Save Our Herbs

As became apparent to anyone who took an interest in the details, the issues are complex and varied. To address this, Avena Consultants has contributed the following report. It documents the history of the process leading up to this recent consultation and explores the arguments for and against. Many thanks to Chantel McGrath for all the work she has put into this.

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STATUTORY REGULATION OF HERBALISTS IN THE UK: AN INTRODUCTION

The latest Joint consultation on the Report to Ministers from the DH Steering Group on the SR of Practitioners of Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine and other Traditional Medicine Systems practiced in the UK has engaged many herbalists in the debate over statutory regulation (SR). This particular debate has been rumbling on for more than ten years and has been divisive with both supporters and opponents of SR attempting to argue their case via the medium of the internet and the press. The debate coupled with confusion about wider herbal product legislation and its impact on herbal medicine practice, has left many herbalists and users of herbal medicine confused.

This report attempts to address the issue of the SR by giving a balanced view of the process and all it entails. All information on laws, white papers, guidelines and consultations has been taken from the original documents to give as accurate a picture as possible.

This report has been divided into the following sections:

• Statutory Regulation of Herbalists: An overview
• What is Statutory Regulation?
• Statutory Regulation: Arguments for
• Statutory Regulation: Arguments Against
• A Historical Perspective: Herbal medicine and the law. 1543 to 2009
• How medicinal product regulation works: Globally, EU and UK
• Timeline of development: Regulation of herbalists and legislation of herbal medicines
• Current Legislation: The EU Traditional Medicine Registration Directive 2004 and Amendments to the Medicines Act 1968

…

Read the full report here

Read a summary here

The Department of Health recently ran a consultation to find out whether people think that traditional medicine practitioners should be regulated, or not. The consultation considered Practitioners of Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Other Traditional Medicine Systems Practised in the UK. It closed on the 16th November 2009 and all responses are now being considered.

According to the EHTPA newsletter, over 6000 responses were received. As a result, it will be some time before the responses are all collated and presented to the Department of Health. This gives us time to continue to impress upon our MPs and MSPs our strength of feeling on this issue and urge them to pass these concerns on to the relevant health departments.

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With this in mind, EHPTA are organising a further Mass Lobby of Westminster:

Date: Wednesday 3rd February

Time: 12-4pm

Venue: Old Palace Yard, Westminster

Further details here

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The EHPTA newsletter, Frankincense has news from Westminster and updates on press coverage of the issues.

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In Scotland, Mary Scanlon MSP submitted a written question to parliament:

To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to ensure that people continue to have access to traditional herbal medicines as currently used by traditional medicine practitioners.

and received the following reply from Nicola Sturgeon:

Practitioners of herbalism and traditional Chinese medicine are already able to use licensed herbal medicines and this will continue. They are also able to use certain unlicensed herbal medicines currently exempted from various licensing requirements through the Medicines Act 1968, but European legislation may impact on this after 2011. This was highlighted as a factor for consideration in a joint public consultation by all four UK countries on whether, and if so, how, practitioners of herbalism, traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture should be regulated. That consultation closed on 16 November 2009. Over 4,000 responses were received and are to be analysed to inform future decisions.

(Scottish Parliamentary Business, Written Answers Report 23-27th November 2009, Question S3W- 28900)

We had a great day at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday; a small but effective force of around 30-40 Herbalists and supporters. The NIMH banners went up and Keren Brynes MacLean brought along a fantastic display which made a great backdrop. Many many people had managed to get appointments with MSPs and some more were able to get a message through to the office on the day. Feedback from all of these meetings was encouraging. All parties seem to be getting the message now. Mike Pringle (Lib Dems), Dr Bill Wilson (SNP), Sarah Boyack (Labour) and Mary Scanlon (Conservatives) all braved the freezing cold to come out and find out more about the issues.

Mike Pringle said:

” I am very supportive of alternative and traditional medicines and practices and firmly believe that we must have the required statutory regulation in place as soon as possible. I have written to the Department of Health accordingly”

Dr Bill Wilson said:

“I was happy to meet the campaigners outside Scottish Parliament today.  Herbal medicine has a long history, and remedies dispensed by qualified practitioners, who spend years at university, are likely to be safe and effective. However, as Claire Mullan of the ‘Save our Herbs’ campaign explained, because the profession is at present unregulated, there is a chance that the range of remedies practitioners can dispense will be severely curtailed when new EU legislation comes into force in 2011.  This could even result in people ordering poor quality and dangerous preparations for themselves over the Internet.

