FORBIDDEN HEALING ( Archived) (56)

More info from the net.

Under the new law traditional products must be licensed or prescribed by a registered herbal practitioner.
The directive was introduced due to growing safety concerns about the side effects of many alternative medicines.
The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has issued over 10 safety alerts in the past two years.
The banned herb Aristolochia caused kidney failure in more than 100 women after they were given it at a slimming clinic in Belgium. Meanwhile black cohosh used by many menopausal women has been linked to liver damage.
The MHRA said it had received applications for licenses for 166 herbal products, of which 78 had been granted. Sir Alasdair Breckenridge, chairman of the MHRA, said a register of herbalists was essential. “Just because something is natural doesn’t mean it is safe,” he said. “It is terribly important to have responsible people who have undergone training prescribing these products.”
According to the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), which represents herbal practitioners, not a single product used in traditional Chinese medicine or ayurvedic medicine has been licensed. In Europe, around 200 products from 27 plant species have been licensed but there are 300 plant species in use in the UK alone.