Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-20-Speech-3-327"
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"en.20021120.10.3-327"2
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"Mr President, it seems that a guiding ethos of this establishment is the precautionary principle, which aims to keep risks as low as reasonably practical. However, British courts suggest that this requires weighing costs against the measures necessary to eliminate the risk. If we are to believe the rapporteur, the risks from uncontrolled use of herbal medicines are considerable. But I have looked at just one of his claims: that is that in the US products based on ephedrine have accounted for more than 1 200 cases of toxic effects, including 70 deaths. However, the dietary supplement industry estimates that as many as two billion doses of this product are consumed each year in the United States.
As to Mr Nisticò's claims, the US General Accounting Office has examined the FDA data which he uses. To reach its conclusions the FDA used a combination of scientific evidence on the effects of ephedrine and a set of adverse event reports (AERs). According to the GAO the FDA relied upon 'poorly-documented AERs and weak information'. Furthermore, it did not perform a causal analysis to determine whether ephedrine products caused or contributed to the adverse effects. It did not document which AERs were serious and did not establish criteria to determine which events were serious. It did not perform any reliable assessment of its analysis.
These are just brief extracts from an 83-page report. I have similar reports on other risks that Mr Nisticò cites. The risks have been seriously overstated on the basis of scandalously poor evidence. There is hardly a measurable risk from the use of herbal medicines and it is, in any event, far less than that arising from conventional medicines.
Given the minimal risk, the cost of this measure clearly outweighs the benefit. There is no justification for it. I declare an interest. I use herbal medicines every day of the year."@en1
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