Health and Wellbeing - commonsense guidance and advice

The EU has brought in new Legislation Regarding Herbal Medicines

Although there has been a lot of negativity about these new rules – uproar even, about natural medicines being banned, what is the reality? How many people complaining about it have actually been on the EU website to read about the legislation for themselves first-hand?

Here are a few things you might not be aware of/have forgotten/don't consciously think about:

Just because something's "natural" doesn't mean it's safe for you to consume – many drugs originate from natural substances, such as aspirin (originally extracted from willow bark) and digoxin (a heart medication which comes from the foxglove plant, digitalis lanata). I'm sure you wouldn't pick a toadstool and put it in your mouth just because it's natural!

This regulation isn't about the indiscriminate banning of products! The regulation is about safety and quality – for you, the consumer. Without quality and safety measures, you cannot be entirely sure about what you are buying.

If I'm going to use a herbal remedy, I want to know that it is safe for me to use, and have some confidence in it doing what I want it to do, ie; evidence of its efficacy would be good – otherwise, what's the point?! However, safety and efficacy are two different things. A capsule could contain nothing but sugar and would be safe for me to swallow but it wouldn't do anything for my health. This new regulation is concerned that products should have sufficient evidence of medicinal use for at least 30 years with 15 of those being of use in the EU.

In the past when natural/herbal/dietary supplements have been tested, they have ranged from good to bad to a complete waste of money. This is probably why this type of product hasn't always had a good image and leads some to say that in taking them one is just making expensive urine! So a good product will have in every capsule in every pot, exactly what it says on the label – and contain nothing that is not on the label. Unfortunately, past tests have shown that some products have had NONE of the active ingredient (so that's your expensive urine product then!) – this is such a shame for the person who could benefit from that product but now considers it less than useless! Some products however, and this could be equally if not more worrying, have had multiple times the active ingredient – you have no idea how much you're taking then! Some products have ranged widely in the amount of active ingredient in the capsules – within the same pot!

So one of the issues this new regulation is concerned with is quality. I for one want to be assured that products I buy are not only what they claim to be but that they are not contaminated with anything that's not on the label. To be sure of this, look for products which are manufactured to GMP (good manufacturing practices) – but the new regulations should now do this on your behalf.

The new rules are about efficacy and quality and don't ban traditional medicines, or therapies or therapists from the EU.

I know that nothing is ever perfect, and I also have reservations – will a product new to the EU but with 30 years of evidence outside the community ever be able to be sold here? Probably my biggest concern though is the potential re-classification of natural, dietary or herbal remedies as drugs, which may mean we wont be able to have them without a prescription, but that's another matter, for another day.

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