Guest Post: Stop the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive!

The people of Egypt have taken to the streets en masse to protest for democracy. We have the pleasure of living with that freedom, but often forget how easily it can be lost. Our politicians become less responsive to the electorate as they become more and more beholden to moneyed interests.

GoPetition, though, helps provide a voice to people, allowing them to assemble on a cause and providing a forum to impress upon legislators that their interests are best served by acting for their constituents' benefit. A more subtle value is to provide people with a means of discovering how many others hold the same views -- thus giving them heart to participate.

The newly-minted European Union has been acting in favor of the desires of Big Pharma and against the interests of the people. The EU Parliament passed Directive 2004/24/EC, also known as The Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD), that purports to provide for the health and safety of citizens by taking control of their access to medicinal herbs. The THMPD, while claiming merely to "simplify" the registration of medicinal herbs, will effectively ban most of them and limit sales to only large, usually multinational, corporations.

As the producer of Gaia Health, it is apparent to me that the loss of access to medicinal herbs would prove exceedingly harmful to people who use them to manage their health. It's also obvious that herbal treatments are virtually always far safer than their drug equivalents and often more effective.

After investigating the issue, I wrote an article on the topic, Big Pharma Scores Big Win: Medicinal Herbs Will Disappear in EU, urging people to write to their Member of European Parliament (MEP). And write they did!  Hundreds of letters went out.

But then the responses started to come back. What a letdown. Nearly every MEP responded as if the letter writer were utterly misinformed. Typical responses were:

• "No one wants to take your herbs away!"
• "The directive just simplifies the registration procedure."
• "We are trying to assure that herbs are safe."

The reality is that none of these statements is true. Whatever the intended purpose of the THMPD, the effect will obviously be to remove access to most medicinal herbs from most people. The suggestion that the purpose is to "simplify" registration is absurd on its face, since there was no functioning registration system until the THMPD. Medicinal herbs are so much safer than pharmaceutical drugs that it makes the concept of concern for danger downright absurd.

So what was left for people to do? A big voice was obviously required. Other than taking to the streets, that meant a petition. So, I investigated. The requirements for a European-wide petition are large. After a significant amount of research, it became obvious that only GoPetition has the ability to manage the Stop the THMPD's requirements. The flexibility, history of handling petitions with hundreds of thousands of signatures, and their concern for the integrity of petitions and their authors made GoPetition the obvious choice.

After 85,000 signatures, the Stop the THMPD campaign is developing momentum. A true grassroots effort, the petition's growth is to the credit of people who are passionate about their their right to manage their health as they see fit. It's been translated into 14 languages! Articles are being written, duplicated, and translated all over the world.

Our right to obtain the herbs of our choice, an inalienable right held since humans began to walk the earth, is under attack. What right could be more basic than the right to manage one's health? It's so basic that no one ever thought to delineate it along with the right to free speech and assembly.

Now that it's under attack, we, the people of the European Union, are standing up and saying, "No! You will not take over control of our bodies. You will not force us towards pharmaceuticals and away from nature. This is where it stops. We demand that no law limit our access to medicinal herbs."

Everyone who cares about civil and personal rights should care about this issue. Even if you don't use medicinal herbs, you must ask what you do care about that could come under control. Access to vitamins and supplements? Prevention of GMOs? Access to foods of your choice? All of these are under attack in the EU. Let's stop these incursions into our personal lives.

Please, join the Stop the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive campaign. Be part of the movement to take back control of our lives!

For more information, see:

Translations of the Stop the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive Petition (links to translations and articles)

Contributor: Heidi Stevenson

The power of well crafted consumer-based petitions

GoPetition receives many petitions seeking redress for consumer complaints. If you are not happy with a product or service, you should note that it is important to most companies that individuals do complain.

There are a number of components to a successful consumer complaint. What you say, how you say it, and where you take the complaint, are all critical. If it was your business, would you prefer customers tell you when they are not happy rather than tell the rest of the world? Statistics show that on an average, individuals will tell nine others when they receive an unsatisfactory service/product. Each of those nine people will, in turn, tell nine more people; thus, the number escalates. Hence the power of petitions at GoPetition.

It is important that your petition address the complaint to those with the power to make the necessary changes and/or the authority to deal with the problem. In other words, do not take your frustration out on personnel unrelated to the decision making core of the business. In addition, your complaint should be clearly written as many companies will not deal with complaints or take them seriously, unless the complaint is logical and persuasive, backed by evidence.

