Complaints against products and services making health claims
Daniel Ryan made this Official Information request to Ministry of Health
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From: Daniel Ryan
Dear Ministry of Health,
For the complaints in the past ten years for products and services making health claims:
1) How many are currently in an investigation?
2) How many complaints were received?
3) How many complaints were rejected?
4) How many complaints were completed?
5) What companies/persons are in an investigation?
6) What complaints were rejected against which company/persons? Why were they rejected?
7) Which complaints were completed and what action was taken against those companies/persons?
Helpful keywords:
“cure”, “treat”, “therapeutic”, “therapy”, “remedy”, “curing”, “treatment”, “medicinal”, “healing”, and “relief”, “restore”, “curative”, “heal”, “restoration”, “remedial, “relieving” and “corrective”.
Yours faithfully,
Daniel Ryan
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora,
Thank you for your Official Information Act (the Act) request. This is
an automatic reply to let you know we received it.
Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic response, the Ministry is experiencing
significantly higher volumes of queries and requests for information. We
will endeavour to acknowledge your request as soon as possible. Further
information about COVID-19 can be found on our
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Please be advised that due dates for requests received from 29 November
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Day after News Year's Day (2 January 2022)
If you'd like to calculate the due date for your request, you can use the
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If you have any questions while we're processing your request, please let
us know via [3][email address]
Ngā mihi
OIA Services Team
[4]Ministry of Health information releases
[5]Unite against COVID-19
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2. http://scanmail.trustwave.com/?c=15517&a...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
5. https://covid19.govt.nz/
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Daniel,
Thank you for your request for information.
So that we can provide you with the correct information, can you please
elaborate on the kinds of products and services you are referring to? i.e.
food products, supplements etc.
We look forward to your response.
Nga mihi,
OIA Services
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From: Daniel Ryan <[FYI request #17878 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 8 December 2021 01:22
To: OIA Requests <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Complaints against products and
services making health claims
Dear Ministry of Health,
For the complaints in the past ten years for products and services making
health claims:
1) How many are currently in an investigation?
2) How many complaints were received?
3) How many complaints were rejected?
4) How many complaints were completed?
5) What companies/persons are in an investigation?
6) What complaints were rejected against which company/persons? Why were
they rejected?
7) Which complaints were completed and what action was taken against those
companies/persons?
Helpful keywords:
“cure”, “treat”, “therapeutic”, “therapy”, “remedy”, “curing”,
“treatment”, “medicinal”, “healing”, and “relief”, “restore”, “curative”,
“heal”, “restoration”, “remedial, “relieving” and “corrective”.
Yours faithfully,
Daniel Ryan
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This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.
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[FYI request #17878 email]
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2. https://scanmail.trustwave.com/?c=15517&...
From: Daniel Ryan
To clarify, this was for all products and services making health claims.
If this is too much work, this could be narrowed to only complaints being made about bad health claims (bad testimonials, inappropriate, excessive use, not being truthful, not balanced, misleading, etc.) for all products and services.
Yours sincerely,
Daniel Ryan
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Daniel,
Would it be possible to narrow the scope of your request further by
providing a more specific topic you are looking for complaints on? For
example, a specific medicine, food product, or type service provider.
We look forward to receiving your response.
Ngâ mihi
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [1][email address]
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From: Daniel Ryan <[FOI #17878 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 15 December 2021 11:43
To: OIA Requests <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Official Information request - Complaints against products
and services making health claims
To clarify, this was for all products and services making health claims.
If this is too much work, this could be narrowed to only complaints being
made about bad health claims (bad testimonials, inappropriate, excessive
use, not being truthful, not balanced, misleading, etc.) for all products
and services.
Yours sincerely,
Daniel Ryan
show quoted sections
From: OIA Requests
Tçnâ koe Daniel,
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act) to the Ministry of Health (the Ministry) on 8 December 2021 for:
the complaints in the past ten years for products and services making
health claims:
“1) How many are currently in an investigation?
2) How many complaints were received?
3) How many complaints were rejected?
4) How many complaints were completed?
5) What companies/persons are in an investigation?
6) What complaints were rejected against which company/persons? Why were
they rejected?
7) Which complaints were completed and what action was taken against those
companies/persons?”
Helpful keywords:
“cure”, “treat”, “therapeutic”, “therapy”, “remedy”, “curing”,
“treatment”, “medicinal”, “healing”, and “relief”, “restore”, “curative”,
“heal”, “restoration”, “remedial, “relieving” and “corrective”.
On 15 December 2021 you were contacted regarding a request to refine your
request, as it may be refused under sections 18(f) of the Act if it could
not be done without substantial collation or research. You replied the
same day clarifying:
“this was for all products and services making health claims.
