The seminar was held at Connaught Hall in London, and followed the BHMA AGM. There were three guest
speakers, each talking about a different topic.
Simon Mills was the first to speak, and considered where herbal medicine will be in five years time.
He highlighted three areas where the future is unclear:
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Where will the borderline be betwenn licensed and traditional use?
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Where will the borderline be with food supplements?
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Will all licensed herbs be maintained? Having spoken to a number of members of the BHMA during the
lunchbreak, it became clear to me that the cost of gaining and maintaining a license is very expensive. Will this mean
that herbs which don't have a high turnover will become unavailable as they're not economically viable to produce?
Simon finished by making some recommendations to help safeguard the use of herbal medicines in the long term:
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Responsible sectors should work together.
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The BHMA needs to stay active in Europe.
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The BHMA should work in conjunction with the best practitioner associations.
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We must all help to improve public knowledge.
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We must try to bring other health professions on board.
To help with the final two points, Simon has been involved in setting up an online resource to provide information
about herbal products:
The second speaker was Peter Bradley, author of the British Herbal Compendium, who gave an interesting insight
into the production of the ESCOP monographs.
Up until 1989, the BHMA in the UK had been virtually isolated from the rest of Europe, despite the fact
that the UK had joined the EU in 1972. In 1989, the European Scientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy (ESCOP) was set up as
a a pan-European organisation (it includes member states who are outside the EU) to look at the scientific side of medicinal
plants (the political side is looked at by the Association of the European Self-Medication Industry - AEGSP).
ESCOP mainly focuses on monographs, with specific provisions for traditional herbal medicinal products.
It provides a heavyweight scientific information resource, and documentary research to assist The Committee on Herbal Medicinal
Products (HMPC).
Peter spoke of a number of issues that can cause problems with producing the ESCOP monographs, such as EU
copyright legislation; the slow progress of HMPC work; genotoxicity decisions (which are difficult to get concensus on), and
a lack of applications for the EU THMPD.
In conclusion, there is no doubt that the ESCOP monographs form a fantastic resource. The book can
be viewed at:
The final speaker was Dr Ann Walker, who spoke about integrated herbal strategies for allergic conditions.
She began by stating that she felt that over the counter herbs and medical herbalists were mutually supportive,
but that there were a number of reasons why it might be useful to consult with a professional herbalist.
As holistic practitioners, herbalists can look at a patient's lifestyle and make recommendations with regards
to environment and diet. Herbalists are also familiar with a wide range of herbs, some of which are too potent to be
sold over the counter.
Ann then went on to give some interesting examples of case studies and the herbs that she had used to successfully
treat the patients. She concluded by stating that it is impossible to take away a true allergy, but by modifying the
inappropriate inflammatory response associated with type 1 hypersensitivity reactions, herbalists can make a big difference
to the health of their patients.
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