ST. JOHN'S WORT AND THE MEDICINES CONTROL AGENCY

EDM number 188 in 1999-00, proposed by Richard Allan on 13/12/1999.

That this House notes that St. John's Wort has been safely used as a herbal remedy for many hundreds of years and is increasingly recognised as an effective herbal remedy; further notes that it has, since the passing of the Medicines Act 1968, remained on the market as a safe and popular product regulated under food law which requires that it is safe and that no medicinal claims for the product are made in its packaging, associated literature or advertising; welcomes the repeated reassurances from the Minister for Health that there is no intention on the part of the Medicines Control Agency to reclassify such safe and popular natural remedies as medicines; but observes with deep concern the recent action initiated by the Medicines Control Agency against dozens of products containing St. John's Wort, together with other safe food ingredients and its determination to classify these products as medicines requiring an exorbitantly expensive and difficult to obtain product licence; believes that such action flies in the face of repeated assurances given to consumers, retailers and manufacturers of such safe products; fails to understand what public policy objectives could possibly be served by requiring such a licence for a product which contains St. John's Wort together, for example, with vitamins and minerals; and invites the Minister to instruct the Agency to cease such unjustified action until there has been an opportunity for the House to reconsider legislation in this area.

This motion has been signed by a total of 77 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.