Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 25 Jul 1996

Vol. 468 No. 4

Written Answers. - Herbal Medicines.

Paul McGrath

Ceist:

248 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Health whether, in view of the evidence given to a recent inquest into the death of a woman and the possible link between her death and the taking of herbal medicines, he intends to investigate the matter further; the proposals, if any, he has to make regulations regarding the availability and distribution of such medicines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15992/96]

Minister for Health (Mr. Noonan,

Limerick East): I have examined the recent report of the inquest into the death of a woman referred to by the Deputy. The inquest was unable to establish conclusively the cause of death in this case. In addition to herbal remedies, the woman had also been taking a conventional medicine, naproxen, prescribed for her by her GP. Whilst the post mortem and the coroner's report suggest that the death was probably drug related, neither were able to indicate whether it was as a result of a rare reaction to the conventional medicines or a reaction to the herbal remedies.

It is important that I take this opportunity to stress the dangers in seeking to treat ailments by combinations of various medicines without seeking proper medical advice on the matter, because of the possibility of interactions between different medicines.

The controls governing the licensing and sale of all medical preparations are set out in the Medical Preparations (Licensing and Sale) Regulations, 1996. Herbal preparations may, in certain circumstances, be classified as medical preparations within the terms of the regulations. Products containing herbal ingredients are considered to be medical preparations when the labelling or accompanying or associated literature makes any preventative, curative or remedial claim, or any of the herbal ingredients presented is recognised as having medicinal properties. Where such a product is deemed to be a medical preparation it would be required to be the subject of a product authorisation as required by the regulations. All applications for product authorisations are assessed by the Irish Medicines Board to establish the safety, efficacy and quality of the product.