Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-16-Speech-2-293"
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"en.20031216.7.2-293"2
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"Mr President, I should like to commend Mr Nisticò on his success in bringing Parliament and the Council together on the issues that remained outstanding during the second reading.
Again, I thank Mr Nisticò for his sympathetic acceptance of colleagues' views and of our amendments in the various areas. I thank him for his cooperation throughout.
As a result of negotiations between all concerned, a compromise was agreed on prior to the vote in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy, allowing for a consensus incorporating only two amendments tabled by myself and other colleagues from an original list of ten amendments.
Under the first of these amendments, traditional herbal food products that are non-medicinal should continue to come under existing food legislation and not pharmaceuticals legislation.
The second amendment essentially provides that the list of herbal substances to be set up by the Committee for Herbal Medicinal Products should only cover the medicinal use of herbal substances. This would allow, for example, herbs to be used, along with vitamins and minerals, as food supplements and to come under food legislation. This logical approach avoids overlapping jurisdictions.
The solution presented in the common position and the European Parliament's two amendments is eminently sensible and has the full support of the Commission. I would urge colleagues to give them a positive vote tomorrow.
I welcome this directive, which recognises the value of medicinal plants as an important complement to modern chemical medicines. The traditional and herbal medicines sector is one that is of increasing significance and is expanding in scope and popularity across the Community. This directive allows for the fast-tracking of traditional medicinal herbs, which is most welcome.
However, we must look towards establishing systems that encourage research and development. This was a key concern of mine in my former Amendment No 10, tabled in the Environment Committee, which was aimed, at one level, at avoiding the constraints imposed by an overly narrow and historical definition of traditional medicines, to further product development. This amendment was withdrawn in the interest - shared by all of us here - of maintaining the integrity of the directive.
As in the conventional medicines field, innovation must be encouraged in this area and we must look to the future as well as to the past. I hope that when the Commission reviews this directive in three years' time it will recognise that this is a dynamic field and one in which new products are constantly emerging. While efficacy and safety must never be compromised, we need to look at building in mechanisms that will allow traditional medicines to continue to evolve in terms of their application and use and the better exploitation of the therapeutic potential of medicinal plants.
This is an exciting area, one that we must not be afraid of, and one that will not benefit from over-regulation. We must protect the consumer in terms of efficacy and safety, but at the end of the day we must leave the choice with the consumer."@en1
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