In order to protect both the public and trained practitioners, it is important that the profession be properly regulated.  I have submitted a short response to the Department of Health public consultation (that ends on 16th November) to this effect, and I would encourage others to do so.  The consultation document may be long and complicated, not least because it includes Chinese Traditional Medicine and Acupuncture, subjects about which I know very little, but there is no reason why people cannot submit short statements as I did.”

Mary Scanlon spoke to Keren Brynes Maclean and offered to host a reception at the Scottish Parliament in order to inform the MSPs of the issues.

She has since been in touch to let us know she has submitted a written question.

“To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to ensure that people in Scotland will continue to have access to Traditional herbal medicines, as currently used by Traditional Medicine Practitioners?”

The press also turned out and we had coverage from BBC Scotland on both TV and Radio. Fiona did an interview with The Scotsman which was published the next day. It is also available online. The Edinburgh Evening News has also offered us their Mouthpiece column to explain what the campaign on Tuesday was about and I’ve submitted a short piece for that. It will go out on Saturday 14th Nov.

A huge thank you to everyone who came along to support us and who came down to meet us. And also to everyone who worked so hard and helped make the two days possible. It’s not over yet but we’ve made a great start!

and ask them to attend this meeting:

Lord King of West Bromwich and Amarjeet-singh Bhamra are inviting ministers to attend and respond to Joint Consultation on the report to Ministers from the Department of Health Steering Group on the Statutory Regulation of Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Traditional Medicine Systems Practised in the UK.
Room No.3
House of Lords
Thursday 12th November 2009 from 6.00pm to 8.00pm
rsvp Amarjeet-singh Bhamra ayurvedabodywork@hotmail.com

Present at this meeting will be representatives from all the herbal traditions, producers, suppliers, shops, small business, universities, students and patients.  There will be opportunity for ministers to inform themselves about the issues and what the consequences will be if herbalists are not statutorily regulated.

Each person can email this information to their MP and ask them to attend if at all possible.

Thanks

Claire

I understand some of you have received a negative response from your MSP, indicating that this is reserved matter.

To clarify:

Regulation of existing professions is reserved to Westminster but regulation of new professions is devolved to the Scottish Government. We fall into the latter category.

Hope that helps. Full references below.

Claire

“Devolution

16. It is open to the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly to legislate separately for health professions which are not currently regulated, and to the UK Parliament to make separate provision for Wales.

17. While this is formally a joint consultation exercise on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health and the Scottish Ministers, in line with statutory requirements, it has the support of all four UK Health Departments.”

Department of Health (2004) Regulation of herbal medicine and acupuncture: proposals for statutory regulation. The Stationary Office [Internet] European Herbal Practitioners Association. Available from http://www.ehpa.eu/pdf/DH_consultation_of_regn_of_hm_and_acu.pdf [Accessed 6th November 2009]

“25. Statutory Regulation and the Home Countries

Although this report was undertaken on behalf of the Department of Health (England), we have been anxious to ensure wide engagement with the Home Countries. Informal discussion has taken place with representatives from the Welsh Assembly, the Northern Irish Assembly and the, then, Scottish Executive now known as the Scottish Government. In Scotland, the regulation of existing health professions is reserved to Westminster but the Scottish Government does have the power to regulate new health professions.

Department of Health (2008) Report to Ministers from The Department of Health Steering Group on the Statutory Regulation of Practitioners of Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Other Traditional Medicine Systems Practised in the UK. [Internet] European Herbal Practitioners Association. Available from http://www.ehtpa.eu/pdf/steeringgroup/steering_group_report_16june08.pdf [Accessed 6th November 2009]

This isn’t a straightforward issue. If you have any questions or need clarification on anything post your questions here (under comments) and we’ll try to answer them.

Also, another idea was to e-mail your MP/MSP and ask them to explain what is happening. Why are these changes being implemented? Why was public opinion on THMPD not more high profile etc…

Look forward to hearing from you

Claire

If you’d like to show your support for our campaign – make your mark here.

Leave a link to your website and I’ll add it to our ’supporters’ box

Save Our Herbs! Support SR!

The government is running a consultation which could seriously limit YOUR access to traditional medicines.

This is an infringement of YOUR freedom of choice!

Show your support and find out more

A Celebration of Traditional Medicine

Saturday 7^th November

Bristo square, Edinburgh

1 – 4pm

Make your voice heard

Mass lobby at the Scottish Parliament

Tuesday 10^th November

2 – 4pm

Register your views with the Government

Respond to the consultation

see advice box for guidance (top right)