Double Standards

Saturday, February 1st 2003

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Tucked away on page 14 of the New Zealand Herald in December 2002 was a small article with major implications for every person in New Zealand that has to unfortunately be admitted to hospital.

A study found that about 42,000 mistakes affecting patients in hospitals could have been prevented. About 13,000 of these cases were associated with permanent disability or death (in itself fairly permanent!). People with digestive and respiratory conditions were more likely to be seriously affected, but people with injuries and musculoskeletal conditions had the highest risk of an adverse event.

The New Zealand Medical Journal published this report of adverse events and found that 12.9 percent of hospital admissions a year suffered adverse events including drug reactions, mistakes in treatment and faulty test results. It estimated half of these patients suffered mistakes that were preventable.

However, New Zealanders should consider themselves luckier than Australians who had a 16.6 percent adverse reaction rate but we are worse than Britain, which had a 10.8 percent adverse reaction rate.

Interestingly there was no comment on what action would be taken to prevent the 13,000 cases of permanent disability or death continuing! You can only assume that these numbers are therefore acceptable to the Minister of Health, hospitals and the medical profession as there appears to have been no media comment from them.

Why did this report not make front page news?

Now consider the Ministry of Health's somewhat bizarre approval of BOTOX treatment. Following approval in America, BOTOX cosmetic treatment was approved in New Zealand. For those readers who have not caught up with this, BOTOX is a new product that is injected into the forehead near the eyes.

And the reason for this odd and, it would seem, painful practice? Does it protect vision? Does it cure skin disease? No. Its sole purpose is to obtain temporary improvement in the appearance of moderate to severe glabellar lines in adult men and women. Glabellar lines are the vertical wrinkles that appear with age in the space between the eyes. They develop when there is concentration of the two major muscles in the forehead, as when a person is THINKING!

But the best part of all this is that BOTOX cosmetic is just another name for botulinum toxin type A. The Ministry of Health has approved the use of a poison for the sole purpose of obtaining temporary improvement in appearance by lessening wrinkles. The downside is that it appears to paralyse the facial muscles so facial expression is lost.

Now consider these two events and the extreme efforts being made by Medsafe and the Ministry of Health to severely restrict your ability to continue to have access to very safe dietary supplements such as herbs, vitamins, minerals and other nutritional products. The Health Select Committee has received nearly 1700 submissions about the proposal to "harmonise" dietary supplements with Australia. Personal submissions are being heard by the committee in May 2003. We can hope that common sense prevails.

Gary Mabey, ND. Editorial

Reproduced unabridged from the February/ March 2003 issue of Health and Herbal News, with the kind permission of Health and Herbs International Ltd.

The following products are all useful for Antiaging:

Collagen and Keratin Cream with Argan Oil
Collagen and Keratin Capsules
CoQ10 Booster Serum
Efamarine
Family C
Flaxseed Oil
Hosanna Intensive Hydrating Serum
Maxi Hair
Nourishing Body Lotion
Resveratrol 250mg
Rose Hand Cream
Rosehip Oil, 100% Pure Organic
Silica Beauty
Triple Action Line Smoother
Zinc Fix

Related health information can be found here:

Acne
Active UMF manuka honey - wound healer
Eczema
Efamarine for healthy skin, hair and nails
Psoriasis
Skin Health
Vitis, a powerful antioxidant derived from grape seeds
Wanting to increase your energy levels, stamina and build up your immunity? Then consider Bee Pollen

Related newsletter articles can be found here:

Botanical skin care from Trilogy

Silica - anti aging mineral

Good news for supplements

More Unreported Health News

Natural personal care - what really is in that deodorant?

Silicea: The amazing gel

Trilogy - looking good, feeling good

Trilogy Rosehip Oil - why it's just so good for the skin

If you need help or advice, you are welcome to email our naturopathic team with your health question.

Disclaimer: The health information presented here has been written for the New Zealand health consumer. It is of a general nature and is only intended to provide a summary of the subjects covered. The information is not intended to be comprehensive or to provide medical advice to you. While all care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information, no responsibility or liability is accepted, and no person should act in reliance on any statement contained in the information provided. All health ailments should be treated by a qualified health professional.

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