This web site is to add more information on this subject in the hope more members of the UK public will come across it. We also desperately need contact from anyone in the UK who practises, or has practised, herbal medicine. We know that hundreds of trained herbalists have dropped out of the Herbal organisations over the years and we need to know who you are. We need to ask if you will add your support to the campaign against herbal regulation in the manner being proposed.

Below is a brief history of the Herbal regulatory process:

The consultation process over herbal practitioner regulation was under the auspices of the The Department of Health. This following a 2001 study by the House of Lords Select Committee on Science Technology. From this, a Herbal Medicine Regulatory Working Group was set up to investigate the possibility of regulating Herbal Medicine.

Neither of the consultation processes made significant attempts to contact the hundreds of independent herbalists throughout the UK. Instead, they consulted with the pro regulatory organisations who only represent their members, and a handful of individual herbalists mostly in the pro lobby. They also consulted with various organisations who were only of vague relevance to the studies. Complaints were made about the lack of proper consultations, but no notice was taken. The consultation process was so weak, that there was not even a link on the advisory committee website allowing an individual to contact the chairman to make representations.

In most Acts of Parliament there is often a preliminary clause along the lines of "The Minister after consulting with relevant interests has decided....." This whole consultation process fails at that level.

We believe that some of the regulations already imposed on herbalists, and the proposed ones, may be illegal under The Treaty of Rome which the UK is a signatory to. Also, the Human Rights act has clauses which we feel apply to this situation. It may be that only a challenge at the European Court over the UK Government ignoring these Treaty terms will have any effect on this Governments unjustified restrictions on our Traditional rights. For more detailed information click here.

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