I’ve written about so-called Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which is not actually traditional and which is a collection of untested folk beliefs that are inconsistent with much established scientific knowledge. The biggest problem with TCM, however, is that the remedies used are real drugs. They are combinations of plant and animal ingredients which are frequently mislabeled and sometimes completely secret, and they are often found to contain unidentified pharmaceuticals mixed in with the “natural” ingredients, or toxic heavy metals like lead and mercury. A list of reports on the dangers of these remedies can be found here.
Despite frequent acknowledgement from the government here in the U.S. that current regulations of herbal remedies generally are inadequate and not effectively enforced (1, 2), little political will exists to better protect the public from these products. However, it appears that the government of the U.K. is more willing to meet this challenge.
A recent news story indicates the U.K. equivalent of the FDA, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has asked vendors of unlicensed herbal products, including TCM remedies, to report their inventories in preparation for a ban on the sale of such remedies to be introduced next year. If true, this would represent a huge step towards treating such remedies as they should be treated, as drugs which need to pass the same scientific scrutiny for safety and efficacy as any conventional medication.
Wasn’t this proposed way back in 2004 and again in 2010 with a few delays in between? Seems to me that TCM proponents/practitioners/purveyors had plenty of warning, and then some (mainly the opportunity to work closely with licensing and registration which largely failed).
Now, watch all the backlash against the MHRA. After all, banning unlicensed and potentially deadly products that are “natural” and used for thousands of years, is just another strong-arm approach by regulatory authority and Big Pharma. /end sarcasm/
Yes, the subject comes up and the goes away periodically, so we’ll just have to see what actually comes of it. Still, such action isn’t even within the realm of the imaginable here.
It would be a big undertaking, but a step in the right direction, for sure. I hope they’re successful this time.
Nice sharing. Thank you.