Herbal Remedies - A National Solution

EDM number 1516 in 2001-02, proposed by Brian Iddon on 26/06/2002.

That this House commends efforts to develop a new regulatory framework for herbal remedies which promotes public protection through improved safety and manufacturing standards whilst ensuring that consumers continue to have access to a wide range of popular herbal products; regrets that the European Directive on Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products leaves outside its scope several categories of product including any safe product brought to market over the last 30 years, any safe mixture of two or more herbal ingredients which does not have a 30 year tradition of use in that particular combination, any safe product which is a combination of herbs with nutrients such as vitamins and minerals, and any safe new product which has been on the market outside Europe for many years but not in Europe, so leading to the loss of many products and preventing all new product development in this sector; urges that progress of the Directive be delayed to permit a more meaningful debate about the appropriate regulation of herbal remedies and that it be substantially amended to reduce its adverse impact on industry and consumers; and suggests that if the Directive proceeds in anything like its current form, than the Secretary of State should bring forward parallel proposals for a national regulatory solution along the lines of that proposed by the Health Food Manufacturers' Association to provide a secure home for safe and popular products that would otherwise be outside the Directive's scope.

This motion has been signed by a total of 119 MPs.