§ Mr. MackinlayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if Her Majesty's Government will ensure that any European directive harmonising rules relating to the sale, dispensing and prescribing of vitamin and mineral supplements shall not reduce the existing scope of legally available alternative medicines available in the United Kingdom nor the work of qualified practitioners of nutritional therapy and medical herbalists.
§ Mr. SackvilleIn general, alternative medicines and vitamin and mineral supplements for which medicinal claims are made are subject to the provisions of the Medicines Act but herbal remedies prepared and prescribed by herbalists for individual patients are exempt from the licensing requirements. No proposals have been made for a directive to harmonise the status of vitamin and mineral supplements and we have no plans to change the existing arrangements governing the availability of alternative medicines.