Watchdog warns of herbal remedies danger

Published on Tuesday 4 March 2008 21:00

DANGEROUS herbal remedies are being sold in the UK, raising concerns that people may be harming themselves by taking poor-quality products, medicines regulators warned yesterday.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had seen many cases of "bad and dangerous" practice in some parts of the unlicensed herbal medicines sector.

In some cases, this has led to patients being told to stop taking their conventional medication for illnesses such as diabetes and schizophrenia.

In other incidents reported to the watchdog, patients had taken herbal medicines containing prescription drugs or other unknown substances.

The MHRA warned the public to be vigilant when buying herbal medicines, especially over the internet or from "travelling salesmen".

The warning comes after a fatal accident inquiry heard calls for better regulation of alternative therapies following the death from liver failure of a man who had taken the food supplement glucosamine.

A new registration scheme for traditional herbal medicines is being introduced in 2011. By then, all products will be tested for quality and safety before they are allowed to be sold.

In the meantime, the MHRA warned patients to be wary of the products they were using. "The problem is that consumers have to guess whether these unlicensed products contain the ingredients that are declared, and have reliable information about their use," the agency said.

Dr Ann Walker, a practising herbalist and member of the British Herbal Medicine Association, said the dangers from low-quality remedies had become "a big problem".

"Out there on the market there are a lot of cowboys," she said.