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Statutory Regulation Of Practitioners Of Herbal Medicine

EDM number 205 in 2013-14, proposed by Bob Russell on 06/06/2013.
Categorised under the topics of Health services and Regulation.

That this House recognises that around eight million UK citizens rely on, use regularly or have used herbal medicines in the past; affirms that loss of the so-called herbalist's exemption, now part of the 2012 Human Medicines Regulations, would deprive herbalists of their prescribing rights in the absence of legislation enacting a state register of qualified herbalists; notes that two public consultations and two parliamentary committees have found overwhelming support for statutory regulation of UK herbal medicine practitioners; recalls the promise made on 16 February 2011 by the then Secretary of State for Health, the right hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire, to set up such a register, a decision described by him at the time as one that 'resolves a long-standing issue, to the benefit of both practitioners and the public who use herbal medicines'; foresees that, in the absence of easy access by the public to herbal medicine practitioners with the ability to prescribe individualised remedies, many people will resort instead to entirely unregulated sources for their herbal medicines, such as the internet; believes that patients obtaining herbal medicines from unregulated sources will put themselves at unnecessary risk; questions the wisdom of restricting UK citizens' healthcare choices at a time both of unprecedented pressure on the National Health Service and of national austerity; and therefore calls on the Government to explain the greater than two-year delay in making available for consultation by the four UK Health departments draft legislation for a framework of statutory regulation for herbal medicine practitioners, and give the House an expected timeframe for the issue of the draft legislation.

This motion has been signed by a total of 26 MPs.

MPDateConstituencyPartyType
Bob Russell06/06/2013ColchesterLiberal DemocratProposed
Jim Shannon10/06/2013StrangfordDUPSeconded
Alan Meale10/06/2013MansfieldLabourSeconded
Andrew Stunell11/06/2013Hazel GroveLiberal DemocratSeconded
Elfyn Llwyd12/06/2013Dwyfor MeirionnyddPlaid CymruSeconded
Linda Riordan12/06/2013HalifaxLabourSeconded
David Simpson12/06/2013Upper BannDUPSigned
Martin Caton12/06/2013GowerLabourSigned
Mike Hancock13/06/2013Portsmouth SouthLiberal DemocratSigned
William McCrea17/06/2013South AntrimDUPSigned
David Tredinnick17/06/2013BosworthConservativeSigned
Malcolm Bruce19/06/2013GordonLiberal DemocratSigned
Roger Godsiff19/06/2013Birmingham, Hall GreenLabourSigned
Simon Reevell20/06/2013DewsburyConservativeSigned
Mark Lazarowicz24/06/2013Edinburgh North and LeithLabourSigned
Joan Ruddock26/06/2013Lewisham, DeptfordLabourSigned
Annette Brooke27/06/2013Mid Dorset and North PooleLiberal DemocratSigned
David Ward27/06/2013Bradford EastLiberal DemocratSigned
Jonathan Edwards27/06/2013Carmarthen East and DinefwrPlaid CymruSigned
Adrian Sanders01/07/2013TorbayLiberal DemocratSigned
Graham Brady05/07/2013Altrincham and Sale WestConservativeSigned
Mike Thornton15/07/2013EastleighLiberal DemocratSigned
Jim Dowd18/07/2013Lewisham West and PengeLabourSigned
Zac Goldsmith09/09/2013Richmond ParkConservativeSigned
Caroline Lucas08/11/2013Brighton, PavilionGreenSigned
Jeremy Corbyn12/12/2013Islington NorthLabourSigned

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