to use Alternative Medicine over 30 years ago I never had to use antibiotics, never needed an operation and have not used any medication - over the counter or prescription drugs - apart from the odd Paracetamol.


You might say I am lucky and I am a generally healthy person, maybe. I have come through quite a few illnesses and complaints other people would have had prescription drugs for without needing these myself at the time. And yes, I am lucky because I have trained in Alternative Medicine and I was able to either treat myself or know who to turn to. It also gave me a very good knowledge of my body, great trust in my ability of assessment and knowing how dangerous the state I was in actually was.


This whole battle is in my opinion not about whether herbs or other treatments are dangerous, it is about profits and control. 


Here in Britain with an NHS that gives us the illusion of free medical treatment most people see 'Complementary Therapies'* still as a last resort. This is different in other countries. I know that in Germany where, after a lot of so called reforms, a lot of treatments and medication are not covered by the obligatory health insurance anymore, alternative treatments can be financially more feasible. If I have to pay for my treatment and medication myself I might as well choose the treatment and what type of medication I am taking and how much I want to pay for it all. 


This trend is taking profits away from big pharmaceutical and medical companies and they are fighting back. There are a lot of attacks on different types of Alternative Medicine and they are getting worse. I am reminded of previous occasions when women who had medical knowledge were executed as witches or when doctors who tried to introduce proper hand washing and sterilisation of instruments were ridiculed by their colleagues.


The actual problem for us as the patient and ultimately as the consumer is that we are forced to agree to treatments we do not want or to have to forego treatment altogether. In our so called enlightened times this feels like a return to the Dark Ages.






* I prefer the term Alternative Medicine as I see it not just as rubbing alongside and adding and supplementing the generally accepted medical system but as a real alternative with not only different treatments and remedies but also a very different view of medicine, healing and illness. More on this soon.