Quackdown! - The EU Directive, Avaaz and the myth of the Mama & Papa herbalists
►http://www.quackdown.info/article/eu-directive-avaaz-and-myth-mama-papa-herbalists
it is distressing that Avaaz is running a petition that lends support to quacks.
The petition has collected nearly 600,000 signatories. It calls upon the European Union Commission to amend a directive that goes into force today. The directive, helpfully titled 2004/24/EC, regulates herbal medicines. Renowned debunker Edzard Ernst summarises the purpose of the legislation:
A new EU directive will legislate that a licence for a herbal medicine will be given only if it has been available for a long enough time, if its safety has been established scientifically and if it is of sufficiently high quality. This must be a good thing, because it should reduce the risk to consumers.
But according to Avaaz:
In 1 day, the EU will ban much of herbal medicine, pressing more of us to take pharmaceutical drugs that drive the profits of big Pharma.