New Year to Bring Ban of Most Medicinal Herbs in Europe

The right to manage our health as we see fit is more basic than free speech. Medicinal herbs are our heritage, yet the EU intends to steal our access to most of them, handing it over to corporations.

by Heidi Stevenson

30 December 2010

Chamomile Flowers Used in Herbal Tea and Medicine
(from MorgueFile.com)

In the European Union, the new year dawns with the impending loss of access to most medicinal herbs. The mildly named Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD) effectively bans the use of most herbal medicines and all non-EU based herbal traditions, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine.

The Independent offers the usual claim that the "directive was introduced in response to rising concern over adverse effects caused by herbal medicines." Of course, that claim is never investigated or supported. It's trotted out as if it were axiomatic, so obvious that it can't be questioned. But herbal medicines are safer by degrees of magnitude than mainstream medicine and its pharmaceutical drugs. The truth in this matter is that there's been a rising concern over the business lost to Big Pharma when people choose herbs over modern medicine. The THMPD is part of a worldwide move to take control of health from people and hand it to the rapacious hands of Big Pharma, Agribusiness, and Big Medicine.

Sign the Stop the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive Petition!

False Arguments

Arguments in favor of such a ban include the outlandish concept that they're dangerous, requiring the public's protection from them. Also frequent are the claims that "It isn't so bad," or "They're only trying to protect us," or "They're merely trying to simplify the registration process." None of these arguments holds up to inspection.

Let's look at each argument:

"They're dangerous and need to be regulated."
Danger is a relative thing. The fact is that harm from herbal medicines is fadingly rare. When compared with modern medicine's drugs and surgeries, this claim is simply laughable.

"The efficacy of herbs needs to be proven."
Why? Herbs have been used since before written history history. The remains of a prehistoric man found in a glacier prove that herbs were in use. Free access to herbs has been an unwritten right. By what right does anyone demand that they meet new standards?

"It isn't so bad."
Since when did a coercive law become acceptable because it doesn't do too much harm? Aside from that point, many people will lose access to herbal products that they've come to depend upon for their health. How can anyone say that's not so bad?

"They're only trying to protect us."
The simplest response is that I don't want to be protected from herbs, and neither do others who use them. Anyone who tries to "protect" me from herbs is interfering with my right to use them. By what right does anyone presume to steal our right to manage our health as we wish?

"They're merely trying to simplify the registration process."
This argument comes from the wording of THMPD, which states that its purpose is to simplify the registration process. However, there was no registration process until THMPD, so how could a nonexistent process by simplified? By any rational view, adding a registration process is more complex than no registration process.

Sign the Stop the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive Petition!

Our Herbal Heritage Is Being Handed to Corporations.

In the guise of safety and efficacy, our herbal heritage is being handed over to corporate interests for their profits. The entire industry is being uprooted and destroyed. Small producers—the ones who grow true organic herbs and put their hearts into it—will be unable to produce and sell them. Anything considered foreign to the EU, such as Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine traditions, will be banned.

Herbs and herbal products will be required to go through a process similar to that imposed on pharmaceutical drugs. They are, in effect, being treated as if they were drugs.

A common claim is that, once a particular herb is approved, it will then be possible for any company to sell it. This is absolutely untrue. Licensing is done by brand. The fact that a particular herbal product has been approved, such as echinacea, has no bearing on other products. They must go through the same extremely expensive process, and even that may not assure success.

Of those herbal products that are approved, as we're now seeing in the UK, the vast majority have been adulterated. They are far from pure. The worst fears of those who oppose THMPD are being demonstrated: Medicinal herbal products are being coopted by large corporations. They are becoming nothing but commodities that exist for profits. In the name of safety and efficacy, our herbal heritage is being wrenched from us.

For those who don't believe just how serious this is, read the next section to see how the UK is implementing the THMPD.

Sign the Stop the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive Petition!

Licensing by Brand

Each European country is required to implement the THMPD. The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) holds the authority to implement it in the UK. Thus far, they've approved fewer than a hundred products. Each approval given is for only a single product. When one company gains approval, it does not transfer to any other company. As might be expected, only those companies with deep pockets are able to meet the requirements, and they are willing to do so only for products they believe are big sellers.

