On April 1, 2011, all members of the European Union will have to comply with a directive that demands all herbs — produced, manufactured, or sold — in the EU must be labeled as either foods or medicines. Herbal supplements will go through the same rigorous approval process as a prescription drug.
Many small European companies worry that they will be forced out of business because of the formidable cost of getting each herb — and each herb in a compound product — tested and approved. The fear, says the German publication Deutsche Welle, is that the new rules will put the manufacturing of herbal remedies under the control of large pharmaceutical corporations, which would narrow the range of medicinal herbs available.
Popular products such as ginseng and valerian would only be available in pharmacies, and many traditional Chinese, ayurvedic, and other herbal mixes would not be legally available.
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