Be prepared for some initial disappointment as not all companies have sufficient management training (even if they, themselves, thoroughly believe they do) to know that constructive customer criticism is doing their company a favor by bringing valid feedback to their attention. As a result, many complaints are ignored completely, and a good number receive nothing more than a defensive response, while others take forever to be resolved in a satisfactory manner. However, a well crafted petition will, at the very least, expedite the type of response that relevant businesses are prepared to make.

GoPetition seeks to properly inform consumers how to write a petition of complaint and, hopefully, get the results deserved. Of key importance is sticking to the facts while not over-exaggerating. You should also write your petition when you are cool, calm and collected, not in a moment of heated frenzy, anger and frustration. To see examples of a variety of consumer based petitions see http://www.gopetition.com/petition-campaigns/Consumer-affairs/

Ultimately, a successful petition campaign at GoPetition can place serious pressure on a company or business to address your complaint. Businesses, at their own peril, ignore legitimate petitions, particularly those from GoPetition as our global reach has significant implications for any brand.

Capital Punishment Petitions Reveal Social Rifts

One of the most controversial petition topics at GoPetition is that of Capital Punishment. Over several years, GoPetition has been inundated with petitions on this topic, both for and against. What are the issues? And why is the debate so heated?

One of the critical issues in examining this topic is social context. For example, the debate in Iran is vastly different to the debate in the UK, the USA and other western jurisdictions such as Australia.

Take Iran, for example. There are strong arguments to suggest that capital punishment has been used as a tool by the Islamic regime to oppress freedom and democracy without cause. GoPetition is replete with heart-wrenching campaigns seeking to save freedom lovers from the noose. Activist Idamla Insiyatifi, in an Iranian petition protest, remarks, 

"Even though human right to life has been guaranteed through some international laws and codes such as "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and "European Convention on Human Rights", regimes like the Iranian one is still using the death penalty as a way of punishment. It is stated, in above mentioned codes, that no one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment."

He continues, "However, the Iranian regime with its outdated criminal law is executing political prisoners one by one in front of the eyes of whole world, as in the execution of Ehsan Fattahian, Kurd prisoner."

This view has been repeated ad nauseum and I invite readers to search "Iran" + "death penalty" at GoPetition for a thorough listing of these causes.

What about capital punishment in western jurisdictions? There is growing discontent from many people that criminal sanctions (punishments) are becoming both less stringent and less effective. The most tragic case study is that of child sexual abuse and murder. These cases bring emotion of such force that it is difficult to convey in a Blog. Debra Dabbs, a campaigner from the U.S. argues, "Please sign this petition so we can be the voice of JUSTICE for the children who have been wrongfully taken from this world, while their killers walk freely, without justice for their unspeakable crimes. Let [the children] be heard, and put a STOP to this unnecessary pain and suffering."

In the UK, the famous Sarah Payne case evokes strong emotions. One campaigner suggested that Sarah's killer, Roy Whiting, be locked up for life. "We, the undersigned, ask Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg to please keep Roy Whiting in prison for the full 50 years that he was sentenced. Roy Whiting is an evil predator. He is a child murderer and if released, we feel he will re-offend. When Whiting was convicted in 2001, his previous convictions were then told to the courts. He is a re-offender and his crimes escalated to the murder of an innocent young girl. He must be made to serve his full sentence."

Others would be less generous and happy to see Whiting hung.

The same goes for cop killers in the United States. GoPetition has seen several campaigns to "terminate" convicted cop killers. Please see our YouTube channel which lists a campaign by Sheriff Grady Judd, of Florida, to expedite the death sentence of convicted cop killer, Paul Beasley Johnson.

The feelings against capital punishment seem to run just as deep as those for it. In Australia, the Australian Services Union National Office argued for a complete ban of the practice, "We request that the House of Representatives and the Senate legislate at the earliest opportunity to introduce and pass laws that prohibit the use of capital punishment against all Australian citizens. We also seek that this Government and all future Governments protect Australian citizens from the death penalty in other countries."

The arguments against capital punishment include that it is "cruel and unusual", or may constitute "torture". Others are concerned that "mistake" renders the punishment unfit for a caring society. Conversely, proponents raise the issue or re-offence rates which can be quite high in the capital offence arena.

My own observation of the debate is that social context is critical, and each case deserves to be dealt with on its own merits. Does capital punishment in some cases prevent crime, save the taxpayer money, and more importantly, promote "Justice"? Or are other counter arguments more important: that innocent people have been put to death and that capital punishment is used as a tool of the state for purely political purposes, to wit, Iran? The aim of GoPetition is not to take sides but to facilitate the debate on a case by case basis.