The Natural Health Alliance (NHA) welcomes the announcement from the coalition government that it will repeal the Therapeutic Products Act 2023.
“The repeal of the Therapeutic Products Act is the achievement of a major goal of the NHA,” the chairman of the Alliance, Patrick Fahy, says. “The Act would have had an enormous detrimental impact on the manufacture and supply of natural health products from 2025, and its repeal comes as a relief to our members and others in the natural health industry.”
The NHA is the pre-eminent organisation representing manufacturers, suppliers and retailers of natural health products, as well as health practitioners. The NHA represents those who have direct involvement in the industry. The group led the industry campaign against the Therapeutic Products Bill since 2021, opposing the inclusion of natural health products – essentially food items – under the same legislation as medicines and pharmaceuticals.
For decades, the natural health products industry has been regulated under the Food Act. Supplements, such as vitamins, are not pharmaceuticals. They pose very little to zero risk of harm to the public. The NHA recommends the re-implementation of the Food Act regulations as the compliance regime for the industry.
“Industry input into commonsense solutions for the future regulatory management of natural health products is essential to ensure there’s a workable outcome to replacing the Therapeutic Products Act. It is extremely important that food supplements are ring-fenced from being included in any future discussions over the Medicines Act and other rules and regulations designed to monitoring pharmaceuticals and medical devices,” Mr Fahy said.
He added that the Alliance expresses its gratitude to the Deputy Prime Minister, Rt Hon Winston Peters, for hearing our concerns, joining us at our public meeting in Wellington in May this year against the proposed Act, and making the issue a large part of New Zealand First’s election campaign.