Most herbalists, represented by organisations such as the European Herbal and Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association, want to be regulated, in accordance with a tough EU directive that comes into force next year; only with regulation, they say, can we buy teas with confidence.
But the pharmaceutical lobby has delayed regulation of herbalists for a decade, arguing that this would confer unmerited respectibility: its friend in Parliament, Lord Taverne, has said this would be like regulating astrologers. What those lobbyists don’t shout so loudly is that, without regulation of herbalists, Big Pharma will from next year enjoy sole control of remedies that historically have been freely available.
