But herbalists claim that the plans would drive hundreds of shops and centres out of business and could result in the loss of thousands of jobs. Licences for medicines can cost up to 1m to obtain and the industry says the plans would mean the UK would have to accept European recommended daily limits on vitamins which are currently much lower than in this country. The changes could double the cost of essential vitamins and mineral supplement, it is claimed. Five million people a day use treatments such as garlic extract, ginseng and evening primrose oil. You cannot regulate herbal medicines in the same way you regulate regular medicines.
Herbal remedies are completely different and much more sensitive and holistic.
Mr Fearnley said that at the moment regulations are preventing herbal medicine manufacturers from giving consumers information. Unless scientifically proven, remedies cannot state on the label what conditions they can treat or cure. We want to see better labelling and regulation but it has to be appropriate to the industry. Ideally, we and the rest of the industry feel that we would like to be regulated by the Food Standards Agency rather than under the Medicines Act because we feel that would be more appropriate to what we do. Jonathan Monckton, director of the Research Council for Complementary Medicine, said any attempt to impose a blanket requirement for licences was inappropriate.