If this is too much work, this could be narrowed to only complaints being
made about bad health claims (bad testimonials, inappropriate, excessive
use, not being truthful, not balanced, misleading, etc.) for all products
and services.”
On 28 January 2022 you were contacted again asking you to further refine
your request to a narrower topic, such as a specific medicine, food
product, or type of service provider. Locating any complaints made to the
Ministry would require manually searching through a large number of
inboxes and archives to find mention of complaints made regarding bad
health claims. The Ministry has not received a reply.
As such, your request is refused under section 18(f) as the information
requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or
research. I have considered whether charging or extending the time to
compile the information would enable us to respond. However, I do not
believe it is in the public interest to do so.
The Ministry remain open to working with you on a refined scope of your
request.
Please also note, information regarding health claims may sit with
different government agencies. For example, the Ministry of Health would
hold information regarding complaints made against medicines while the
Ministry for Primary Industries would hold information regarding
complaints made against food products.
Under section 28(3) of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be
contacted by email at: [1][email address] or by calling 0800
802 602.
Nâku noa, nâ
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [2][email address]
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1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
From: Daniel Ryan
Dear OIA Requests,
I apologise for not getting back within these four days since your last email. I still want this information, and I believe it would be good to have this publicly available.
I would have thought you would have a database with this information easily accessible, and I wasn't expecting: "Ministry would require manually searching through a large number of inboxes and archives".
It doesn't need to be totally exact.
I still think all the information would be valuable for my research. But if you don't have a database and it's going to be so much work, then narrow it to complementary/alternative/non-evidence-based medicines (CAM).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fo...
Yours sincerely,
Daniel Ryan
From: OIA Requests
Thank you for your Official Information Act request. This is
an automatic reply to let you know we received it.
In accordance with the Act, we'll let you know our decision within no more
than 20 working days. If you'd like to calculate the timeframe, you can
use the Ombudsman's online calculator
here: [1]http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic response, the Ministry is experiencing
significantly higher volumes of queries and requests for information. This
means we may take some time in responding to your request. The Ministry
regularly updates information about the COVID-19 situation and publishes
OIA responses considered to be of public interest:
[2]https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
Please also refer to the Unite Against Covid-19 website for copies of
papers, minutes, and key advice for the decisions the Government has made
relating to COVID-19.
Sometimes we may need to clarify aspects of a request. You can expect to
hear from us soon if that is the case here.
Ngā mihi,
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [3][email address]
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2. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
3. mailto:[email address]
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Daniel,
Thank you for your request for official information. The Ministry's
reference number for your request is: H202200771.
As required under the Official Information Act 1982, the Ministry will
endeavour to respond to your request no later than 20 working days after
the day your request was received. If you'd like to calculate the
timeframe, you can use the Ombudsman's online calculator
here: [1]http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic response, the Ministry is experiencing
significantly higher volumes of queries and requests for information. If
we are unable to respond to your request within this time frame, we will
notify you of an extension of that time frame.
If you have any queries related to this request, please do not hesitate to
get in touch.
Ngā mihi
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [2][email address]
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From: OIA Requests
Tçnâ koe Daniel,
Thank you for your request and further suggestion of refinement under the
Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) to the Ministry of Health (the
Ministry) on 1 February 2022, following on from your previous request
(H202117331):
The terms “health claims” and
“complementary/alternative/non-evidence-based medicines (CAM)” are not
defined in either the Medicines Act 1981 or the Dietary Supplements
Regulations 1985. Medsafe does not use this terminology when recording
complaints and investigations relating to products in its database.
Medsafe primarily uses the Medicines Act to carry out investigations and
take actions. This means that any product, that has not been granted
consent for distribution as a medicine, for which a therapeutic claim is
made, or which contains a scheduled substance, is investigated as an
unapproved medicine.
In preparing a response to another request for information in regard to
‘sports supplements’ that were notified in the five years prior to
December 2021, Medsafe performed searches of its database and identified
close to 1800 investigations that were potentially within scope. Each of
those investigations would need to have been reviewed to identify whether
it was in scope or not. Your request is broader, and covers a longer time
period. I have considered whether charging or extending the time to
compile the information would enable us to respond. However, I do not
believe it is in the public interest to do so. On this basis your request
is refused under section 18(f) of the Act, as providing a response would
require substantial collation and research. This is considered
‘substantial’ as it would have a significant and unreasonable impact on
Medsafe and its ability to carry out critical operations.
Under section 28(3) of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be
contacted by email at: [1][email address] or by calling 0800
802 602.
Nâku noa, nâ
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [2][email address]
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1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
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