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Is there any good news?

We’d be the first to admit that the health news over the last month or so has been pretty distressing.

As someone who has been campaigning on health and environment issues for 20 years even I had to stop and ask myself  ‘what on earth is happening to us?’

A world awash in chemical toxins, ridiculous bans on safe herbal remedies, the damaging effects of light pollution and threats to public health by genetically modified crops – the news can seem relentless and make you wonder if there is anything positive going on in the world of health.

The answer is yes. Each week on our website we ferret  out the best news about the benefits of herbs, homoeopathy, supplements and safe, effective complementary therapies.

Not all these studies catch the attention of the mainstream media and if you are as determined as I am to manage your health in the most natural way possible then it’s nice to know there is somewhere you can go to find the information you need – without all the snide and cynicism, or downright misinformation, that it sometimes gets served up with.

But here’s the thing. Shining a light on tough issues goes hand in hand with providing a showcase for the best that natural medicine has to offer.

If, for instance, herbs like echinacea are banned, the research into these and other herbs will dry up, and with it the free flow of information to the public about it’s choices in healthcare.

Once genetically modified crops get the upper hand there is no more organic – pollen drift ensures they cannot exist side by side – and all our choices as consumers will disappear.

So we continue to speak up when something wrong – see our stories on the conspiracy of silence in the media over GM and and a hit back at the MHRA for its echinacea ban. But we also continue to ferret out the stories that you can use to manage your healthy more naturally.

I felt particularly buoyed by the recent studies into foods that can help lower blood pressure and the way that omega 3 fatty acids can help those children most in need to read better, both of which reminded me how precious a clean, healthy diverse food supply really is.

And if you are feeling the abrupt change of seasons and the long shadow of cold and flu season reaching out for you, we’ve got some botanical inspiration to help keep you in top condition.

New visitors are discovering us every day and it is so gratifying to see our community growing. We don’t take advertising, there’s no hard sell here. We rely on word of mouth to help this community grow. If you know someone who might be interested in our website, twitter, facebook pages or our twice monthly newsletter please let them know this is where they’ll find all the news.

Pat Thomas, Editor