§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Cunliffe Evans report on alternative medicine was submitted to his Department; and when he expects to publish it.
§ Mr. MellorThe report of the study on the control of medicines (the Evans Cunliffe report) was published in January 1988. Its main thrust was on the management and organisation of the general arrangements for licensing medicines. Only one of its 54 recommendations concerned alternative medicines. This was that product licensing was not appropriate for the control of homoeopathic and similar alternative medicines. However, the Medicines Commission in its annual report for 1987 expressed a preference for a product licensing system for homoeopathic medicines addressing safety and quality but not efficacy, which the Commission acknowledged would not be possible under the Medicines Act 1968 as it stands. The Commission of the European Community has a commitment to a directive on homoeopathic medicines. When a proposal is made to the Council of Ministers, we shall consider it carefully. It would serve no useful purpose to pursue meantime in the United Kingdom either the 69W Cunliffe Evans or Medicines Commission views until we have Commission proposals for European Community law on this matter.