IS THIS THE END OF YOUR HEALTH FOOD STORE?

            IS THIS THE END OF YOUR HEALTH FOOD STORE?

The Ontario Health Professions Legislation Review Committee, set

up by the Ontario government has recently published its

recommendations. Should these recommendations become law many of

the alternative forms of health care we now benefit from may

become a thing of the past and we will see a further entrenchment

of a conventional medical establishment that is largely

preoccupied with furthering drug and surgical intervention.

Included on the government's "hit list" are Herbalists, Herb

Growers and sellers, Acupuncturists, Iridologists, and Doctors of

Naturopathy who will become liable to fines of $25,000.00 and

jail terms of six months. Many health care products which are

currently available will also disappear or be doled out by

doctor's prescription only. This list includes vitamins, chinese

and western herbs, homeopathic remedies, bach flower remedies,

tissue salts and aromatic oils to name a few.

Given our present health care crisis it seems laughable that the

government is so hell bent on quashing a group who collectively

are deeply concerned with PREVENTION and sincere care for the

individual.

I would like to point out that these recommendations run contrary

to guidelines set by the World Health Organization which

advocates a system where primary contact with the patient is made

through a practitioner of "traditional" medicine. "Traditional"

medicine being defined by the W.H.O. as "the sum total of all the

knowledge and practises, whether explicable or not, used in

diagnosis, prevention, and elimination of physical, mental or

social imbalance, and relying exclusively on practical experience

and observation handed down from generation to generation,

whether verbally or in writing."

Subsequent to the growing awareness of the vast resources

inherent in traditional health care systems, traditional medicine

has come to be seen as a major aid to achieving the World Health

Organization's goal of health for all by the year 2000 rather

than a hinderance to the use and spread of modern conventional

medicine. 

Why then, is the government of Ontario choosing to ignore these

recommendations, when Canada is a member of the World Health

Organization?

                                                                 

     WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PREVENT THIS EROSION OF YOUR RIGHTS?

Write to the Premier of Ontario and to the Ontario Minister of

Health NOW. Ask them WHY the Ontario government is supporting

legislation that is so blatantly an erosion of your

constitutional rights. They are obliged to reply to your letter.

Ask them SPECIFICALLY why their government is choosing to ignore

the recommendations of the World Health Organisation. 

Their addresses are:

                  The Honourable David Peterson

                       Premier of Ontario

                            Room 223

                      Legislative Building

                           Queens Park

                        Toronto, Ontario

                             M7A 1A2

                  The Honourable Elinor Caplan

                       Minister of Health

                      Legislative Building

                      Queens Park, Toronto

                             Ontario

                             M7A 1A2

The ability of the individual in a democracy to choose their

preferred form of health care is a RIGHT and not a privilege.  

Do you wish to lose this right forever? 

     ACT NOW! This act will become law in a matter of weeks.

For more information write or phone:

            The Canadian Society for Herbal Research

                       P.O. Box 82, Stn.A

                      Willowdale, Ontario.

                             M2N 5S7

                (416) 730-8077 or (416) 221-1662