Here are some of the products that have been approved. Take note, in particular, of the last item in the list. It's peppermint. Yes, peppermint will become a controllable herb.

• PhytoCon SABAL Capsules (Saw palmetto fruit), made by PhytoCon GmbH & Co KG, an international corporation. The capsules contain gelatin polysuccinate (from pigs), glycerol 85%, water, titanium dioxide, and ferric oxide. If you don't want to take saw palmetto with an animal product, you'd better hope that another company pays to get it approved.
• Cystipret Coated Tablets (Centaury herb, Lovage root and Rosemary leaf), made by Bionorica SE, an international corporation. Each tablet contains lactose monohydrate, magnesium stearate, maize starch, povidone K25, colloidal anhydrous silica, calcium carbonate, virgin castor oil, glucose syrup, iron oxide red, montan glycol wax, povidone K30, riboflavin, shellac, sucrose, talc, and titanium oxide. If you would prefer to take the herbs individually and in their natural form, rather than adultered in tablets, you'd better hope that another manufacturer does so.
• Sainsbury's Echinacea Skin Care Tablets, Tesco Echinacea Skin Care Tablets, Superdrug Echinacea Skin Care Tablets, Gerard House Echinacea Skin Care Tablets and Herbalstore Echinacea Skin Tablets (Echinacea root). These are identical products produced by a single manufacturer. If you would prefer echinacea prepared on a smaller scale than that made for multiple supermarkets...well, you'd better hope that someone who produces smaller products will manage to jump through, and pay for, the hoops that approval requires. Lest you think it's a pure herbal product, each tablet includes anydrous silica, magnesium stearate, hypromellose, purified talc, mastercote green (which consists of vegetable carbon black, copper chlorophylin, and titanium dioxide).
• Sinueeze Coated Tablets and Sinuherb Coated Tablets (Gentian, Verbena, Sorrel, Elder, Primula), made by PlantaPhine Ltd. The tablets also contain colloidal anhydrous silica, cellulose powder, maltodextrin, corscarmellose sodium, magnesium stearate, hypromellose, sucrose, talc, calcium carbonate, tragancanth, acacia, titanium dioxide, anhydrous glucose, shellac, white beeswax, and carnauba wax. Last I knew, carnauba wax was used to make cars shiny. And what about the sugars, sucrose and maltodextrin, they've sneaked in? Titanium dioxide may be carcinogenic when inhaled.
• Holland & Barrett Valerian Capsules, GNC Live Well Valerian Capsules, Lifecycle Valerian Capsules and Nature’s Garden Valerian Capsules (Valeriana officinalis). Capsules contain magnesium stearate, maltodextrin, silica colloidal anydrous, and hypromellose. Holland and Barrett is part of GNC, a large international corporation.
• Atrogel Arnica Gel, made by Bioforce Limited. Thus far, this is the only Arnica that the UK has approved—and no Calendula is listed so far. It's no wonder that A. Vogel, the brand name that Bioforce makes, has taken a stand in favor of the THMPD. They're a particularly large herbal product manufacturer in the UK, and it appears that they see the directive as a chance to corner the market on some products. At this point, they are the only Calendula maker that has received approval. It must be nice to have the government step in and produce a directive that could guarantee a corner on the market. Maybe they'll make it to Big Pharma status?
• Peppermint Water BP 1973, made by Viridian Pharma Ltd. The ingredients include glycerol, nipasept sodium (which consists of sodium methyl, ethyl, and propyl parahydroxybenzoates), carbomer, and anhydrous citric acid. This is the only peppermint approved so far—and it comes with an ingredient that includes benzene, a known carcinogen.

  Yes, as reported here in Gaia Health, peppermint is a controllable herb in the EU under THMPD.

The THMP Directive is set to go into full force on 30 April. This is a usurpation of our right to manage our health ourselves. There's no time to lose. Please, get involved. Sign the petition to Stop the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Directive, and then tell everyone you know. This travesty needs to be stopped—and the only the people themselves can do it. Our politicians have turned on us. They're about to hand over our control over our health to Big Pharma and Agribusiness. Let's stop them!

Sign the Stop the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive Petition!

via gaia-health.com