FREEDOM OF CHOICE

There seem to be two types of healthcare running in the UK – the free conventional healthcare that comes from the NHS and a completely alternative system for anyone who chooses to go to complementary therapists and pay for nutrition, herbal medicine, homeopathy, aromatherapy, etc. Back pain clinics may offer acupuncture, Pilates or yoga on the NHS, and cancer patients are often given access to massage, healing and other therapies, but the majority of people pay, which is their choice.

Even though complementary medicine has become huge business in the UK, there are still plenty of people (or companies) trying to knock it out. EU legislation plans to limit the herbal remedies and vitamins we can buy, and the media and professors often warn against the so-called ‘charlatans’ practising these therapies. There may be the odd charlatan here and there, but most of these therapists are very professional and help a lot of people.

Surely I and anyone else has the right to choose what we do with our bodies. Complementary medicine is rarely unsafe and no-one has ever died from taking homeopathic remedies, so if we believe they work, why not let us buy them?

There seems to be a battle going on between opponents and supports of homeopathy at the moment. Last week protesters demonstrated outside Boots claiming that the store should be ‘responsible’ and not sell homeopathic remedies that don’t work. In protest they swallowed whole bottles of remedies to prove their point.

If I want to go to Boots and buy homeopathic remedies because I believe they work – why shouldn’t I be able to? I believe we live in a free country. On the other hand there are many many people who believe that homeopathy does work so why should one group of protesters take away their right to buy remedies?

The website HMC21 gives information about lobbying parliament on 24th February for people who found that ‘homeopathy worked for me’. Healthy Soul’s homeopathy expert, Vinciane Ollington, has many satisfied customers, three of whom have been quoted in Popular Therapies when their hot flushes, allergies, high blood pressure and hay fever all improved through visiting Vinciane.

Visit Healthy Soul: www.healthysoul.co.uk