In general, products that are sold as medicines or having medicinal properties in Ireland must be licensed by the Irish Medicines Board (IMB), prior to being placed on the market in Ireland. Problems have arisen in relation to the licensing of traditional herbal medicines, particularly in relation to proving clinical efficacy and, as such, the IMB was asked by the Department of Health to develop a proposal for a national licensing system for traditional and alternative medicinal products, including herbal medicinal products.
The IMB has identified in the region of 2,246 herbal and traditional products being offered for sale in Ireland.
The IMB published a report called Herbal Medicines Project Final Report in January 2002. A Scientific Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products was established to help the IMB in drawing up its report.
The proposed licensing scheme aims to ensure that safe traditional medicinal products will continue to be available in the usual outlets and that consumers can be assured that the registered traditional medicinal products they buy:
A proposed EU Directive on Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products was published by the European Commission in January 2002. This proposal is being discussed by the European Parliament and the Council. The proposed IMB scheme is broadly in line with the proposed EU directive.
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