National Institute of Medical Herbalists

This paper is an overview of current moves towards statutory regulation of herbal practitioners in the UK and a review of proposed and actual reform of medicines legislation pertaining to the supply and sale of herbal medicines in the UK.  

Please note: The information given below is as far as we can ascertain accurate at this time (March 2008).  

For the best part of the last 150 years, The National Institute of Medical Herbalists (NIMH) has aimed to ensure the continued availability of herbal medicine as well as the legal recognition of herbal practitioners and the protection of their right to practise.  The current NIMH view, backed by majority vote of its members, is that statutory protection is the best way to achieve this ambition. Throughout several years of discussion about this with the Department of Health (DH), the membership has been regularly consulted and their opinion has formed policy that has brought us to our current position.  

We are now at a point where this long held objective is within reach. We have been pursuing these goals in tandem with our fellow professional registers from other traditions via the European Herbal and Traditional Medicines Practitioners Association (EHTPA) of which the NIMH was a founding member and to which the NIMH remains a major contributor. 

UK and European law both impact upon herbal medicines and the practice of herbal medicine.  Below is a brief explanation of the current situation with regard to medicines law as it impacts on the supply and practice of herbal medicine in the UK.