IS THIS THE END OF YOUR HEALTH FOOD STORE?


The Ontario Health Professions Legislation Review Committee, set
up by the Ontario government has recently published its
recommendations. Should these recommendations become law many of
the alternative forms of health care we now benefit from may
become a thing of the past and we will see a further entrenchment
of a conventional medical establishment that is largely
preoccupied with furthering drug and surgical intervention.

Included on the government's "hit list" are Herbalists, Herb
Growers and sellers, Acupuncturists, Iridologists, and Doctors of
Naturopathy who will become liable to fines of $25,000.00 and
jail terms of six months. Many health care products which are
currently available will also disappear or be doled out by
doctor's prescription only. This list includes vitamins, chinese
and western herbs, homeopathic remedies, bach flower remedies,
tissue salts and aromatic oils to name a few.

Given our present health care crisis it seems laughable that the
government is so hell bent on quashing a group who collectively
are deeply concerned with PREVENTION and sincere care for the
individual.

I would like to point out that these recommendations run contrary
to guidelines set by the World Health Organization which
advocates a system where primary contact with the patient is made
through a practitioner of "traditional" medicine. "Traditional"
medicine being defined by the W.H.O. as "the sum total of all the
knowledge and practises, whether explicable or not, used in
diagnosis, prevention, and elimination of physical, mental or
social imbalance, and relying exclusively on practical experience
and observation handed down from generation to generation,
whether verbally or in writing."

Subsequent to the growing awareness of the vast resources
inherent in traditional health care systems, traditional medicine
has come to be seen as a major aid to achieving the World Health
Organization's goal of health for all by the year 2000 rather
than a hinderance to the use and spread of modern conventional
medicine. 

Why then, is the government of Ontario choosing to ignore these
recommendations, when Canada is a member of the World Health
Organization?


                                                                 

     WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PREVENT THIS EROSION OF YOUR RIGHTS?



Write to the Premier of Ontario and to the Ontario Minister of
Health NOW. Ask them WHY the Ontario government is supporting
legislation that is so blatantly an erosion of your
constitutional rights. They are obliged to reply to your letter.

Ask them SPECIFICALLY why their government is choosing to ignore
the recommendations of the World Health Organisation. 

Their addresses are:

                  The Honourable David Peterson
                       Premier of Ontario
                            Room 223
                      Legislative Building
                           Queens Park
                        Toronto, Ontario
                             M7A 1A2


                  The Honourable Elinor Caplan
                       Minister of Health
                      Legislative Building
                      Queens Park, Toronto
                             Ontario
                             M7A 1A2

The ability of the individual in a democracy to choose their
preferred form of health care is a RIGHT and not a privilege.  
Do you wish to lose this right forever? 

     ACT NOW! This act will become law in a matter of weeks.



For more information write or phone:

            The Canadian Society for Herbal Research
                       P.O. Box 82, Stn.A
                      Willowdale, Ontario.
                             M2N 5S7
                (416) 730-8077 or (416) 221-1662