The Hon. Pierre Pettigrew, MP
Minister of Health
House of Commons
Ottawa ON
Dear Minister:
RE: Health Canada's warning on comfrey
The bias of Health Canada shows through in their messages and website.
Messages regarding safe natural health products 'advise against' and 'warn' consumers, whereas they talk in terms of "important safety information' when talking about dangerous pharmaceuticals.
Also, note that one can read the words on natural health care pages, but you have to increase text size to see information about killer drugs...
see
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and
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Ottawa Sun
Tues, December 16, 2003
Common painkillers hard to stomach Gastrointestinal problems a risk
By DEREK ABMA,
There is an "epidemic" killing more Canadians than car crashes or AIDS, and health professionals hope a recent decision from Health Canada will help the situation. It's estimated that 1,900 people in Canada die each year from gastrointestinal problems caused by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
(NSAIDs). If this doesn't ring a bell, how about ASA, ibuprofen or naproxen? All are NSAIDs. Dr. Malcolm Champion, a gastroenterologist at the Ottawa Hospital, said the use of NSAIDs has become such an automatic form of treatment, not enough scrutiny goes into their potential harm. "It's an epidemic bigger than AIDS," Champion said. ALTERS CHEMICALS NSAIDs relieve pain from ailments such as arthritis, sprains or menstrual cramps by reducing inflammation. They affect chemicals in the body that cause inflammation. Many of these chemicals are found in the stomach, and when the anti-inflammatory drug attacks these chemicals, it can cause damage. Health Canada recently approved the use of the prescription drug Pantoloc for preventing NSAID-induced lesions in the gastrointestinal tract. Pantoloc, which is made by Altana Pharma AG of Germany, is a proton pump inhibitor. It controls stomach acid secretion and as a result lessens the risk of problems for people taking NSAIDs. Champion said he's a fan of the product and it has "minimal side-effects." However, he said he'll only prescribe it to patients deemed "at risk" for dangerous gastrointestinal problems. "The patients at risk are the people who've had previous peptic ulcer disease, elderly patients, patients on steroids, patients on blood thinners, patients with major other diseases and (who take) large doses of NSAIDs," he said. "Those are the major risk factors for taking NSAIDs. A patient with more than one, two or three of these risk factors, I certainly would be using Pantoloc in these types of patients." But Champion said, when applicable, the best solution is to minimize or halt the intake of NSAIDs. He said many types of pain can be treated with alternative types of therapy or non-NSAID drugs like acetaminophen. However, he said for rheumatoid arthritis, the result of inflammation in joints, there are rarely cases in which taking NSAIDs can be avoided.
So "it is estimated that 1,900 people in Canada die each year from gastrointestinal problems caused by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs."
Comfrey is a herb that grows in the gardens and back yards of many Canadians. The latest Health Canada warning to the public about a homeopathic product containing comfrey (Province, Dec 14/03) is so ridiculous it is laughable. Homeopathic remedies are so highly diluted their ingredients are undetectable - a fact that confounds the medical and scientific community, not to mention the research challenged anti herb and anti vitamin medical bureaucrats in Health Canada.
How many Canadians have died in the past 50 years from using comfrey internally or externally?
In view of Health Canada's warning about comfrey will the Hon. Anne McClellan's new role in charge of public security require her to send squads of "herb police to "root out" these "grow operations?"
I just thought I would ask.
Croft Woodruff
6262-A Fraser Street
Vancouver BC V5W 3A1
604 327 3889
Cc. All Member of Parliament
CBC TV & Radio, CTV
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