Is EU ban on natural remedies reasonable?

After doubts about this campaign, I’ve decided to support it. While there are some unscrupulous purveyors of alternative medicines, I’m convinced the EU is being too restrictive if it bans remedies that have not been on sale for 15 years in EU already.

Key points:

1. The current EU Directive, aiming to introduce a simplified registration procedure for herbal medicines is seriously flawed, rendering many products completely ineligible for registration and erecting insurmountable hurdles for others.

2. Rules dictate that traditional herbal medicines cannot be licensed unless they have been in use for 30 years, 15 of which in the EU. The suspicion must be that multinational drug companies are applying some serious arm-twisting, as with Poppy for Medicine.

3. In several countries fewer than 5 herbal products have been registered during the 7 year period allowed by the EC. So far not a single non-European traditional medicine products has been approved. This means that ayurvedic, Chinese, and other Asian medicine with hundreds of years of use, now cannot be sold as medicines. This was recognised by the European Commission itself in a 2008 report, which urged extending the Directive to cover them. Nothing has been done about that.

4. Consumers will be forced to buy them from the internet, if they can’t find them in pharmacies. That will be less safe, as they won’t be able to get advice on dosage and possible side effects when mixed with other medicines. These regulations reduce consumer choice, while failing to bring in a comprehensive and effective safety regime.

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