MARCH, LISTEN TO THE JAZZ, SEE THE FAMOUS FACES:
Last call for our day in the sun. We make no apologies for putting ourselves - or, more precisely, our Health Freedom Movement - top of our own news broadcast this week with the final announcement of our protest march through central London this Sunday (June 15th).

As most of you will know by now, we're protesting against three EU directives that will effectively destroy alternative and nutritional therapies in the UK and the rest of Europe. Some have questioned the point of a protest march, as they see it as yet another demonstration for the government to ignore. Not so. The Countryside march, for instance, forced the government to back-track on one of its election pledges, and we are aware of a number of MPs who are concerned that the directives are taking away freedom of choice for their constituents. The vote to ratify one of the directives, the Food Supplements Directive, takes place soon after the march, so it's vital we make an impact when MPs are deciding how to cast their votes. 

It also promises to be a fun day. The weather forecast predicts the day will be hot and sunny, and we've got a seven-piece jazz band to lead the march. We're meeting in Hyde Park near Speaker's Corner from 11am, with the intention of setting off for Trafalgar Square at noon. Celebrity-spotters amongst you should keep their eyes peeled for a few famous faces. Pop star Billie Piper is definitely making an appearance, and we expect a few others besides. Speakers in Trafalgar Square will include Tory MP and Euro-sceptic John Redwood and our own, our very own, Lynne McTaggart.

It's almost impossible to anticipate numbers that will turn up on the day, but it could be at least 10,000, and a number of groups have organized coaches from all parts of the country. There's been a fantastic grass-roots campaign from a range of organizations that have been so supportive.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Holland & Barrett, the UK's major health store chain. They have persistently refused to support the march, mainly because they are behind the Consumers for Health Choice (CHC) campaign, an admirable movement in its own right. They are concerned that the consumer would be 'confused' by two organizations. The CHC organized a petition; we're holding a march. Not too difficult, really. We take the view that we are up against a vast, powerful EU bureaucracy, inspired and encouraged by a drugs industry that is set to stamp out nutritional and alternative therapies everywhere on the planet. No one organization, and we include the Health Freedom Movement in this, is going to single-handedly win this fight. This makes the comments of one Holland & Barrett spokesman all the more pertinent. He was speaking to one of our supporters who, unfortunately for him, happens to be an experienced and trained note-taker. This was the Holland & Barrett line: "Why should we publicize someone else's march? We have our own campaign. We are so big, we don't need anyone else." Marvelous stuff. So, sadly, we won't be seeing too many Holland & Barrett customers with us on the march - but we do hope to see you!
And watch this space for our post-march plans.

For more information, visit our website:
www.healthfreedommovement.com

Other News

SLEEP EASY IN YOUR BEDS: Our drugs watchdogs are fast and furious
It is with great relief that we can report on the speed and efficiency of our drug watchdogs, who act to protect us. In the UK this week the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHPRA) has pronounced that the antidepressant Seroxat (paroxetine) should not be prescribed to young adolescents. Extraordinarily, the drug has never been licensed for use by young people, so it should never have been an issue in the first place.

Has the MHPRA responded to the mounting pressures from concerned consumers? Well, not exactly. Or perhaps the manufacturer has had a rush of conscience? Sorry - is it April 1st? No, they acted because of a TV programme that finally highlighted the dangers. Name and shame clearly works better for our watchdogs than listening to the stories of the thousands of patients who have been harmed, or even killed while on a drug, it seems.

We at WDDTY have been highlighting the dangers of Seroxat since the early 1990s when it was being heralded in the national media as the great new thing to treat depression. Seroxat is a selective serotonin uptake inhibitor - sometimes known as a 5HT drug, a family that also includes Prozac - and was supposed to be far safer than the previous generation of antidepressants known as monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors. Unfortunately this early promise was never fulfilled. Even at the outset we knew Seroxat caused nausea, tremor, asthenia (loss of strength) and sexual dysfunction. And like Prozac, it can cause extremely aggressive feelings. In the USA one patient shot his wife, daughter and grand-daughter while on Seroxat, so quite why doctors in the UK have been prescribing it to young teenagers is yet another wonder of modern medicine.

But perhaps the pivotal argument, put forward by the manufacturer, was that the drug was not addictive. It took a while, but the manufacturer finally had to admit, some 10 years later, that it could cause severe withdrawal symptoms. In fact, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association declared that the manufacturer was guilty of misleading the public over the drug's addictive qualities. We also discovered that the drug could cause hepatitis after six cases were reported to another sterling watchdog, the Committee on Safety of Medicines. So, after 13 years of use, one drug regulator has finally made the first comment about Seroxat, and this only after a television programme brought it to their attention.