18-2-2020 The problems with selling CBD oil now extend to the Food Standards Agency (FSA). They recently released an announcement that they were supporting the EU decision to treat CBD oil as a novel food. In effect the announcement means that it will be illegal to sell CBD oil after 31st March 2021 unless the manufacturer has applied for authorisation to sell CBD as a novel food. Typically the problems with obtaining authorisation for novel foods link to human safety issues and the FSA has already cited some very high dose animal studies as causing it concerns. The CTAUK have released this statement regarding the FSA announcement. A useful general review of the current threats to selling CBD oil, linked to dubious safety claims can be found on the Alliance for Natural Health Website
2018 Update: A lot of problems selling CBD oil. Not only the MHRA making it difficult but also the Home Office. We've joined the Cannabis Trade Association (CTAUK) who are making a good job of a difficult situation. Because Google are running scared of the regulators, on this site we are selling CBD oil as "Organic Hemp Extract" and we've started a new website www.organic-cbd-oil.co.uk which sells organic CBD oil under its real name! If you want more information about CBD oil try this link.
2016 Update: We've learnt how to get around the MHRA by selling our products as food supplements, which are regulated by the FSA not the MHRA. The next issue is the threat to selling organic products and herbal products from Brexit - our organic certifier, the Soil Association is regulated by the EU and we are concerned that unless there is a very good post-Brexit deal this could affect both our sourcing of herbs and our sales to the continent. Strangely, having fought the EU over the THMPD, in the end we now feel we know where with the EU regulations and worry that any changes imposed by the MHRA without EU over-arching regulation, will make things worse.
2015 final message on EU THMPD and MHRA pharmacists... We've got sore heads from the brick wall of MHRA gold plated regulations! So we have given up campaigning independently!
19th February 2015 Threat to botanical food supplements from the EU attacking less common herbs and other foods as "Novel Foods" please sign the petition
1st May 2014 - We have removed from direct sale to UK customers Black cohosh and Saw Palmetto
Last few months for some Organic Herbal Remedies - November 2013
The Bad News: The MHRA has announced it will prevent the further sale of unlicensed stocks of herbal medicines from 1st May 2014. That means from that date you will no longer be able to buy organic Black cohosh, St John's Wort and Saw Palmetto. Other herbs remain under threat as the MHRA refuses to publish a definitive list of what herbs can legally be sold as botanical food supplements.
The Good News: We bought stocks with 5 year shelf life in 2011 in an attempt to maintain the supply of organic herbals for as long as possible. So we bought stocks to last until 2016. Now we have to try and sell through those stocks by end April 2014 - so we will be running some big discounts!
Oxford Campaign to Protect Herbal Medicine - November 2013
As well as destroying retail sales of herbal remedies the government has failed to deliver on promises to regulate herbalists. The Oxford Campaign to Protect Herbal Medicine is lobbying to do just that
MHRA Ignore Red Tape Challenge - October 2013 
We had hoped that the MHRA would use the Government's Red Tape Challenge to reduce the unnecessary bureaucracy and expense linked to the THMPD legislation. The way that the MHRA has interpreted the legislation places huge costs on those companies trying to get licences, meaning that many companies have pulled out of herbal remedies or diversified into food supplements or beauty products and dropped products that require licenses, seriously limiting consumer choice. The bureaucracy, in particular around the requirement for stability tests, adds nothing to safety but takes a pharmaceutical approach to herbal medicine. It's wasteful and only those with a background in big Pharma could possibly justify it.
We were very disappointed to learn that the MHRA had quietly ignored the Red Tape Challenge and made no changes of any real help to the industry or the consumer. The feedback to the herbal remedies section of the Red Tape Challenge website was overwhelmingly in favour of a reduction in red tape Of course while the Red Tape Challenge was launched with huge fanfare, the MHRA's response was sneaked through with no admittance that they were not prepared to cut back on the unnecessary bureaucracy. The MHRA Turkey's did not vote for Christmas! But Government should not raise the hopes of industry and consumers and then allow the MHRA to ignore a well intentioned policy.
Why not write to your MP or contact the Red Tape Challenge asking them to review the MHRA's decision to ignore the key bureaucratic problems with the THMPD
MHRA try to Move the Goalposts - July 2013
The latest crazy MHRA proposal is that stocks of unlicensed herbal remedies will not be allowed to be sold after 31st December 2013.
We (and other companies) have stocks that could last another two years or so, that will have to be destroyed or sold to overseas customers if this proposal is implemented. We bought those stocks in good faith based on the MHRA's own regulations at the time.
