New Experts Join NHF Advisory Board

December  2005
 

 

Erica Murray

 

Erica Murray was born in 1949 in Ireland where she still lives. Graduating in social science in Dublin, she completed a post-graduate professional qualification in social work in Wales.  She subsequently worked for a number of years as a social worker with families and children at risk.  During this time she joined the Executive of the Irish Family Planning Associ-ation, which was campaigning for the legalisation of contraception.  Born with eczema, Erica began a search for alternatives to steroid therapy, which she underwent regularly in the 1970s.  This search led her and her husband, Jimmy, in 1979, to open a health food store in Dublin called The Hopsack, which they still run to this day, together with their son, Finn.  Through diet and the use of herbs, nutritional supple-ments, homeopathy, and acupunc-ture, Erica has learned to manage her eczema through natural means over the past 25 years. 

Erica is a founding member of the Irish Association of Health Stores which was set up in 1986, and now embraces more than 80% of all Irish health stores.  In 2000, Erica was part of an action group set up to try to prevent the banning of St. John’s Wort in Ireland.  Although unsuc-cessful, this subsequently led her to work with the Alliance for Natural Health, working as their Campaign Manager for Ireland from 2003 to 2005. Erica also networks with those heading up campaigns allied to health freedom, including anti-GM and anti-fluoride, with Ireland being the only country in the world that has national mandatory fluoridation of its water system. 

Currently Erica is undertaking a four-year diploma in herbalism and iridology at the Irish School of Natural Healing.  Married with two grown children, she and her husband also run an organic farm.

 

Although a retailer, Erica is first and foremost a passionate consumer and health-freedom fighter.  She is committed to providing information and education to facilitate informed choices, particularly in the field of health care. She is also a staunch advocate of the consumer’s right to choose.  E-mail: hopsack@iol.ie

 

Robert Verkerk, BSc, MSc, DIC, PhD


Dr. Robert Verkerk is an internationally acclaimed expert in sustainability. During the course of his work over the last 22 years, he has focused on a diverse array of issues ranging from environmental protection to reducing pesticide and synthetic chemical inputs in homes and in agriculture to the promotion of sustainable healthcare systems.

He spent some 10 years as an academic at Imperial College in London, England, first as a student, undertaking both his Masters and PhD degrees there, before going on to some 7 years as a postdoctoral Research Fellow. He has worked extensively in Australia, Africa, and Central and South East Asia, and has regularly acted as an advisor to governments and development agen-cies. Dr Verkerk is a Patron of the College of Naturopathic Medicine.

In 2002, he founded the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), a pan-European and international, non-partisan, not-for-profit campaign organisation dedicated to positively shaping the regulatory environment to allow the future dev-elopment of natural and sustainable healthcare. The ANH and the NHF have worked closely together in fighting restrictive, anti-health-freedom laws and regulations and Dr. Verkerk's joining the NHF Advisory Board is part of the closer relationship that has developed between the two health-freedom organizations.

Dr. Verkerk currently resides in a gorgeous part of England with his wife, assortment of children and teens, and their cats.
 

 

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