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News & Views
Stock Pile Your Herbal Remedies Now Before They’re Banned!
Date: 22/02/11
Keywords: Codex Alimentarius, European Food Safety Authority, Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive, Alternative medicine, Natural remedies, supplements
Natural health is under serious threat! I’m referring to the European Union (EU) Traditional Herbal Medicinal
Products Directive (THMPD), which is set to take full effect from 1 May 2011.
Under the THMPD, a traditional herbal medicine must be able to prove that it’s been used for 30 years in the EU – or 15 years in the EU and 15 years elsewhere – for it to be licensed.
It’s like swimming in a stormy sea... barely being able to keep head
above water...
I’m referring to the European Union (EU) Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD), which is set to take full effect from 1 May 2011.
With so many twists and turns it’s difficult to know what’s going on half the time.
UK Ministers plans to side step the directive will have little benefit
The latest development is that the UK government has planned to side step the THMPD in an effort to ‘protect consumers’ using herbal products, most of which will disappear from health food store shelves after April 30.
Under the THMPD, a traditional herbal medicine must be able to prove that it’s been used for 30 years in the EU – or 15 years in the EU and 15 years elsewhere – for it to be licensed.
This ‘licensing process’ costs between £80,000 to £120,000, making it almost impossible for many practitioners to afford... As a result thousands of alternative and natural remedies risk being permanently wiped from the slate... many of which have been proven to be effective.
However, the UK government plans to allow alternative medicine practitioners to continue to supply unlicensed herbal medicines to patients... but only if (and there is always an ‘if’ and a ‘but’) they register (by law) with the Health Professionals Council. In fact, according to UK Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, herbalists will be reclassified as ‘authorised healthcare professionals’.
As a result we’ll all be backed into a corner. Forced to pay through our nose for a consultation with an ‘authorised healthcare practitioner’ for something we’d normally pay only a fraction of the price for from Holland and Barret!
Countless herbs, including hawthorn berry, used for alleviating angina pain, and cat’s claw, relied upon by many arthritis sufferers, will no longer be stocked in health food stores... the only way to obtain them will be through an authorised healthcare professional. This will have a devastating effect on health food stores... and not only that... Once removed from the high street these ‘black listed’ remedies will become increasingly expensive because they won’t be available at competitive prices, forcing patients to pay the price they’re being told too. This most definitely won’t give patients more choice, but instead it will turn alternative medicine into a 'treatment of choice' for the rich!
Hypocrisy at large
So far, the UK’s medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has released a list of the 79 herbal products registered for use in the UK... Note that these are products not ingredients... In fact, 27 of the 79 registrations are for just two herbs, Valerian (15) and Echinacea (12)...
Only 34 ingredients (plant species) have been approved so far, none of which are Chinese or Indian (Ayurvedic) herbal products. These being the two most well-established herbal traditions in the world.
A greater concern is, if you look at their labels, you’ll find over 100 additive ‘nasties’ in most (but not all) of the registered products. These include the detergent sodium lauryl sulphate, the controversial sweeteners aspartame and sodium cyclamate, artificial preservatives, such as E215, E217 and E219, and various polymers, such as butylated methacrylate copolymer, polyvinylpyrrolidone and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The latter is recognised by government authorities to cause cancer in laboratory animals.
So how does that work? The MHRA's list approved only 34 plant species out of a total of more than 1000 that are commonly used as medicinal herbs... yet its perfectly acceptable to contaminate some of these remedies with carcinogenic additives!
Where’s the logic in that? Or should I replace that too... Where’s the consumer protection in that?
Of course, this should come as no surprise. Almost one third of the approved products registered in the UK are from pharmaceutical companies! Trust Big Pharma to dip their hand in the pot of gold...
The fight is far from over
There’s just no moving forward with these guys... ultimately modern medicine has found its roots in traditional medicine. Surely, there is a place for both without this constant tug of war?
In response to the government’s decision, Prof. David Colquhoun from the Imperial College London, said: ‘The government has just given its approval to things, that by and large, don’t work.’ One of Britain’s leading pharmacologists claimed that Mr. Lansley is ‘lending credibility to quacks and charlatans’.
Well, if you’re prescribing drugs like statins that cause numerous dangerous side effects and ultimately destroy people’s quality of life, that's when we're talking about real quackery... now there’s something that, by and large, doesn’t work! Where’s the ‘consumer protection’ when it comes to these insidious drugs and others like them?
Our fight is far from over. Luckily we have people like Dr. Robert Verkerk from the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), who’s been campaigning in favour of natural and sustainable approaches to healthcare. The ANH is launching a High Court action In March to legally challenge the THMPD in the hope of getting the case referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the basis that the directive is ”disproportionate, non-transparent and discriminatory”.
To find out more about the ANH and information on how you can help them in their cause, click here:
Related Reading:
The Harmonising of Supplements is Bringing Anything but Harmony
Don’t Be Fooled by the Mainstream’s Anti-Vitamin Campaign
EU Supplement Crackdown: Time is Ticking Away... Your Freedom to Choose is in Jeopardy
Sources:
‘UK herbalists to be statutorily regulated with Health Professions Council’ published online 16.02.11, anh-europe.org
‘EU herb directive keeps consumers in the dark’ online 16.02.11, anh- europe.org
‘India to EU: Relax ban on ayurvedic, herbal drugs’ published online 17.02.11, timesofindia.indiatimes.com
‘Herbal medicine to be regulated, says Andrew Lansley’ published online 16.02.11, telegraph.co.uk ‘Herbal medicines will survive after ministers approve plan that bypasses EU directive’ published online 17.02.11, dailymail.co.uk
Back to topI’m referring to the European Union (EU) Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD), which is set to take full effect from 1 May 2011.
