New Zealand First Leader, Rt Hon Winston Peters today described the granting of $600,000 by the Health Research Council to Canterbury University doctors, Annie Potts, Tiina Vares and others, to study the ‘implications of prosexual pharmaceutical use’, as “evidence of an irresponsible squandering of taxpayers funds”.

“Every evening our television news provides us with examples of people in serious distress because they are unable to receive the basic health treatment they so desperately need,” Mr Peters said.

“Whilst accepting that for a small number of people the emotional and sexual effects of viagra may be of more than passing interest, for the vast majority of New Zealanders, the need to access basic health care is of far greater importance. If we have now found such large sums of taxpayer funds to finance this sort of research, surely the more mainstream issues such as cancer research, child illnesses, or combating the growing Aids epidemic, would be of more immediate benefit and for a far greater number of New Zealanders,” Mr Peters suggested.

“If doctors wish to pursue academic initiatives such as the implications of prosexual pharmaceutical use, let them fund it themselves or seek funding from the drug manufacturers. We should not be using our meagre health dollars on such issues, while we cannot meet the basic health needs of our communities first,” concluded Mr Peters.

ENDS

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