Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-16-Speech-2-295"
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"en.20031216.7.2-295"2
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"Mr President, this directive is supposed to harmonise the legislative framework for traditional herbal medicines. While I believe it is very important that we try to cut out cowboys and people who operate in a completely unacceptable manner, this legislation was supposed to provide a simplified registration procedure that would allow the registration and marketing of certain traditional herbal medicines that have been on the market for a specific period of time.
In the first reading it was quite clearly limited to herbal medicinal products or pharmacological activity and excluded food supplements. Many feel that it is extremely important to protect the herbal supplements already on the markets of most Member States. These herbal supplements should be regulated under food law.
We need to safeguard the long-term future of traditional medicines, which I believe are much more important and beneficial than the synthetic and pharmaceutical approaches to health care.
Member States must also be allowed to introduce national rules on their territory to accommodate any traditional or non-conventional approaches to health care not covered by the directive. Health care must take precedence over commercial considerations. Where Member States wish to have control over any health care tradition that they consider to be of value to their citizens, they should be entitled to do so, regardless of the aspirations for commercial harmonisation.
Harmonisation should not mean that diversity is destroyed. European citizens have a right to retain their local cultural traditions. This is particularly important where the cultural traditions relate to health care products that are not yet scientifically understood. Traditional medicines should be protected as living traditions. In many EU countries traditional medicine is a living tradition that has continued to evolve over many years and has the capacity to continue to evolve.
The natural evolution of traditional medicine is stunted by this directive that defines 'traditional' in a purely historical context and restricts its application to what took place many years ago. The scope of traditional medicine is greater than the directive recognises. This must be taken into account. Traditional medicines are used extensively to treat a wide range of serious conditions in Member States, which should be entitled to introduce appropriate regulation to accommodate such practices. I believe that if you stunt the possibility for traditional medicines, you are doing a disservice to the consumer and the public. Everyone recognises that there are people who act in an unorthodox manner, but I believe that traditional medicine is much more beneficial, in the long term, than the pharmaceutical approach."@en1
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