To the Editor,
Around 100 people braved the cold, wind and rain to stand outside the Victoria legislature last Sunday to protest the governments plan to eliminate 75 per cent of Canada’s natural health products.
Person after person came forward to say how switching from pharmaceutical drugs to natural health products had literally saved their lives.
So why is our government removing the good stuff? I’ll tell you why: it’s all to do with profits for the big pharmaceutical companies.
Follow the money: natural health products contain no manmade chemicals and can not be patented.
Aren’t the billions of dollars a year that these companies are already making enough?
And it’s not just the natural health products they’re after, they are now getting their drugs made in China at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the quality too.
The government’s job is to serve and protect. That’s what being a public servant is all about. It’s time to send the government a message and remind them that they work for the people and not the other way around.
In the late 1990s, Canadians protested for increased access to natural health products with what remains the largest public petition ever recorded in its history. Health Canada has ignored the wishes of Canadians by introducing a ban on herbs, vitamins and nutrients.
Enough is enough. People come before profit, and if our leaders can’t do the job then they should get out and let us find leaders with integrity, ethics and compassion that can.
John St. John,
Parksville