Herbal Medicines

Baroness Pitkeathley Excerpts

Thursday 13th January 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, again I think that the House is well aware of the noble Lord’s views, which I know are sincerely held, although personally I regret his comments about the Prince of Wales. However, I am sure that, with regard to herbal medicines, he will be aware that there is an international trade in sometimes poor-quality, unregulated and unlicensed herbal preparations. Some of these have been found to contain banned substances, heavy metals or pharmaceutical ingredients or substances from outside the UK that may not be subject to any form of regulation at all, so there is a public safety issue.

[Baroness Pitkeathley]

My Lords, does the noble Earl agree that, while statutory regulation has its place, regulation in healthcare and anything else should always be proportionate? Would he therefore endorse the concept of light-touch regulation, which is promoted by the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence? I declare an interest as its chair.

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Baroness for the work that she does and I entirely endorse the approach to regulation that she has outlined. Certainly, we need to adopt a targeted, risk-based approach to regulation.