Herbal Medication !

Before the start of the industrial age every little village seemed to have a smart woman who dabbled in medication derived from mysterious mixtures of herbs and what was then known of natural vitamins. They acquired a local reputation quite separate from the registered doctors of that time, but it was a dangerous trade because in times of national stress they could be accused of " witchery "  - and face summary execution.

Today it is estimated as many as one in every three Australians regularly take what is known as " alternative medication ".   This is a virtually unregistered array of vitamin supplements and herbal mixtures that are said to relieve various ailments or improve lifestyles.   They are available to the public via  direct marketing, specialist stand alone stores and increasingly alongside regular medication in chemist shops.

There are restrictions on what their makers can claim.  It is illegal to state that a medication can cure cancer unless such a claim can be supported by evidence, but most claims are carefully worded to suggest that the substance " can be helpful " without crossing that line.   This trade is supported by a vast anecdotal history that has passed down through the generations and is firmly accepted as " fact"  in many families.

This is a billion dollar industry and it seems to be ever expanding. There is concern that these forms of alternative medicine are increasingly appearing in pharmacies and in many cases are being recommended to users by pharmacy staff.  This is despite there being absolutely no proof that they can deliver any of the proposed benefits claimed.   In some cases, they are preferred as an alternative to prescriptions prescribed by the patients doctor.

Alternative medication usually comes with a healthy profit margin and this is attractive to the owners of chemist shops.   The government is proposing to implement its own laboratory testing of what is on offer against the claims made and apply certification where a benefit can be proven.  It is hoped that products that lack this " tick of approval " would face public rejection.

At present, listing on the register of Therapeutic Goods Administration only means the product is safe, not that it meets the claims made for it.   The testing that the government is considering is intended to support whatever benefit this product is expected to deliver.

This is probably long overdue. With our growing migrant population, remedies from both Europe and Asia are becoming common in Australia's growing alternative medication listings and some of these involve animal parts from endangered species.  Body parts from Lions and Tigers are highly favoured in some medication, and the world Rhino population is facing devastation by hunters seeking to remove its horns.

Unfortunately the end result will probably be the expenditure of a lot of government money for no detectable improvement.    The Shamans of past centuries had a strong hold on the minds of the folk they served and that manifests itself in a rejection of the edicts issued by all forms of government. Along with fortune telling and the way tea leaves gather in the bottom of a tea cup, the way of combatting illness is deeply engraved in the memories of many people.

At least this testing regime may lead to the removal of substances that actually do harm to sections of the public who support alternative medicine.