Tinctures have always been sold with five year shelf lives. They are basically phytochemicals (herbal extracts) preserved in alcohol. In fact their shelf life is probably much more than five years. The herbal products that are allowed to be sold as food supplements continue to be sold with five year shelf lives.
The MHRA generally only give a two year shelf life to licensed products and are using this fact as their reason for wanting to prevent the continued sale of unlicensed products. That is not based on any known determination that tinctures deteriorate after two years but instead on standard working practices within the pharmaceutical industry.
If the MHRA were responsible for drink sales they would prevent the sale of alcoholic drinks such as whisky and brandy older than two years due to the suspicion of deterioration of efficacy!
We are currently awaiting their final determination on this proposal. Given their lack of flexibility on other issues we do not hold out much hope.
BE PREPARED - THERE MAY BE NO ORGANIC VERSIONS OF MANY HERBAL REMEDIES FROM JANUARY 2014
A New Chance to Save Herbal Medicine - April 2012
The Cabinet Office Red Tape Challenge presents an amazing opportunity to scrap the dreaded European THMPD regulations and get the pharmacists out of herbal medicine.
The European THMPD regulations are destroying herbal medicine please help to get the pharmacists out of Herbal Medicine.
The MHRA are treating herbal medicines like pharmaceutical products. They insist on stability tests costing tens or huindreds of thousands of pounds meaning fewer herbs are on the market, they cost a lot more and because they are standardised they are less natural. For example different harvests and weather conditions produce slightly different phytochemicals in echinacea. The pharmacists say we must have a standardised echinacea product where we adjust these variations during production to ensure the phytochemicals in each bottle are 100% the same. Herbal medicine has never worked that way. All plants are not the 100% identical and don't need to be. It's the equivalent of saying all carrots should be exactly the same colour, the same length and the same weight.
The MHRA hide behind a false cloak of safety where there have never been any safety issues.
Help Save "Organic" Herbal Medicine - Updated April 2012
If the Red Tape Challenge does not end the THMPD we still need to battle the MHRA to allow products to be called organic
In addition to presenting a general threat to herbal medicine the MHRA are specifically attacking "organic" herbal remedies. Policy from the MHRA states that the word "organic" can only be used in smallprint or footnotes on labels for licensed herbal medicines.
The MHRA say "the use of the word organic is promotional"
We say "the use of the word organic is factual and essential for consumer choice"
New legislation that came into effect at the end of April 2011 means that many of the products we sell will have to be licensed. As the MHRA is run by pharmacists, they have required a lot of laboratory testing and made the licenses prohibitively expensive, favouring larger companies. We can only afford a few licences but we are doing what we can to stay in business. We will be able to sell existing stocks through over the next year or two while we get as many licenses as we can, however, this crazy policy from the MHRA threatens the future of organic herbal medicine.
We set up this business to bring high quality organic herbal medicine to British consumers. The MHRA says we cannot call the product "organic" and we cannot show the Soil Association logo on the outside of the packaging. This will prevent you, the organic consumer, from identifying organic herbal medicines on the shelf in health food shops.
The finalised policy is shown at the bottom of this page.
How you can help
Please email your MP asking him/her to ask Andrew Lansley the Health Minister why he is allowing this crazy policy.
Your MP's email address can be found at www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/ or if you don't know your MP's name go to http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/
Tell your friends and ask them to take action too
If you have a twitter account then tweet at Andrew Lansley who can be found at @dhgovuk or follow us on twitter @organicherbal and RT our tweets on this subject
Let us know that you care by sending an email to info@organic-herbal-remedies.co.uk and let the Soil Association know you care too. They are also lobbying the MHRA on this issue so show your support by emailing their campaigns director mconisbee@soilassociation.org
If you would like some help with what to say to your MP then you can copy and paste the note below.
I am very concerned with the MHRA policy regarding the use of the word "organic" on labels for licensed herbal medicine. The policy hides the word organic in footnotes and in the small print. It does not allow organic in the product name or organic certifiers' logos on the label. This will make it very difficult for consumers to identify organic herbal medicine.
The problem would appear to arise because the MHRA is run by pharmacists who consider the word "organic" to be promotional rather than factual. They do not see proper organic labelling as essential for consumer choice.
Could you please write to Andrew Lansley and ask him to review this policy with a view to helping consumers easily identify organic herbal medicine.
Thank You for Your Help
Together we can help save organic herbal medicine from the pharmacists