Artemisia has been banned! (updated Sept 2022)
In 2016, I predicted that the herb artemisia would be removed from the shelves by Government health officials to make way for high-value patented and copyrighted versions produced and sold by Big Pharma.
We did not know how this would happen, but they found a solution. On the 18th of May 2020, under cover of the day when natural health practitioners were preoccupied with re-opening for the first time since New Zealand's first COVID-19 Lockdown, Medsafe announced that all artemisia products were now classed as being a "medicine" and could only be prescribed by a registered medical practitioner. This is effectively a ban on the herb.
And this is an interesting coincidence with the ban:
https://www.dw.com/en/covid-19-tests-for-miracle-cure-herb-artemisia-begin
And, by coincidence, this article appeared in the Herald, a Government funded news outlet:
This is a huge blow for the natural health industry and for the freedom of the consumer to choose their healthcare other than one that is locked into drugs-based symptoms-chasing treatments.
Artemisia, an ancient Chinese herbal remedy, has been used as a health-promoting tonic for around 5,000 years. Despite the claims of Medsafe, artemisia is an extremely safe product when used correctly. There was absolutely no reason for this ban. But it clears the way to replace a $40/month herbal treatment with patent versions that may cost thousands of dollars per month for the same thing. And guess who pays? You and I via our tax dollars to pay for a healthcare system that is now so expensive that it threatens to bankrupt our country!
Please watch this video before proceeding (this is scandalous).
Please read the Medsafe reports here before proceeding:
Medsafe's original concerns were about an artemisia-based product called "Arthrem". This is what they said in 2018: "To date, all the reports of harm to the liver have involved patients taking Arthrem specifically. Since the chemical composition of the Artemesia annua extract is not disclosed it is not clear if other products containingArtemisia annua extract have similar effects." https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/safety/EWS/2018/Arthrem.asp Despite this statement, they have gone for all artemisia-based products, not just Arthrem.
Here is their report submitting their case for artemisia to be classified as a medicine: https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/safety/EWS/2018/ArthremNov2018.asp And read this report as well: https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/class/Agendas/Agen63/MCC63_72e_artemisiaannua.pdf
My observations about Medsafe's reporting
Twenty-five cases of liver harm associated with Arthrem were reported and all recovered. That is 25 cases out of hundreds of thousands of prescriptions of Arthrem over several years. That could be considered a good safety record as compared to drugs such as NSAIDs which are prescribed for pain and inflammation: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1665268119301504
12 of the 25 cases consumed more than one other substance, some multiple drugs, including NSAIDs known as hepatotoxic.
Of all 25 cases, we do not know how many had commenced taking Arthrem during or soon after surgery for conditions like hip arthritis. Surgery typically involves hepatotoxic drugs such as general anaesthesia, intravenous pain medications and antibiotics. Did these people have compromised livers before taking Arthrem?
When a patient takes one or more drugs known to be hepatotoxic, it is standard practice to have regular liver function tests. Were these tests being conducted, and what did they indicate? We need to have this kind of detail when assessing the safety of a medication for an individual or the safety of a herbal product such as Arthrem.
We do not know how much artemisia each person was taking daily. Was it the recommended dose, or were these cases taking more than recommended? This is a very important piece of information that we need to know when assessing the safety of this product.
The artemisia product in question is Arthrem only. Was the problem to do with the combination of artemisia plus grapeseed oil?
While it may have been justified to take Arthrem and other artemisia-based products off the consumer shelves, there is no justification for removing it from the dispensaries of qualified and highly experienced natural health practitioners who are better trained than allopathic doctors in safely and effectively dispensing herbal remedies.
Ivermectin
This is a drug from Merck Pharmaceutical; the patent expired in 1996, although it was extended in some countries for a while. Ivermectin is now commercially available. What is Ivermectin?
“Ivermectin is a Nobel prize winning generic drug on the WHO's Essential Drugs list. Endorsed by FLCCC (authors of MATH+ protocol) for prophylaxis, mild, moderate, severe (ICU) COVID-19. And anecdotally, for a subset of long haulers. Originally used as anti-parasitic (worms, river blindness), now recognized as broad anti-viral, anti-bacterial, with potential as chemotherapy adjuvant for cancer. Used over 40 years (3.7B doses), has been considered for mass administration for malaria by the WHO”. (Copy from al-jareeza site).
The NHS comments https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/antiviral-therapy/ivermectin/ and
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3043740/
Ivermectin has suffered a similar fate to other artemisia products.
Please read this article about Ivermectin:
https://www.garymoller.com/post/ivermectin-ivm-the-drug-that-literally-terrifies-big-pharma
What can you do to protect your health freedoms?
Write or speak to your Member of Parliament and express your concerns.
Join this organisation and donate: https://www.healthfreedom.co.nz/
Subscribe to this organisation as well (numbers count): http://www.naturalhealthalliance.co.nz/
Support the Democracy Project: https://www.garymoller.com/post/the-democracy-project-an-interview-with-gary-moller
Share this article wide and far and encourage as many people as possible to get in behind the Democracy Project (more to come about this soon).
Further Reading
Dr Mercola nicely summarises the use of artemisia as traditional therapy for diseases like malaria and now COVID19. I do not doubt that the motivation behind banning this herb is because it is not a good strategy to launch the next billion-dollar-earning drug onto the market, selling for thousands of dollars for a course of treatment when the herbal equivalent can be brought for between $1.50 and $30.
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/07/27/sweet-wormwood-for-covid.aspx
Please read these articles about how to escape from our COVID19 Prison:
How to Escape from our COVID19 Prison Pt 1: Introduction
How to Escape from our COVID19 Prison: Pt 2 - who is Gary Moller?
How to Escape from our COVID19 Prison Pt 3: Our Immune System
How to Escape from our COVID19 Prison Pt4: The Doctor Patient Relationship
How to Escape from our COVID19 Prison: The Escape Plan
And these:
How to Escape from our COVID19 prison: An offer of help from integrative doctors
Are the Bugs going to get you?
What you can do to resist infections such as Covid-19 Read some of these articles about Ivermectin and related matters