Here we go again with yet another issue. Watchdogs whose work I deeply appreciate have drawn my attention to the fact that the government has invited opinion on their proposals for regulating natural health products and that submissions close at 11:59 pm tonight.
I have made a submission, politely (I think) expressing the opinion that such matters should be outside the scope of the government’s concern. For the record, I don’t think that government regulation of health products should be ‘proportionate’, ‘no more than is necessary’, or with ‘demonstrable benefits’. I think it shouldn’t exist.
I realise that it is useless to express such opinions in the current climate. And I don’t think it is all the fault of politicians or Those People Up There. Our society is drowned in over-regulation and choked by compliance costs. It is just as much the fault of individuals who want to shirk the burden of weighing up costs and benefits for themselves and taking responsibility for their own health and wellbeing. Most of us would far rather have someone else do the hard work for us and tell us authoritatively what is safe and effective and what isn’t.
This is why it bothers me when discussions of this nature focus only on detail and proportionality. I want to debate the bigger picture: whether it is the government’s business at all and, if it isn’t, then why we have come to think that it is.
As a Christian, I base my thinking on God’s Word and I find that God’s law is predominantly prohibitive rather than prescriptive. That is, it forbids things that are objectively bad and provides for punishing people who actually do them. It does not penalise things that merely cause risk or potential for harm.
What about if we all just lived with the consequences of our own decisions and the consequences of selling good or bad products? Why does that sound revolutionary?
Anyway, if you want to have your say, remember to do so before midnight. You can do it here: consult.health.govt.nz/regulatory-policy/natural-health-products
