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Paul Backs Campaign to Save Herbal Medicine
February 1, 2006 12:00 AM
Paul Holmes MP has backed a Commons Motion in a bid to save many of Britain's safe herbal remedies from being wiped from the shelves of health food stores. In doing so, he has earned the thanks of local consumers who use herbal products and national organisation opposing these unnecessary EU restrictions.
The campaign group Consumers for Health Choice (CHC), which has over 260,000 members, welcomed the support given by Paul Holmes MP by signing the Motion which warns that a new European Directive on Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products will impose crippling costs upon small businesses having to comply with new regulations.
In addition, if the Regulations result in a substantial loss of products as expected, CHC is concerned that many consumers may seek to find herbal remedies from unregulated overseas web sites putting consumer safety at risk.
Speaking today, Sue Croft, Director of CHC says: "Of course consumer safety is paramount, but we must remember that herbal remedies have been safely used for hundreds, indeed thousands of years. The UK already has very good regulations in place to control their safety and purity. This new law may well be a needed in other European countries which don't have the same high standards, but here it risks putting a millstone round the necks of those smaller businesses which often supply the specialist herbal products that millions of consumers trust to help with minor ailments in preference to pharmaceutical medications.
Croft continued, "We are grateful to Paul Holmes MP and to the other 80 Members of the House of Commons who have backed this Motion. Hopefully their actions will encourage Ministers and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to find a solution that will maintain consumer choice without compromising safety."
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