A New Canadian Health Consciousness

This is another excerpt from my book, "One Hand Clapping".

We are seeing a new consciousness emerging in Canada in 2008. Opposition to Bill C51 this year has been fierce. This is said to be the most opposed bill ever presented in Parliament. Canadians recognize that with this bill, Health Canada is once again attempting to take away our right to choose, as it pertains to health products and even foods. The first reading in Parliament passed without most of us being aware that the Bill existed, but once we realized it was being slipped past us, we raised our collective voices, until finally, in May, second reading was scrapped. This new enlightened Canadian consciousness rallied this opposition.

Not one, but several aspects of awareness have caused us to rise up and say “Enough!” Firstly, we are quickly recognizing that drugs do NOT work. Secondly, we are now demanding more from our doctors in the way of alternatives, and they can’t deliver, because they are trained only in drugs and surgery. We are increasingly aware that alternatives DO work, and we want access to them. While our doctors and the medical community in Canada and the U.S. use the rallying cry of “SHOW ME THE SCIENCE”, doctors in other countries who are allowed to explore alternatives are evidencing countless cases of patients cured with natural means or with an integrated approach to medicine. Thirdly, we are seeing Canadians leave this country in increasing numbers, to obtain health care in Mexico, Germany, India and China for example, and they are coming back cured and educated, and they are passing on what they have learned. Fourthly, the internet permits us easy access to discover the truth about a drug cartel out of control, an FDA in the U.S. that has lost its credibility as a government regulatory agency, and a Health Canada here at home that operates with insiders who are led to believe that natural health products are snake oil.

Researching leads us to publications such as Cancer Gate, by Samuel S. Epstein where we learn about suppression of information by the NCI and the ACS, both of which are supposed to be stewards of the public interest, but instead are actually cheerleaders of special interest groups in the U.S.. This book also reveals the conflicts of interest between these organizations, cancer drug companies (Big Pharma) and environmental polluters in the chemical industry.

Accelerating this shift in our public consciousness is a dramatic rise in the incidence of degenerative diseases: Cancer, Heart disease, Fibromyalgia, MS, Lupus, Autism, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Diabetes and so on. We are frightened, plain and simple. We recognize that our environment is killing us, and that traditional treatments are simply not working. We want CHOICE, and we also want doctors who have ALL possible choices in their arsenal, not just DRUG choices!