The conference, which was held at Friends House on Euston Road in London was designed to look at preparations for Statutory
Self Regulation (SSR) of herbal practitioners, and put it into context with the THMPD (see below).
The objectives of the MHRA were outlined, which are to ensure that consumers have:
- access to a wide range of herbal medicines, which are:
- made to acceptable safety and quality standards, and which are
- accompanied by appropriate information about the safe use of the product
S12(1) of the 1968 Medicines Act was also discussed, which allows herbalists to practice as a business in the UK where:
- there is a face to face consultation; request for exercise of judgement, and
- herbal medicines which are exempt from licensing are prepared on lockable premises
However, as was pointed out, there is currently no requirement for the practitioner to have any competence in diagnosis,
treatment, or the preparation of medicines.
This obviously leaves the patient in a vulnerable position and shows the need to only see herbalists who belong to a recognised
professional body. S12(1) is currently being reviewed at the same time as the introduction of statutory self regulation
(SSR) through parliament for medical herbalists, which should help protect the title of "herbalist" as well as protect the
public from individuals who claim to be herbalists, but have not had sufficient training to be safe or efficacious.
Further information on this conference, and the regulation of the herbal profession can be found on the:
