Herbalism

MODALITY: HERBALISM

e.g Ayurvedic, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Unani, Western Herbalism, other traditional herbalist practitioners…

Breaking News...

ANH-Intl intention to initiate legal challenge to European directive THMPD

Alliance for Natural Health International has announced its intention to initiate a legal challenge to the European directive on traditional herbal medicines. Interested parties are urged to contact us as a matter of urgency.

See ANH Press Release 22nd March 2010: ANH set to challenge EU herb law

and ANH Press Release 19th May 2010: Chinese traditional medicine interests express grave concerns over European legislation

Read ANH Feature: EU Herb Laws

Legislative Risks

Herbalists are in the process of being affected by the following EU laws.

Click on the links below to read about how this legislation may affect you:

Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive
    European Commission summary
ANH summary
   EC specific provisions
    ANH briefing paper THMPD
    ANH response to EMEA re THMPD challenges
   EC Medicinal products for human use (herbal) - Major developments

Human Medicinal Products Directive
European Commission summary
ANH summary

Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation
   European Commission summary
   ANH summary
   ANH briefing paper NHCR updated Dec 09
   EFSA webpage on NHCR with published opinions

Novel Foods and Novel Food Ingredients Regulation
European Commission summary
ANH summary

UK herbalists concern about statutory regulation

Herbalists in the UK are understandably deeply concerned about the future of herbal medicine and their ability to access herbal products and to continue practising, especially now that the UK Medicines Act 1968, Section 12(2) is soon to be superseded by EU law, Section 12(1) is also under threat. There are now concerns about what the last Government announced regarding statutory regulation (SR), which many believe falls woefully short of what is required. SR is is now seen by many herbalists as the only hope for maintaining supply of herbal products. Chinese medicine, and Ayurvedic sectors rely particularly on traditional formulations made by third-party supply. There are some herbalists, however, who are particularly unhappy about the idea of SR.

Interested parties had called on as many practitioners—and their patients and supporters —as possible to respond to the UK Department of Health (DoH) “joint consultation on the Report to Ministers from the DH Steering Group on the Statutory Regulation of Practitioners of Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Other Traditional Medicine Systems Practised in the UK”. The consultation closed on 16th November. Herbalists and practitoners, and their supporters were urged to make their views known to their Members of Parliament (MPs)—this was seen by some as a last chance café for national democracy, before it’s all swept away in the wake of the Lisbon Treaty which will see all public health matters—throughout Europe—managed centrally in Brussels.

Read more about this in our October news item "UK herbalists threatened by Government inaction over statutory regulation".

1st December 2009: Prince Charles urges the UK Government to regulate herbal medicine.

3rd February 2010: Mass lobby of MPs by herbalists calling for the statutory regulation of herbal practitioners.

19th March 2010: NIMH Press Release 'Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Health, urged by NIMH not to make the wrong decision on statutory regulation of herbal medicine'

UK Health Secretary 'minded to legislate' for regulation of Herbalists. Read Times Online article.

1st April 2010: EHTPA Press Release 'Government woefully short on detail on herbal regulation'.

Scientific Risks

The use of the randomised controlled trial, or more rather its abuse, along with meta-analyses and systematic reviews based on these types of trials, to evaluate herbalism, creates a big hurdle for herbalism, whether of European or non-European origin.

To find out about how professor Ernst and colleagues are, in the opinion of the ANH, misleading us, read the following articles:

ANH article: Are we being hoodwinked by alternative medicine or by one of its professors?

New attack on herbal medicine by Prof Ernst and colleagues

UK anti-comp med campaign given another stab by Prof Ernst

Studies encouraging a safety crackdown on herbs

A new Canadian study in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, December 2009, warns of potential harm associated with the increased use of herbal medicinal products, and calls for various measures to "more accurately elucidate the toxicity of herbal medicines".

Read more in NutraIngredients article: 'More Safeguards needed for Herbal Medicinal Products: Study'

A University of Adelaide study, published online in Journal of Forensic Sciences, January 2010 also attempts to warn of various risks associated with herbal medicine, but, according to the founder and chief executive of American Botanical Council (ABC), Mark Blumenthal, "the paper suffers from gross and misinformed generalizations such as the idea that botanicals are inherently unsafe, whereas pharma products are safe". The author also refers to toad venom as a botanical!

Read more about this ABC rebuttal, in NutraIngredients-USA.com article: 'Herb attack scientist fails to get facts straight: ABC'

Media Risks

There has been a plethora of press which aims to show herbalism in a bad light. Here is a key example:

PhD girl is killed by Chinese treatment: Did Ling ‘Carrie’ Wang really die of an adverse reaction to a Chinese herbal medicine? Is there proper evidence of a link between her taking Jin Bu Huang and suffering liver poisoning, leading to her death? Is this problem linked to all herbal medicines – or could it have been a bad batch? What of the 200 or so deaths a year in the UK alone from Over-The-Counter (OTC) paracetamol which is rarely reported in the media…?