MHRA label seems to be illegal

doi:10.1136/bmj.b2333

Published 9 June 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2333
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b2333

Letters

Homoeopathic product licence

MHRA label seems to be illegal

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The strap line for the Medicines and Healthcare products RegulatoryAgency (MHRA) is "We enhance and safeguard the health of thepublic by ensuring that medicines and medical devices work andare acceptably safe."

Yet the MHRA has made mockery of its own aims by ignoring thebit about "ensuring that medicines work" and allowing Arnica30C pills to be labelled: "a homoeopathic medicinal productused within the homoeopathic tradition for the symptomatic reliefof sprains, muscular aches, and bruising or swelling after contusions."¹

This label should be illegal anyway because the pills containno trace of the ingredient on the label, but this deceit hasbeen allowed through a legal loophole for a long time now. Ifyou sold strawberry jam that contained not a trace of strawberryyou’d be in trouble.

But I can see no legal loophole that allows the manufacturersof Arnica 30C to evade the . . . [Full text of this article]

David Colquhoun, research professor¹

¹ University College London, London WC1E 6BT

d.colquhoun@ucl.ac.uk

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