Statutory Regulation of Herbal Medicine
The campaign continues!
Statutory regulation has been under consideration for a decade since the call in 2000 from the House of Lords’ Select Committee on Science and Technology for the statutory regulation of practitioners of herbal medicine and acupuncture. The Government itself backed statutory regulation of this sector in 2001: as recently as 2006 the DH website recorded that “The Government is committed to the statutory regulation of herbal medicine, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.”
Over the past eight years the Department of Health (DH) has initiated three working groups to look at implementing this policy. All three working parties strongly supported the aim of statutory regulation of this sector. In 2005, the DH ran a public consultation on the statutory regulation of herbal medicine and acupuncture. This registered a 98% response in favour of statutory regulation. As a consequence the DH published a timetable for the statutory regulation of this sector with a section 60 order (the legal process to bring this about) to be published later that year. This timetable has not been adhered to. The Government says it will make a decision on this matter but continues to dilly-dally. If statutory regulation does not go ahead with immediate effect, there will be a significant loss of consumer choice and huge damage to many small and medium sized businesses across the herbal supply and manufacturing sector as well as to many herbal practices throughout the UK. It is clear that in not making a decision to go ahead with statutory regulation, the Government is effectively undermining herbal medicine practice in this country.
For this reason, I urge you to write to your MP (again if you've already done so!) to say that the delay in conferring statutory regulation will seriously reduce patient choice and will undermine many small and medium businesses in the herbal practitioner and supply sector. Please email me for a copy of a model letter which explains the situation in detail and which you can copy and send to your MP. I would suggest that you add a sentence or two to say why you are a fan of herbal medicine.
I will be attending a mass lobby of parliament on Wednesday 3rd April to call for the statutory regulation of Herbal Medicine - wish us luck and feel free to join us if you can!! More information about the campaign to support regulation can be found at http://www.saveourherbs.org.uk/.