Food supplements.............

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:16:00 09/29/2009

Why would the Department of Health and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) go after the Filipino makers of herb supplements when they’re just trying to sell their products? People are familiar with herbal drugs, especially those that have been around for generations. Our country is gifted with abundant sources of herbal medicine. These herbs are common, cheap and free of side effects, unlike chemical medicines.

What the DoH and FDA officials won’t admit is that they are yielding to pressure from greedy multinationals whose share of the market for expensive drugs is being eaten up by these very common herbs. Unlike former Health Secretary Juan Flavier who encouraged the use of alternative cures, the present DoH and FDA officials are anti-Filipino and pro-greedy multinationals. Multinational drug makers always raise the issue that herbal supplements didn’t go through years of laboratory research. Well, they have gone through generations of common-sense, valid observation by herbalists and users; they are known to be safe and without side effects. So why go suddenly strict about the use of herbal medicines? Because multinational drug makers are telling them to do so? Allow me to remind the DoH and FDA that Filipino farmers and growers are going to lose their jobs if they clamp on the local herbal drugs industry.

There is a potential export market for Filipino herbs, especially in the West, because herbs are becoming popular and chemical drugs are suddenly be unpopular because of their price and side-effects. In the United States and Europe, herbal makers are generally left alone and are making a serious dent on the sales of chemical drug makers. In Switzerland and Germany, herbs and supplements are a multi-billion dollar industry.

Combined with generics and the Minimum Retail Price, our thriving herbal industry can counter the multinational drug maker’s greed. We should encourage the Filipino herbal industry so it will thrive even more. Look at TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) and Ayurveda medicine. They have become multibillion-dollar industries in their own right. Sure, sometimes unsafe ingredients are found in them but they are quickly removed. The more than 1.3 billion Chinese people can’t be wrong about their TCM; neither can the 1 billion Indians be wrong with their Ayurveda medicine.

The health secretary and FDA director must be reminded that they are employees of the Filipino people and work for the Filipino people, not for the multinational drug makers.

—RICHARD YU,
richyu1980@yahoo.com