article_snippet: Many herbal products have vanished from sale in recent years after a 2004 EU directive banned any medicines that were not licensed from being sold.
article_snippet: a 2004 EU directive also made a 2004 EU directive more difficult for medicines to get a licence as a 2004 EU directive demanded they had to have been in use for 30 years, of which at least 15 years had to be in EU.
article_snippet: Some Western herbal medicines have managed to gain licences in a process costing thousands of pounds to verify Some Western herbal medicines ingredients.
article_snippet: But Michael McIntyre, chairman of the European Herbal and Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association, warned that the new product demonstrates the difficulties the EU rules created for supplying herbal products safely to the public.
article_snippet: Michael McIntyre, chairman of the European Herbal and Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association said it is ‘almost impossible to satisfy the licensing conditions’.
article_snippet: Michael McIntyre, chairman of the European Herbal and Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association added that some people have therefore turned to the internet to buy unlicensed products, but this means some people have