Natural Products Associations Issue Directive to Stop Developing Natural Treatments for SARS

Critics Cry Foul

April 23, 2003 - A coalition of trade organizations under the direction of the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) and the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA) declared war on their members, as well as the American public, by issuing a directive to stop all activities relating to the development and marketing of natural health products for the prevention and treatment of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

The notice, issued by AHPA's Director of Communications, Robin Gellman on April 21, allegedly on behalf of "the majority of dietary supplement manufacturers," stated that "there are some health conditions for which the choice of self-care should be actively discouraged.  The current global outbreak of SARS is such a condition."

The AHPA bulletin, titled "Industry Coalition Advises Against Use of Supplements as Remedy for SARS," urged "marketers and retailers of dietary supplements … to refuse to stock or sell any products that are presented as preventing or curing SARS," and to "refrain from promoting any dietary supplement as a preventive, cure or treatment for SARS."  The "coalition" also stated that "therapies for the prevention or treatment of SARS should only be recommended by qualified healthcare professionals or public health authorities."

Dr.  Leonard Horowitz, a public health authority and internationally known expert in emerging viruses, called the advisory "par for the course for drug-industry-controlled lobby groups.  It is no secret that the boards of directors of these organizations have been heavily stacked in recent years with pharmaceutical industrialists."

Many medical doctors routinely prescribe and even depend on over-the-counter natural health products, including herbs and homeopathics, to boost patients' immunity.

"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," said national radio talk show host and medical doctor Stanley Monteith.  Commenting on the AHPA notice, he said, "The natural products industry has been important in the development of immune-enhancing products for SARS and everything else.  This notice is ridiculous."

Dr. Joseph Puleo, president of the World Natural Health Organization and co-author of Healing Codes for the Biological Apocalypse (Tetrahedron; 1-888-508-4787), which prescribes herbs recommended in the Bible, said the AHPA and NNFA announcement was "simply horrible."

"Foods, herbs, and oils are our medicines," Puleo continued.  "Are these organizations telling us to put down our bibles for political expediency in the case of SARS, and pick up their propaganda?"

Dr. Puleo has worked with colleagues since the beginning of the SARS outbreak in Canada to develop an herbal tincture to help prevent and treat the illness.  "I will not cower to these special interest groups.  Nor will the people and companies with whom I work."

Most authorities agree with the AHPA's position that "therapies for the prevention or treatment of SARS should only be recommended by qualified healthcare professionals or public health authorities."  However, to actively discourage "self-care" for SARS, Dr. Horowitz says, "reflects the combined ignorance of these organizations. 

"The term 'self-care' actually refers to the process by which health care is administered by patients who are closely following their physician's instructions," Horowitz said.  "So technically, the announcement relays a mixed message.  'Self help' is the correct term to which they should be referring.  With SARS, frightened and undereducated consumers may be influenced by unscrupulous parties to take harmful actions.  This is precisely what the AHPA and NNFA are covertly endorsing, given the fact that the risky antiviral drug Ribaviron, which never has been tested against the SARS virus, has been prescribed by physicians and public health authorities since the beginning of the outbreak.  Who's making the money here?  Who's being harmed?  And why encourage increased risk to the public health?"

Alternatively, in recent weeks, Dr. Horowitz and his colleagues have been advancing scientific documentation regarding two plant extracts that could put a quick end to SARS.  Studies show the natural products prompted "complete inhibition of coronavirus-induced cell death."

Dr. Horowitz recently established a website called www.SARSscam.com at which this new industry "advisory" will be prominently displayed.  "Make no mistake," he says, "these traitor groups are serving the interests of global industrialists more than those of the public." 

Recommending an immediate mass exodus of members from these organizations, Dr. Horowitz has issued an "advisory" of his own.

"These groups have become pharmaceutical prostitutes," he warns, "and unless they turn away from this hypocrisy, I want nothing more to do with them, nor should you."

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