press reports on herbal regulation

[Guest guest]

From: Krystyna Krzyzak MNIMH, North Devon

There have been a couple of recent press reports (last Sunday's Sunday Times,

yesterday's Daily Mail) about plans by the Secretary of State for Health

(Alan Millburn) to regulate herbal and other complementary therapies, and

bring them into the mainstream of the NHS. The Sunday Times piece, which did

not mention SSR, implied that only MCA licensed and proven herbal remedies

would be used. The Daily Mail (I'm quoting here from the BMJ daily summaries)

also had a piece about " the disasters waiting to happen in herbal medicine "

according to Edzard Ernst.

Can anyone shed any light on this.

Happy New Year to all,

Krystyna

[Guest guest]

Dear Krystyna and colleagues,

The reports stem from a press release from the DH following the appointment

of Professor Pittilo (mentioned in the Sunday Times article I copy below) as

the Independent Chair of the Regulatory Working Group that is working at the

detail of SSR for herbalists. I think Pittilo will be a real plus for us all

bringing a huge amount of experience of regulatory issues to help us with

the work of mapping out SSR and associated issues. It is no secret that the

MCA are rethinking section 12.1 of the 1968 Medicines Act to restrict the

supply of powerful herbs to identifiable herbalists. I think we will be

hearing from the MCA about this soon. The rest of the press coverage is

largely usual hype about Mrs Blair and the rest of it. They have to sell

papers over Christmas and this made a nice front-page story though they

forgot to mention Myrrh and incense...

Happy New Year,

http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/article/0,,9003-2001604011,00.html

SUNDAY DECEMBER 30 2001

Ministers call for herbal cures on NHS

JONATHON CARR-BROWN

ALL National Health Service patients could be offered " alternative "

treatments such as Chinese herbal remedies, acupuncture and yoga if

government regulators confirm their effectiveness. For the first time, the

government has said it is prepared to grant complementary medicine the same

status as traditional treatments within the health service.

Alan Milburn, the health secretary, wants complementary practitioners to be

licensed to work under contract to the NHS, using approved medicines and

treatments. His decision follows research last year by an all-party Lords

committee, which concluded that some herbal remedies were as effective as

conventional medicines and in some cases worked better than antibiotics.

Although Milburn is said to be personally " cautious " about the effectiveness

of such remedies, he believes that patients should have the choice. Demand

for alternative medicines has boomed and the market is now worth £500m a

year. About 5m people pay to be treated annually by complementary

practitioners.

A spokesman for Milburn said: " The Department of Health has thousands of

letters every year about complementary medicine and this is the first step

to recognising it does have a role to play within the NHS. It won't happen

overnight, but regulation should give GPs the confidence and information

they need to refer more patients. "

At present, although GPs can refer patients to complementary medical

practitioners, only about a third have ever done so; and while some NHS

physiotherapists and doctors are trained in acupuncture, patients largely

have to pay for any " alternative " medical treatment themselves.

Milburn has asked Professor Pittilo, the former dean of faculty at

St 's Medical School, London, to head a working party to find ways of

regulating complementary therapists.

Milburn is proposing that practitioners of Chinese and western herbal

medicine and Indian ayurvedic medicine be licensed to practise and be

required to hold minimum qualifications. Only two alternative therapies -

osteopathy and chiropractic - are currently regulated as professions by law.

Under Milburn's proposals, GPs would be allowed to set up contracts with

licensed alternative therapists. Like doctors, any judged to be incompetent

could be struck off.

At present, anyone can sell herbal remedies but it is unlawful to claim they

have any effect on a person's health. In future, the Medicines Control

Agency would license herbal remedies and define the effects they can

legitimately claim to have on patients. This could exclude dozens of

treatments that would effectively be shown to be of dubious value.

Simon Mills, chairman of the British Herbal Medicine Association, said:

" This is going to mean a big cleaning out of the profession. Practitioners

will be forced to sign up to dramatically harmonised standards and I think

that some manufacturers of herbal remedies will find it hard to keep with

the higher standards and requirements.

" At the moment you can decide tomorrow to call yourself a herbalist and it

is still very easy to administer junk. This is going to be tough and some

remedies that make wild claims will find they don't stand up to scrutiny. "

The inclusion of Indian ayurvedic medicine, a preventative approach to

healing using diet, yoga and meditation, is thought to have been influenced

by Cherie Blair's interest in alternative therapy. As well as wearing an

acupuncture earring to combat stress and a crystal pendant to promote calm,

she is a client of the ayurvedic therapist Bharti Vyas.

Little scientific research has been carried out into complementary

medicines, largely because pharmaceutical companies are unwilling to fund

studies because they cannot patent the research findings and therefore

cannot guarantee a profit.

Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided on Times

Newspapers' standard terms and conditions. To inquire about a licence to

reproduce material from The Times, visit the Syndication website.

_____

press reports on herbal regulation

From: Krystyna Krzyzak MNIMH, North Devon

There have been a couple of recent press reports (last Sunday's Sunday

Times,

yesterday's Daily Mail) about plans by the Secretary of State for Health

(Alan Millburn) to regulate herbal and other complementary therapies, and

bring them into the mainstream of the NHS. The Sunday Times piece, which did

not mention SSR, implied that only MCA licensed and proven herbal remedies

would be used. The Daily Mail (I'm quoting here from the BMJ daily

summaries)

also had a piece about " the disasters waiting to happen in herbal medicine "

according to Edzard Ernst.

Can anyone shed any light on this.

Happy New Year to all,

Krystyna