ANH Man set up and prosecuted in Uk for selling B17

[Guest guest]

Jim Wright, from Port Talbot in South West Wales, ran a small

business selling natural products. Like many involved in natural

health, Jim wanted to help not only his family and himself, but also

others. Jim's caring nature and concern for the suffering of others

ultimately got him into trouble. In fact, it made him a criminal.

Find out how the UK medicines regulator, in cahoots with the BBC, set

him up. This is an astonishing case about persecution and

prosecution. Yesterday, Jim received his sentence from Swansea's

Crown Court. Jim and his family have been through hell and back, yet

he's not beaten - he's going to appeal.

 

To download the full press release (which has this morning been

circulated to the entire UK media) as a PDF document, including the

Editor's Notes that provide more details on this important case,

please click the following link:

http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/_docs/ANHwebsiteDoc_263.pdf

 

The text of the release is given below:

 

Vitamin seller made a criminal

 

After three years of apparent persecution by the UK medicines

regulator, a Swansea man, Jim Wright, was yesterday criminalised by

the Swansea Crown Court for selling vitamins and herbs.

 

Jim Wright had operated a small business selling natural health

products for some years before being raided for the first time in May

2003, then again two years later, by the Medicines & Healthcare

products Regulatory Authority (MHRA). During these unannounced dawn

raids, his stock was taken, thus preventing him from running his

business. The vast majority of his stock comprised common garden

herbal products the like of which can legally be bought from high

street health food stores across the UK .

 

Emerging from the Court room, Wright said, `I think given the wealth

of false evidence that was presented in Court, the whole thing's been

a total farce. Yet in the process they've managed to make me a

criminal. The Judge gave me a £1000 fine, £1000 that I haven't got,

and 120 hours of unpaid community service. I was accused of selling

products that I wasn't selling and we even showed the Court that the

supplier of vitamin B-17, as found in apricot kernels, was itself

shut down by the US Food & Drug Administration on 30th September

2003. They found nothing in two raids on my house. I was set up.'

 

Wright, like others who had been selling vitamin B-17 up until it was

made illegal in 2002, was made aware of the change in government

policy and withdrew the product from sale. He had always made a point

of complying with any advice or requests by the UK medicines

enforcement agency.

 

In 2003, the MHRA worked with BBC Wales to entrap Wright. A women and

her partner who, he was told, had a myeloma in the leg that had been

operated on and that had subsequently spread, approached Jim Wright

with a view to buying products that would help the cancer patient.

The couple forced Wright to meet them in a car park on two separate

occasions to deliver a range of natural health products. Wright

thought this a most strange request, yet the customers were adamant

this is how they wanted their products delivered. They filmed him

covertly the first time, but on the second occasion, the cameras were

revealed as he passed over the products. He was devastated to find

the customers were really a BBC reporter and her perfectly healthy

colleague.

 

Shortly after this, Wright saw himself on the BBC, being made out to

be a criminal, despite the fact the products he was selling were 100%

legal. About one week later, the MHRA raided him, confiscating all of

his stock, and so handicapping his small business operation.

 

No legal proceedings followed, but Mr Wright's stock was also not

returned even after three requests. The enforcers went peculiarly

quiet on Mr Wright.

 

Two years later, Wright received an order for vitamin B-17. Unknown

to him, the order was from an MHRA enforcer who, posing as a member

of the public, presented a heart-wrenching story about her husband

dying of prostate cancer. The lady was very specific about her desire

for vitamin B-17, that Wright was well aware had been banned some

years earlier. Wright made it clear that he could no longer sell B-17

and had none in stock. After continuous pressure, however, Wright

succumbed to providing a single pot that he still had in his home

office that had been returned to him by a customer and that he hadn't

yet posted back to the original supplier in Mexico . He was given a

mailing address that happened to be the accommodation address for the

MHRA. On receipt of the product, a warrant was obtained the same day

from Bow Street Magistrates and Wright was raided for a second time,

in May 2005.

 

Speaking about this second raid, Jim Wright said, `They were hoping

to find a big stash of vitamin B-17 – that was what they said they

were after when they barged into my home. They of course found

nothing. So they again took all my stock, all my accounts, a folder

with all of my correspondence with the MHRA and another with thank-

you letters and customer contact details. It was frightening – and

deeply disturbing.'

 

Dr Robert Verkerk, executive director of the Alliance for Natural

Health responded today to Wright's sentencing, `The Swansea Crown

Court Judge took the opportunity to condemn the natural products

industry. He said the manufacturers of these supplements are

exploiting people's misery and making lots of money out of them. Jim

Wright, he said, was a victim, and clearly hadn't made a lot of money

himself.'

 

Reflecting on the sentencing, Verkerk added, `To prey on someone's

intent to help others – to set them up like this – is astonishing and

deeply unethical. Jim Wright and his family have been through hell

and back – his business has been irreparably damaged, yet no illegal

products were found in either raid. The lack of reasons given during

and after the raids, and the confiscation of legal stock that

included extra virgin olive oil, beggars belief. We are heartened to

hear that Jim Wright and his legal counsel have every intention of

mounting an Appeal.'

 

It is expected that Jim Wright's Appeal against his prosecution will

be launched within 9 months.

 

ENDS.

 

CONTACT

 

Contact point for all media ( UK and international):

 

Dr Robert Verkerk or Meleni Aldridge

Alliance for Natural Health

The Atrium, Curtis Road , Dorking RH4 1XA, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1306 646 600

Fax: +44 (0)1306 646 552

Email: info