ANH founder recognized for natural health campaign - May 19, 2008

Dr Robert Verkerk, founder and director of the Alliance for Natural Health, has been awarded for his work to protect natural healthcare across Europe.  The award, presented at the 39th Anniversary of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights United Kingdom (CCHR), was awarded in recognition of Verkerk’s  “work to expose the multinational pharmaceutical interests and giant food companies to limit the public's access to herbs”.

In the presence of ambassadors and high commissioners representing their countries from around the world, as well as the mayor of East Grinstead, fraud expert Bill Trueman made the presentation to Verkerk at Saint Hill Castle in East Grinstead for “taking the lead in challenging fundamental rights to take vitamins and minerals, and for having brought a landmark legal challenge to the EU Food Supplements Directive”.

In accepting the award, Dr Verkerk said: “In recent years, conventional psychiatrists, drug companies and regulatory agencies around the world have launched full scale assaults on natural treatments that has seen them relegated to the fringes of mainstream medicine.

“The Alliance for Natural Health, which I founded over six years ago, has been at the forefront of resisting these pressures on natural medicine, working to protect and promote natural health using the tools of ‘good science' and ‘good law'.

"We have taken a case to the European Court of Justice, exposed the flawed science and disproportionate law being promulgated by European regulators and have helped to protect some of the leading pioneers and innovators in the natural health field.”

Source: Natural Products Online 

 Dr Verkerk's Acceptance Speech is presented below:

ACCEPTANCE SPEECH, CCHR, HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD

ROBERT VERKERK BSc MSc DIC PhD

 19 April 2008

"For every drug that benefits a patient, there is a natural substance that can achieve the same effect" — Carl C Pfeiffer MD PhD

During the last half century, Drs Abram Hoffer, Humphry Osmond, Carl Pfeiffer  and others have demonstrated that natural substances can be used in place of drugs to treat successfully mental or behavioural conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and hyperactivity. However, in recent years,  conventional psychiatrists, drug companies and regulatory agencies around the world have launched full scale assaults on natural treatments that has seen them relegated to the fringes of mainstream medicine.

Flawed, poorly conceived, biased and misrepresented studies, pushed into the public spotlight by over-zealous, drug industry funded PR machines, have helped to bolster the attacks on natural medicine. Now, a rash of European laws are being foisted on Europe’s nearly 500 million strong population through undemocratic means, by unelected bureaucrats in the European institutions, which attempt to sideline natural treatments once and for all. The UN-backed machinery of the Codex Alimentarius Commission is also in the final stages of developing an international guideline on vitamin and mineral supplements that is built on a template of the draconian European regulatory model.

The Alliance for Natural Health, which I founded over 6 years ago and for which I act as Executive & Scientific Director, has been at the forefront of resisting these pressures on natural medicine, working to protect and promote natural health using the tools of ‘good science’ and ‘good law’. In the process, we have taken a case to the European Court of Justice, exposed the flawed science and disproportionate law being promulgated by European regulators and have helped to protect some of the leading pioneers and innovators in the natural health field.

We have also demonstrated that a new paradigm in healthcare, that works harmoniously with—rather than against—the laws of nature, can be realised if consumers, practitioners, scientists, lawyers and responsible companies are willing to work together closely, with integrity and common purpose, on behalf of future generations.