With so many twists and turns it’s difficult to know what’s going on half the time.
UK Ministers plans to side step the directive will have little benefit
The latest development is that the UK government has planned to side step the THMPD in an effort to ‘protect consumers’ using herbal products, most of which will disappear from health food store shelves after April 30.
Under the THMPD, a traditional herbal medicine must be able to prove that it’s been used for 30 years in the EU – or 15 years in the EU and 15 years elsewhere – for it to be licensed.
This ‘licensing process’ costs between £80,000 to £120,000, making it almost impossible for many practitioners to afford... As a result thousands of alternative and natural remedies risk being permanently wiped from the slate... many of which have been proven to be effective.
However, the UK government plans to allow alternative medicine practitioners to continue to supply unlicensed herbal medicines to patients... but only if (and there is always an ‘if’ and a ‘but’) they register (by law) with the Health Professionals Council. In fact, according to UK Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, herbalists will be reclassified as ‘authorised healthcare professionals’.
As a result we’ll all be backed into a corner. Forced to pay through our nose for a consultation with an ‘authorised healthcare practitioner’ for something we’d normally pay only a fraction of the price for from Holland and Barret!
Countless herbs, including hawthorn berry, used for alleviating angina pain, and cat’s claw, relied upon by many arthritis sufferers, will no longer be stocked in health food stores... the only way to obtain them will be through an authorised healthcare professional. This will have a devastating effect on health food stores... and not only that... Once removed from the high street these ‘black listed’ remedies will become increasingly expensive because they won’t be available at competitive prices, forcing patients to pay the price they’re being told too. This most definitely won’t give patients more choice, but instead it will turn alternative medicine into a 'treatment of choice' for the rich!
Hypocrisy at large
So far, the UK’s medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has released a list of the 79 herbal products registered for use in the UK... Note that these are products not ingredients... In fact, 27 of the 79 registrations are for just two herbs, Valerian (15) and Echinacea (12)...
Only 34 ingredients (plant species) have been approved so far, none of which are Chinese or Indian (Ayurvedic) herbal products. These being the two most well-established herbal traditions in the world.
A greater concern is, if you look at their labels, you’ll find over 100 additive ‘nasties’ in most (but not all) of the registered products. These include the detergent sodium lauryl sulphate, the controversial sweeteners aspartame and sodium cyclamate, artificial preservatives, such as E215, E217 and E219, and various polymers, such as butylated methacrylate copolymer, polyvinylpyrrolidone and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The latter is recognised by government authorities to cause cancer in laboratory animals.
So how does that work? The MHRA's list approved only 34 plant species out of a total of more than 1000 that are commonly used as medicinal herbs... yet its perfectly acceptable to contaminate some of these remedies with carcinogenic additives!
Where’s the logic in that? Or should I replace that too... Where’s the consumer protection in that?
Of course, this should come as no surprise. Almost one third of the approved products registered in the UK are from pharmaceutical companies! Trust Big Pharma to dip their hand in the pot of gold...
The fight is far from over
There’s just no moving forward with these guys... ultimately modern medicine has found its roots in traditional medicine. Surely, there is a place for both without this constant tug of war?
In response to the government’s decision, Prof. David Colquhoun from the Imperial College London, said: ‘The government has just given its approval to things, that by and large, don’t work.’ One of Britain’s leading pharmacologists claimed that Mr. Lansley is ‘lending credibility to quacks and charlatans’.
Well, if you’re prescribing drugs like statins that cause numerous dangerous side effects and ultimately destroy people’s quality of life, that's when we're talking about real quackery... now there’s something that, by and large, doesn’t work! Where’s the ‘consumer protection’ when it comes to these insidious drugs and others like them?
Our fight is far from over. Luckily we have people like Dr. Robert Verkerk from the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), who’s been campaigning in favour of natural and sustainable approaches to healthcare. The ANH is launching a High Court action In March to legally challenge the THMPD in the hope of getting the case referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the basis that the directive is ”disproportionate, non-transparent and discriminatory”.
To find out more about the ANH and information on how you can help them in their cause, click here:
Related Reading:
The Harmonising of Supplements is Bringing Anything but Harmony
Don’t Be Fooled by the Mainstream’s Anti-Vitamin Campaign
EU Supplement Crackdown: Time is Ticking Away... Your Freedom to Choose is in Jeopardy
Sources:
‘UK herbalists to be statutorily regulated with Health Professions Council’ published online 16.02.11, anh-europe.org
‘EU herb directive keeps consumers in the dark’ online 16.02.11, anh- europe.org
‘India to EU: Relax ban on ayurvedic, herbal drugs’ published online 17.02.11, timesofindia.indiatimes.com
‘Herbal medicine to be regulated, says Andrew Lansley’ published online 16.02.11, telegraph.co.uk ‘Herbal medicines will survive after ministers approve plan that bypasses EU directive’ published online 17.02.11, dailymail.co.uk
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