Herbal drug crackdown: Europe to ban hundreds of natural remedies in UK next year

[no_hypocrisy]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1342747/Herbal-drug-crackdown-Europe-ban-hundreds-natural-remedies-year.html\

Patients are set to lose access to hundreds of herbal medicines next year, as European regulations come into force.

Sales of all herbal remedies, except for a small number of popular products for 'mild' illness such as echinacea for colds, will be banned to the public from May 1.
Under the new law traditional products must be licensed or prescribed by a registered herbal practitioner.

-more-

[RKP5637]

1. They seem to know no limits anymore - sounds more and more like

a police state all the time. Now they will fuel the black market. I'm fed up with all of this nanny crap. Yep, we're taking away your freedom of choice to protect you.

[truedelphi]

9. Major governments never mind us dosing ourselves in

The rads from Nuclear waste, electronic smog, HFCS, MSG, or too much noise pollution.

But let someone with an upset tummy decide to drink some peppermint tea, and it's like Hell's Bells, how can we in the government, caring as we do about the health of our citizens, ever let this happen!

[Webster Green]

2. Fascism is sweeping the planet.

The US is leading the way, of course.

Free the herbs! :wtf:

[tabatha]

3. Yep, free the herbs.

Does this mean that the next step is to ban cultivation of the herbs?

That is truly orwellian.

[TalkingDog]

7. Oh... you mean my flower garden? Whatever are you talking about?

What are they going to do? Pave nature?

[tabatha]

12. I doubt that.

But if they ban a herb for sale, people can just grow them in their yards defeating the ban.

[DCKit]

16. And everyone on the block can specialize in a different plant(s).

Then, of course, they'll bust everyone on conspiracy charges.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Can someone tell me if GATT would force this country to adopt similar legislation?

[glinda]

6. They have been trying to do this here. The whole thing is about $$$$$$$$.

[eridani]

5. Why is Germany going along with this?

Herbal remedies are highly regulated there as far as content of principal active ingredients, and are as widely prescribed by regular doctors as pharmaceutical prodicts.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. Echinacea is not effective on viruses which cause colds.

There, now that I have that out of the way..

wonder if it will be illegal to order them in Europe, from here?

I sense Big Pharma in the middle of this.

[truedelphi]

10. I imagine, It all depends on which study you wanna cite.

I never found it effective myself, but other people I know do. And if it's a placebo, well, maybe that is okay too. For one thing, it is a rather cheap remedy. And as long as a person is using it as most people do, what's the difference?

But like you say, it is pretty easy to suspect that Big Pharma is behind all this.

Just like Big Pharma is so adamantly opposed to medical marijuana. They know damn well it helps some types of cancer, and some types of neurological afflictions, but they wanna make sure that they get the money for their patented cannibanoids, and not have us growing it ourselves.

[RKP5637]

11. Yep, just follow the money trail. As I recall, Bill Clinton wanted to do the same here way

back??? A drs. prescription would be required ...

[felix_numinous]

13. Heads up to those who care

keep your seed banks fully stocked.

[semillama]

14. I don't see the problem here.

If the stuff is actual "medicine" shouldn't it be subject to licensing and prescription like any other medicine? Wouldn't this in fact help legitimize their use in treatment?

But if you make money off such products, any regulation is seen as a bad thing, especially if the product being touted has minimal to no real effect.

[hedgehog]

18. I'd love to see better regulation of non-traditional medicine in this country.

My understanding is that glucosomine is a very effective treatment for mild osteo-arthritis. My husband swears by it. The problem is that it is totally unregulated, so you have no assurance whatsoever about what's in a given bottle. If the industry was regulated, you could be confident about what you are buying.

[BuddhaGirl]

25. it is not "totally unregulated"

To be certain of your products, buy GMP certified supplements.

