Herbal medicine - college doctors U turn 'wrong'

That is missing the point of regulation, which exists to protect the public – not as a badge of honour. It is also a reversal of the College’s position of July 2008, little more than a year ago, when its Council provided a statement to the then Health Minister Ben Bradshaw saying that herbalists should be regulated.

Dr Michael Dixon, medical director for the Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health, says the RCP’s new stance amounts to 'washing their hands' of society’s responsibility to safeguard health. He said:

'The question we should be answering is not how can we best protect our trade monopoly as doctors? It is how can we best protect the public from ill trained or bogus practitioners?

'It’s not just individual herbalists we need to worry about. Unregulated internet sites are a significant source of ‘herbal’ medicines but give no guarantees of quality or safety. There have already been deaths caused by toxic and dangerous products masquerading as ‘natural’ or ‘herbal’ remedies. We fear there will be more if statutory regulation is refused.

'Millions of people use herbal medicine – and will continue to do so even if the Government refuses statutory regulation – while people from Asian and African-Caribbean backgrounds are twice as likely to consult a herbal practitioner.

'We are sure the RCP does not wish to suggest that people using Western or traditional Chinese herbal medicines don’t deserve proper protection. This late volte-face is mistaken and wrong.'

The RCP acknowledges that herbal medicines carry significant risks, but says that regulation could increase the possibility of harm.

Yet statutory regulation would, for the first time, allow the public to check that practitioners they consult are properly qualified and practise safely. The system would insist on proper standards of training and practice, and make sure incompetent and irresponsible practitioners are not registered.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1.    Dr Dixon is a GP who practises integrated medicine and collaborates with herbal practitioners. He invites health journalists and broadcast crews to visit his surgery in Devon, see for themselves what integrated medicine means and meet some of the patients who benefit. For more information and for interviews with Dr Dixon, contact Pat Goodall, 01246 410707, 07789 871234, pat.goodall@fih.org.uk

2.    The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health was founded by HRH The Prince of Wales in 1993. It is led by a group of Fellows: distinguished and eminent doctors, other clinicians and scientists. More information about the Foundation can be found at www.fih.org.uk

3.    The Government is currently considering whether to introduce statutory regulation of practitioners of herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture. A decision is expected in the New Year. At the same time, an EU Directive that will be fully implemented April 2011 will ban anyone other than statutorily regulated professionals from prescribing or supplying manufactured or pre-prepared herbal medicines. The effect of that is, if the government approves statutory regulation of herbalists, they will be able to continue to practise as they now do. If regulation is refused, they will no longer be permitted to supply many of the remedies they currently use. That will mean public choice will be considerably restricted.

4.    Statutorily regulated health professionals include doctors, nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors and art therapists. It is illegal for anyone to practise these professions unless they are qualified and listed on the relevant professional register.

5.    Research carried out by Ipsos Mori for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), published 2008, found that 17% of people of Asian ethnicity and 15% of Afro-Caribbean groups had consulted a herbal or traditional practitioner in the previous two years. That compared with 7% among white groups.

6.    The Directive will not have quite the same effect across Europe because it is relatively easy to find doctors who practise herbal medicine in most EU countries. In Britain and Ireland, however, doctors and herbalists have always been separate and it is rare to find a doctor with any knowledge of, or training, in herbal medicine.

7.    The Royal College of Physicians wrote to the then Health Minister Ben Bradshaw 8^th July 2008 providing a statement from the College Council that welcomed the Report of the Department of Health Steering Group on the Statutory Regulation of Practitioners of Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Other Traditional Medicine Systems Practised in the UK. It also referred to the recommendation of the House of Lords Select Committee Report of 2001, and     said: “. . . some professions, notably acupuncture and herbal medicine, should become statutorily regulated. We concur with this recommendation . . .”