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"id": 225857,
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"speaker_name": "Eng. Okundi",
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"legal_name": "Philip Okoth Okundi",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me a chance to second and support this very important Bill; The Nutritionists and Dieticians Bill. I want to talk about this Bill from the point of view of advancement which is in place in many countries and also some scientific advancements which will affect us. We all know that our old mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers used to feed largely on natural foods; vegetables of 766 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 18, 2007 various kinds like mushrooms. These kinds of foods had the effect of naturally introducing treatment which made our people more healthy and lengthened their lives substantially. However, with the advancement of science, unless we have control on nutrition, we will come into contact with various food products and preservatives. This will be partly due to so many changes in the way of enhancing incomes in the food production industry. As the body takes these kinds of foods, we find that there have been very many and varied effects to the body. The result is, scientifically, there will be major hormonal changes because the body is controlled by various hormones it produces. These hormones dictate the manner in which various foods and substances which come into the blood circulation and body digestion system will operate for your benefit or unhappiness in terms of disease. So, hormonal changes have made people at a very young age not to be able to digest certain foods, particularly, calcium, potassium, iron and certain other minerals. You, therefore, find that people are being urged to buy various tablets. For instance, we now have companies like the South African-based GNLD which sells various tablets. You are told by anybody who is not even a doctor; not a properly qualified medical practitioner, that if you take those tablets they will help you in a certain way. We also have drug sellers using the Chinese tablets and drugs called TIANSHI. Again, they will tell you that if you do certain things, they will help in a particular way and so on. What this means is the absence of a proper legal framework to guide our food industry. I think this Bill is coming in at the right time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we know the generic drugs. India is one third world country which has done very well in producing generic drugs. Most of the drugs from India are either original or generic drugs. However, these are related to the capacity of the body to digest the various foods that we have so that they can help us. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I believe, and I know that it is common knowledge, that food is the basic medicine for the body. If you feed well, guard yourself and observe meal times, normally, you will maintain a healthy body and become less dependent on doctors' advice all the time on the kind of medicine you need to take. It is, therefore, very important for us to pass this Bill. Let this Bill now become a governing framework which will guide the food industry as a whole. The food industry, the pharmaceutical industry and all other food-related industries have experts who will use the law and even come up with proposals on how to make the law much more proper. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, more advanced countries, like the USA, have extensive laws regarding food and nutrition. People there learn nutrition in various academic branches and do research as well as studies in the universities. So, I think that we better jump ahead and pass this Bill so that we can have an excellent framework which will allow for nutrition to be studied in this country and people to feel confident that they can legally practice in the area of nutrition. That way, they can even offer advice to various drug sellers, like GNLD International and Tianshi International Company. I know that more of these companies will come up. We only used to know of GNLD International, but now we know of Tianshi International Company and almost everybody in our offices sells drugs from these two organisations. Our people are good. Kenyans are very understanding and appreciative of what their colleagues tell them. We do not turn people away. So, you will find even very senior people, including hon. Members here, with these drugs from either GNLD International or Tianshi International Company given to them by people who have never been any where near where these drugs are properly studied and listed. They do not know exactly what these drugs do. What what is being manifested is the fact that there is absence of this law and the fact that people are not dealing with that problem. We know that many of our children have died of malnutrition. In fact, quite often, we see pictures of, say, an African child with a huge tummy and almost no flesh elsewhere on him except the thin bones on his body. What does that indicate? It is all about lack of nutrition. It is a wonder that all this time we have never thought that we can come April 18, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 767 up with a law which can provide us with the opportunity to raise funds to be used to handle issues of nutrition. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, even if our children are dying of malnutrition, as is happening in parts of Africa and also parts of Kenya, we should be able to know, precisely, the kind of nutrition we can give these children supplemented to the foods that are given to them freely so that they can retain good health. I thought that I should highlight these issues even though I am not an expert in this field. However, I know that even in this House, there are people who have graduated in nutrition. This is surely a good area which we can expand on. I am sure we will pass this Bill. With those few remarks, I beg to second."
}