I am very concerned about a meeting of the Drug Information Association which will be taking place June 22-26 in Montreal.
There will be some speakers there who are involved in the pharmaceutical industry's effort to take over and dominate the sale of herbs. Many of these people are from German pharmaceutical companies, and The Utah Natural Products Alliance (of which Nature's Way is a member) is also being represented by Loren Israelson, JD, their executive director). A move appears to be afoot on the part of the Germans and pro Germans to dominate the herbal market in N. America on both sides of the US Canada border, and people had better pay attention in case this can be stopped. Tapes of the following sessions should be procured by as many of us as possible.
I would go to monitor it, but its expensive to attend. Instead, I will get the audio tapes, and others who you know might also want to do this. I am in Florida, so it would not be easy for me to attend, but some people who live in Montreal Canada or vicinity might want to. Call DIA at 215-628-2288 for details. A week after the meeting they will have a list of tapes for sale.
On Tuesday, June 24, one of their workshops will be called "Emerging
and Re-Emerging Therapeutics"
It runs from 10:30 am- 12:00 pm
The title of the workshop is "Advantages/Disadvantages of Heterogeneous Botanicals VS Single Compounds"
The session chairperson is Jorg Grunwald, PhD, President and CEO PhytoPharm Consulting, Berlin, Germany
Description of session follows:
"This session will consider the potential advantages and disadvantages of heterogeneous botanicals as ethical and OTC drugs compared with single compounds derived from plants. All aspects of pharmaceutical drug development, including quality, safety, efficacy and marketing considerations will be discussed. European and American speakers involved in drug research and development and strategic planning will present their experiences." Sub topics for the session follow:
Quality Criteria and Standardization of Phytomedicines: Can Acceptable Drug Standards by Achieved?
Professor Dr. Rudolph Bauer
Institute for Pharmaceutical Biology
Heinrich-Heine University, Dusseldorf, GermanyEfficacy and Safety of Phytomedicines: Good Clinical Effects, Reduced Side Effects, Better Compliance?
Ekkehard Liske, Ph.D. University of Braunschweig and Schaper & Brummer, Salzgitter, GermanyStrategic Planning for the Marketing of Phytomedicines by National and Multinational Pharmaceutical Companies
Jorg Grunwald, PhD, President and CEO Phytopharm Consulting, Berlin GermanyProprietary Rights: Use of Patent Protection, Special Extracts or Specifications to Differentiate Phytomedicines from Generic Botanicals
Elliot P. Friedman, SM
President and CEO
PharmaPrint, Inc. Botanical Pharmaceuticals
Then on Thursday, June 26, there is another workshop that we need to monitor:
Emerging and Reemerging Therapeutics, CH, CMC 8:30 am-10:00 am
Developing an Authoritative Reference Standard for Therapeutic Botanicals Session Chairperson: Loren D. Israel, JD, Executive Director, Utah Natural Products Alliance (which Includes Nature's Way)
"Increasing popularity of therapeutic botanicals has created an urgent need for authoritative standards and information sources. Yet no recognized standards exist for these products in the US. This session will consider which botanical products and what supportive information should be included in such a formulary or reference standard.
Sub topics follow:USP Monographs for Botanicals: A Status Report
V.Srinivasan, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist
US PharmacopoeiaAmerican Herbal Pharmacopoeia and Therapeutic Compendium: A Status Report
Michael McGuffin
President American Herbal Products Assn.The Emerging Classification Hierarchy for Heterogeneous Botanicals - From Food to Ethical Drugs
Loren D. Israelson, JD
Executive Director
Utah Natural Products Alliance
Utah Natural Products Alliance includes Nature's Way, the company which has been aggressively pushing the so called "third category" in Canada. *Note: I have been monitoring them closely. They are very worried by my efforts to expose their German ties.
They are so worried that they have deleted the section of their website in which they used to prominently feature a discussion of their joint venture with Madaus AG and Schwabe, Germany's two largest phytopharmaceutical companies. In their new website they have announced that they have just more than doubled the size of their manufacturing plant and that it is licensed for manufacturing OTC drug products. Their agenda is clear: they certainly appear to be trying to drive their smaller competition off a cliff by using GMPs as a weapon. Ken Murdock of Nature's Way told Marilyn Nelson of Freedom of Choice in Health Care that he likes DIN numbers because they allow him to make claims. (He also wouldn't mind if his competition were driven off a cliff.)
Please get this out to a lot of people so more people will know what is going on. If anyone can, please slide a donation my way, I need to be able to hire a helper and to do more traveling in order to get word out to the grass roots as to what is going on.
For Health Freedom,
John Hammell, legislative advocate
International Advocates for Health Freedom
www.iahf.com
2411 Monroe St. Hollywood, FL 33020 USA
800-333-2553, FAX 954-929-0507, FAX on Demand 954-927-8795
local or outside 800 area: 954-929-2905
jham@concentric.net