It's great that it's helping your husband :thumbsup:


What is GMP

GMP refers to the Good Manufacturing Practice Regulations promulgated by the US Food and Drug Administration under the authority of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (See Chapter IV for food, and Chapter V, Subchapters A, B, C, D, and E for drugs and devices.) These regulations, which have the force of law, require that manufacturers, processors, and packagers of drugs, medical devices, some food, and blood take proactive steps to ensure that their products are safe, pure, and effective. GMP regulations require a quality approach to manufacturing, enabling companies to minimize or eliminate instances of contamination, mixups, and errors. This in turn, protects the consumer from purchasing a product which is not effective or even dangerous. Failure of firms to comply with GMP regulations can result in very serious consequences including recall, seizure, fines, and jail time.

GMP regulations address issues including recordkeeping, personnel qualifications, sanitation, cleanliness, equipment verification, process validation, and complaint handling. Most GMP requirements are very general and open-ended, allowing each manufacturer to decide individually how to best implement the necessary controls. This provides much flexibility, but also requires that the manufacturer interpret the requirements in a manner which makes sense for each individual business.

http://www.ispe.org/cs/resource_library_section/gmp_section/what_is_gmp

[Celebration]

24. like aspirin and tylenol???

Oh, wait.................

[BuddhaGirl]

26. LOL!!

n/t

[superduperfarleft]

29. Are asprin and tylenol completely unregulated? n/t

[LeftishBrit]

15. They are not being banned; they are being made 'prescription-only'

And herbalists would normally be the ones prescribing them - it doesn't have to be 'orthodox' doctors.

On the whole, powerful medicines and those for serious illnesses *are* prescription-only; the same goes for 'pharma' medicines. It is just basic consumer protection. (The laws in Europe are also much tougher than in America about direct advertising of 'pharma' medicines; and I like it that way!)

And for the 897th time: DON'T take the Daily Mail's word for anything. It is a very sensational newspaper, and very right-wing - and in the UK right-wingers generally have a very strong axe to grind against anything to do with the EU.

[laconicsax]

17. But getting worked up over right-wing sensationalism is so much fun!

I mean, Why bother with facts when you can get all worked up over sensationalist hype?

[xchrom]

23. +1

[superduperfarleft]

28. No, the Daily Fail would never lie to me!

And I demand my wholly unregulated tiger penises this instant!

[evirus]

19. consumer choice only works when the consumer is educated...

in basic critical thinking skills, which they are frequently not. instead of buying the product based an an intelligent decision, the way these products are frequnetly advertised leads the consumer to buy it based on emotion.

they don't do research through peer reviewed sources looking for adequate medical trials. they go to sites with an anti corporate agenda talking about how pharmaceutical companies are purposefully keeping us sick to turn a profit, or a site thats selling the product and eat up the claims of how someone's relative took the "herbal treatment" and got better, without realizing how unscientific it is. a thousand people claiming they got better through taking the product is no match for a properly blinded and controlled medical trail that actually reveals the amount of people how didn't benefit from the treatment.

[BuddhaGirl]

21. "critical thinking skills" - would also apply to those

who do not think about or research the pharmaceutical drugs that doctors prescribe - they're just happy to pop anything they're told, side effects be damned.

[LeftishBrit]

22. It can apply to any sort of medicine

Which is why there are restrictions on what medicines are available over the counter; the need for prescriptions and regulations; (at least in Europe) advertising of medicines, etc.

This is not about making alternative medicines *more* regulated than conventional medicines, let alone banning them; it's about introducing some of the same level of regulation.

As any medicine has side effects, people should think carefully about *any* medicine that they take including prescription drugs; but the solution is not to introduce or accept a free-market free-for-all. This may be OK for not-very-powerful drugs for minor conditions; but not for powerful drugs or for serious illnesses.

[evirus]

27. Thats a good point

all things have side effects, the only difference between modern medicine and the "alternative" varity is that the "alternatives" aren't regulated to the extant that they would need to find and reveal side effects.

[Codeine]

20. Really? We're linking to the Mail now?

Honestly?