The Fight to Keep Your Herbs Continues
On 30 April 2011, the transitional protection under the Directive on traditional herbal medicinal products (Directive 2004/24/EC) expires. This means that the ‘herbal exemption’ from licensing under Section 12(2) of the Medicines Act 1968 will no longer be available. This change will only allow a number of herbal medicines to be available solely to medical professionals who are “statutorily regulated”, such as GPs.
What does this mean in practice?
- Section 12(2) of the Act allows a herbal medicine practitioner to sell-ready-made products (”unlicensed manufactured herbal remedies”).
- Section 12(2) has also in effect provided a legal basis for a herbal medicine practitioner to draw up a prescription and commission a third-party supplier to prepare that remedy for a particular patient.
- From 30 April 2011, third parties will no longer be able to fulfil prescriptions or sell any products that are deemed to be “industrially produced”.
- This means that herbs which are now available as tablets, capsules and other pharmaceutical finished forms will be classified as “industrially produced” and will therefore be illegal.
- Although Section 12(1) does allow a herbal medicine practitioner to blend unprocessed herbal ingredients into a product tailored to the needs of individual patients, herbal products that have been blended for herbalists to use in their practice will no longer be available.
- In order for these products to remain available to herbalists, the government needs to introduce statutory regulation of herbal medicine practitioners.
Please support us in becoming statutory regulated by supporting the campaigns being run by the following organisations:
- European Herbal & Traditional Medicines Association - http://www.ehtpa.eu/index.html
- National Institute of Medical Herbalists - http://www.nimh.org.uk/
- Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine - http://www.rchm.co.uk/