A tragedy that should have been avoided

February 12th 2010

Two years ago. herbalists warned the Health Minister in person that failing to put full,

statutory regulation in place would inevitably lead to a tragedy. Without it, the public has

no protection from untrained, bogus practitioners and dodgy herbal products.

Now a heart-breaking case may have proved them right.

The Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey has heard how civil servant Patricia Booth suffered

cancer and her kidneys were “destroyed” after taking pills alleged to have been provided by a

Chinese medicine shop. Prosecutors say they contained a banned ingredient called

Aristolochia

fangchi.

This produces an acid that is toxic to the kidneys.

Mrs Booth remains seriously ill, is dependent on dialysis and hopes for a kidney transplant.

Yet in June 2008, herbalist Michael McIntyre and scientist Professor Michael Pittilo met with the

then Health Minister Ben Bradshaw to advise him that statutory regulation of herbalists must go

ahead as swiftly as possible in the interest of patient safety. They were presenting the

recommendations of the Department of Health Steering Group on regulation of herbalists and

acupuncturists that Professor Pittilo chaired.

Among the recommendations was a licensing system that would prevent dubious suppliers from

operating – also providing controls over the herbs practitioners use.

McIntyre even warned the Minister that, without statutory regulation, contamination of Chinese

medicines with

Aristolochia could cause of injury or deaths in the UK – as it already had in

Belgium.

He said today (12

th February 2010):

“It beggars belief that they are content to place lives at risk because of its abject failure to

provide statutory regulation of herbal medicine practitioners.

“They promised regulation nearly ten years ago. They even announced a timetable which

would have seen it happen in 2005. Instead, Ministers set up another Steering Group and

another consultation.

It is time to stop talking and start acting.”

The shop owner where it is alleged Mrs Booth obtained the medicine and a so-called “Chinese

doctor” are on trial accused of possessing and supplying the medicine. They deny the charges.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. For more information, contact Michael McIntyre,

info@ehpa.eu

2. The European Herbal and Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association is an umbrella

body which represents professional associations of practitioners offering variously western

herbal medicine, Chinese herbal medicine, Ayurveda and traditional Tibetan medicine. The

EHTPA is dedicated to the development of herbal/traditional medicine, preserving and

enhancing the legal basis of practice across EU Members States and promoting best practice.

More information about the EHTPA can be found at:

www.ehpa.eu

3. In 2000, the respected House of Lords' Select Committee for Science and Technology

published a report into complementary and alternative medicine that recommended the

statutory regulation of practitioners of herbal medicine and acupuncture. The Government

agreed that this regulation should go ahead as long ago as 2001 but nine years later the

herbalists are still waiting a final decision and the public remain at risk from back street,

bogus practitioners and misidentified and adulterated herbal products.

4. Since the House of Lords' report, there have been three Department of Health Steering

Groups looking at the issue of statutory regulation. All three reiterated the call for immediate

statutory regulation. The most recent of these Steering Groups reported in June 2008. It was

chaired by Professor Michael Pittilo, Vice-Chancellor of Robert Gordon University.

5. There have also been two public consultations. The first, held in 2004 and published in

2005, found overwhelming support for statutory regulation. Following that, the Government

published a timetable for its introduction which would have seen regulation in place by the

end of 2005. The second consultation, which took place in the autumn of 2009, has yet to

report.

6. A recent Ipsos Mori Poll found that a quarter of the UK population use over the counter

herbal medicines while millions of Britons visit herbal practitioners.

http://ehtpa.eu/pdf/home/news/Tradegy-Should-Have-Been-Avoided.pdf