Tá mé fíor-bhuíoch as ucht cead a bheith tugtha dom an cheist seo a ardú. I am disturbed by the lack of provision in the Estimates for preventative healthcare. The incidence of asthma and other medical complaints as well as medical admissions to hospitals such as Beaumont are increasing annually. Therefore, it was a shock to read recently in the Big Issues magazine about the effect of the Irish Medicines Board Act and the background and motivation for its enactment.
Statutory Instrument No. 43 of 1996, the medical preparations regulation, classifies over 40 commonly found herbs, including plants such as ginger, garlic and dandelion, as medicines which now require prescriptions. They will now come under the category of prescribed medicines if their vitamin or mineral contents exceed the World Health Organisation's recommended daily amount guidelines. This draconian legislation also requires simple customer information about alternative health supplements, such as informing a buyer that vitamin C is helpful in preventing 'flu, to be provided and leaves retailers and suppliers open to fines of over £100,000 and/or ten years in prison if convicted of non-compliance.
The World Health Organisation also plans to curtail the availability of food supplements. It will implement a worldwide control and regulation programme for herbs and vitamins before December 1998. The WHO's plan provoked a huge storm of controversy in America when it was revealed that the organisation's so-called independent advisory body comprised exclusively of giant drug companies. The legislation is being challenged by alternative health practitioners and consumer rights groups in America who view the laws as anti-consumer and believe they are motivated by vested interests in the global pharmaceutical industry.
To obtain a licence for herbal remedies requires a £3,000 application fee. In reality, so much laboratory evidence is required that the entire licensing procedure could cost up to £1 million. Many doctors may now be loath to recommend simple remedies, such as evening primrose oil which is effective in the treatment of menopausal hot flushes, for fear of litigation. This also applies to calcium tablets for the treatment of osteoporosis and a huge variety of other supplements.
The Government ideally needs to instigate a debate on community and preventative healthcare. Such care needs to be resourced to ensure the pharmaceutical companies are not needed so much. Fewer sick people should be our objective as a Parliament and a people. In the short-term, the Irish Association of Health Stores should be represented on the Irish Medicines Board. Before sending out such needlessly threatening letters, the board should meet with the association or the producers of complementary health products. Otherwise, we will find ourselves in the ridiculous position of a teenager buying as much paracetamol as they like in a supermarket for the purposes of committing suicide, but needing a doctor's prescription to get vitamin C for a cold. We have sold out to the pharmaceutical companies on this legislation to the extent that a public outcry is needed. The Government must realise it has gone overboard and we need to think about preventive healthcare so that people will not have to spend money. We need to start talking about a Department of Health rather than what we currently have, a Department of Sickness and Pharmaceutical Interests.
