The Alliance for Natural Health International (ANH-Intl), a group campaigning for the right to natural healthcare worldwide, recently issued a letter to European Commissioner John Dalli, responsible for the regulation of pharmaceuticals and foods EU-wide. The letter demands immediate action from the European Commission (EC) to prevent further erosion of non-European systems of medicine within the EU.

According to sources this letter comes in the wake of the implementation of various EU laws, including the controversial directive on ‘traditional herbal medicinal products.’

The open letter from Dr Robert Verkerk, executive and scientific director of ANH-Intl was issued after a forum hosted on the future of herbal medicine within Europe.

The European Commission has long argued that the drug registration system offered by the EU herbal directive provides no additional obstacles for products of non-European traditions, as compared with European ones.

“This position is simply untrue. This is amply demonstrated by the 400 or so registrations under the scheme EU-wide for typical Western herbal products, as against zero for authentic products associated with the great Chinese and Indian ayurvedic traditions, used by well over one-third of the world’s population,” added Dr Verkerk.

The Commission is being asked to respond in the wake of mounting pressure from European citizens. Allied campaign groups, namely Défense Médicine Naturelle and Avaaz, have between them submitted petitions from nearly a million European citizens.

The petitions cite concerns about the EU herbal directive’s discriminatory impact on non-European traditional systems of medicine and voice support for ANH-Intl’s proposed legal challenge.