Are you concerned about your health? And the health of your family?
Are you concerned that it is difficult to find the information that you need to make an informed choice about the health products, supplements and remedies you use?
European and UK laws in the shape of The Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (2004/24/EC), The Medicines (Traditional Herbal Products for Human Use) Regulations 2005 and The Medicines Act 1968 impose strict rules on the labelling and sale of herbal products. The Medicines (Advertising) Regulations prohibit the use of medicinal claims for unlicensed products which means that manufacturers and retailers of herbal products, and many food supplements and cosmetics, are only allowed to list ingredients unless the manufacturer has gone through an expensive and lengthy product licensing process.At present many herbal products sold in the UK are exempt from licensing. The new regulations mean that manufacturers will have to apply for a licence for every product, and each must comply with the official published standards. The cost to a manufacturer of licensing an individual herbal product is prohibitively expensive. This means that many popular herbal products, such as garlic and ginseng, may still be commercially viable, but others may disappear from sale because it is not worth the expense of getting them certified.
Herbal products, without licences, must currently be sold as 'food or cosmetic products'. These are not subject to the same quality control or restrictions as 'medicinal products'. However, a food or cosmetic product cannot contain quantities of herbs deemed 'medicinally active' or make a claim of having an effect on any medical condition.
A medical claim is interpreted as the association of any product with an 'adverse medical condition' and the suggestion that the product may have any form of physiological effect on said condition. For example, it would be illegal to say that rubbing on a cream could 'boost circulation' or 'help heal broken skin' because poor circulation and broken skin are medical conditions!
Many herbal products in particular are based on age-old traditional medicine and understanding of nature's own healing processes and all this information is in the public domain. You may be told about the benefits of a herb, food supplement or cream by reading an article in the press or a magazine, by friends, a herbalist, nutritionalist or other alternative therapist, even your doctor, but when you come to buy from your local retailer or search for a UK supplier on the internet, you will find a total absence of information and guidance because unless the product has a licence it will be illegal to suggest what it may be used for or to make any form of medical claim.
The internet is the biggest, freely available source of independent and authoritative information, but UK internet retailers are not allowed to even provide you with a link between a product and an independent information source.
This is clearly not in your best interest!
This website suggests links to web resources that may be useful
In the first instance, search Healthnotes. This is a huge resource of independent and verified information about every medical condition, food supplement, vitamin, herb and much more. It is constantly updated with the latest developments and research.
The NHS provides extensive web-based information through NHS Direct. There is an health encyclopedia, a self-help guide and much more
NetDoctor is the UK's leading independent health website.
Other independent bodies such as The BBC have fantastic information resources. Go to www.bbc.co.uk/health/ and search. Most sections have links to many other sites, eg Chinese Medicine
There is also a wealth of US websites eg http://www.medical-health-care-information.com, http://www.herbal-supplements-guide.com/ and Wikipedia,
For herbal remedies it is generally worth doing a Google search, but, faced with 2,500,000 hits it is worth trying to be more specific with your use of search terms. It is often useful to add the word 'information' in your search. You may not always find the 'independence' you are looking for because most 'information' is provided by non-UK resellers. The following may be useful
Herbs and traditional herbal remedies
Detailed monographs on the medicinal uses of over 150 plants
By searching, you can also find information and websites dedicated to specific herbs eg
But take care, the names of many herbs have been registered as domains and, whilst a .com or .co.uk may seem to suggest an independent source, they are in reality just a portal to resellers and offer no advice whatsoever.