Dietary Supplements And Nutritional Therapy

EDM number 578 in 1992-93, proposed by Nicholas Winterton on 19/10/1992.

That this House notes that 20 million British people take vitamin, mineral and other dietary supplements for the health benefits they experience; further notes that nutritional therapy practitioners seek to help many people to regain their health with these products; welcomes the fact that in the United Kingdom dietary supplements are freely available to consumers who are protected by legislation against unproven claims about medicinal effects; notes that in some European countries excessively stringent regulation has led to virtual monopoly in the supply of dietary supplements being given to pharmacists, that prices have risen dramatically and that availability has been significantly reduced; views with concern the European Commission's proposals to harmonise such regulations throughout Europe and urges Her Majesty's Government to continue to oppose any attempts unreasonably to restrict the access of British consumers to dietary supplements of their choice, and to seek exemption for the United Kingdom from any future European Directive which would create an expensive and restrictive positive list system or would result in the reduced availability of these popular products.

This motion has been signed by a total of 165 MPs.