Early Day Motions

AVAILABILITY OF HERBAL REMEDIES

EDM (Early Day Motion) 14A2: tabled on 18 November 1994

Tabled in the 1994-95 session.

This motion has been signed by 16 Members. It is an amendment to an existing motion.The tabling Member has subsequently withdrawn this motion.

As this motion is using historical data, we may not have the record of the original ordering, in which case signatories are listed alphabetically.

This motion has subsequently been withdrawn by the tabling Member.

This is an amendment to an existing motion

This motion was originally tabled by Mr William Cash on 16 November 1994. This is amendment number 2.

View details of the original motion

Suggested amendment

leave out from `House' to end and add `regrets that despite the assurance by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State that he has found a way of protecting the availability of herbal remedies he has to date provided no basis for his assertion that since they are not "industrially produced" they fall outside the scope of the European Directive, and that he has been unable to provide any guarantee that a future domestic or European Court decision, or a future European Directive would not establish a definition of the term "industrially produced" which covered the procedures adopted in the production of herbal remedies; urges him immediately to supply to the House the necessary documentation and explanation to support his claims; deeply regrets the inefficient and insensitive manner in which he and the Medicines Control Agency have acted in dealing with herbalists and their legitimate concerns; and hopes that in future the Secretary of State for Health will ensure that all responsible practitioners of alternative and complementary medicines are properly consulted about any proposed changes to regulations in this area.'.

Original motion text

That this House notes the valuable contribution made to the health of millions of British subjects, over many centuries, by the use of herbal remedies; notes that the proposed implementation on 1st January 1995 of a draft Statutory Instrument, Medicines for Human Use (Marketing Authorisations, Pharmacovigilance and Related Matters) Regulations 1994, would remove exemptions for herbal remedies from the medicines licensing procedures currently afforded, by sections 12 and 56 of the Medicines Act 1968 and could lead to such herbal products requiring a full product licence at a cost of up to ú84,000; regrets that this would inevitably lead to the disappearance of the majority of herbal remedies which have been used safely and effectively for many years; observes that such changes would also damage those who practise the systems of medicine favoured by many in the Asian, Caribbean and Chinese communities; opposes the injury which such a move would have on responsible manufacturers of such products, health food shops and medical herbalists and on the significant progress being made in improving standards of quality, safety and efficacy for herbal remedies; and, bearing in mind that Germany has taken it upon itself to provide its own exemptions, urges Her Majesty's Government urgently to consult more widely with those organisations involved in herbal medicine and to decline to bring forward the proposed Statutory Instrument.