Let’s keep those tried and true remedies

Philippa Jamieson checks out a herbal medicine business that is under threat from the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill.

The premises of ARTEMIS Herbal Medicine are just as warm and sunny as the beautiful Dunedin day outside. Sandra Clair shows me into her office, and offers me a cup of one of her herbal teas: ‘Tummy Tea’, to help me digest my lunch.

Sandra is a Swiss herbalist who moved to New Zealand in 1995. Her training was a three-year apprenticeship with a Catholic nun who was a herbalist and midwife, whose traditions go back to the twelfth century and the knowledge of Hildegard of Bingen. Sandra also has a Masters in ethnomedicine (University of Berne) and is in her last year of a post-graduate degree in health science (University of New England, Australia).