Kōrero: Alternative health therapies

In the early 2000s the New Zealand and Australian governments tried and failed to establish a trans-Tasman agency to regulate all therapeutic health products, including natural or alternative products. Opponents of the proposal – like these people protesting in Tauranga in 2007 – argued that it was inappropriate to treat natural health products as pharmaceutical products, and that the regulatory process would make many too expensive to manufacture, reducing consumer choice. Supporters said it would provide consumers with more protection by ensuring natural products were safe and effective.