Health Secretary Andy Burnham has said that the government is considering tightening the law on Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture.

The Press Association reports that the government may require all practitioners supplying unlicensed medicines to register with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC).

The government is to hold further discussions with the CNHC, along with professional bodies and devolved governments before considering a change in the law. A consultation was held in 2009 to garner opinion on the issue.

Herbal and Chinese medicine is frequently sold in high street shops, in private clinics or online.

Mr Burnham said:

‘Emerging evidence clearly demonstrates that the public needs better protection – but in a way that is measured and does not place unreasonable extra burdens on practitioners.

‘I am therefore minded to legislate to ensure that all practitioners supplying unlicensed herbal medicines to members of the public in England must be registered with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council.’

Chief executive of the British Acupuncture Council, Mike O’Farrell, said that the announcement was ‘an encouraging development’.

‘However, the British Acupuncture Council still firmly believes that statutory regulation of acupuncture practitioners will provide the best protection for the public – and will continue to work towards this on behalf of our 3,000 members,’ he added.

The European Herbal and Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association said that the CNHC lacked ‘the structure, staff, financial resources or legal power to bring about statutory regulation for the herbal sector’.

© 5r1 Limited 2010