Herb Ban Challenge Gathers Momentum- UK

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Misty L. Trepke

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Herb ban challenge gathers momentum, (U.K.)

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8125-891083,00.html

 

November 12, 2003

By Stefanie Marsh

 

THE actress Jenny Seagrove has joined a growing band of devotees to

challenge the ban on the ancient herbal remedy kava-kava.

Miss Seagrove, 46, who is appearing in the David Hare play The

Secret Rapture at the Lyric Theatre in London, joined forces with

the National Association for Health Stores (NAHS) to challenge a law

that made it an offence to import or sell the remedy from January

13. Both are applying for a judicial review of the statutory order.

Miss Seagrove is part of the action because she believes that the

Medicines Control Agency, which is funded by the pharmaceutical

companies through licence fees, and the Food Standards Agency, had

no legal right to forbid her to use a herb which helps her to relax

and sleep.

 

For thousands of years the Polynesian shrub has been used to make a

soothing drink and to treat pain and disorders including depression.

Lawyers for Ms Seagrove and the NAHS, which represents about 426

stores supplying health foods, were arguing before Mr Justice Crane

that the ban, made in line with European Union law, was fatally

flawed by a failure to consult properly and take into account all

relevant information. Kava-kava, also known as piper methysticum,

was banned as an unlicensed medicinal product and as a food in

response to 70 " possible " or " probable " cases of supposed adverse

reaction associated with its use, four of which are claimed to have

been fatal. None of the fatalities were in Britain and, opponents to

the ban argue, the cases that do exist are dubious.

 

Ally Broughton, director of research at the National Institute for

Medical Herbalists, said that she was surprised when the ban was

imposed. " (The ban) has forced hundreds of people who relied on the

remedy to consider prescription drugs that have many more side-

effects, " she said. The hearing continues.

 

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