Sir, - Discussing the proposed new regulations on herbal medicines, Dr Des Corrigan claims that a lot of "disasters" could have been avoided if proper quality procedures had been in place (The Irish Times, November 21st).
This statement is grossly misleading. The fact is that manufactured herbal products found in health stores in this country have a superb safety record, and have never been the cause of any disaster. Furthermore, almost all of them are manufactured to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) or ISO quality standards.
Almost 100,000 people in the US alone die from properly prescribed, properly regulated conventional medicines every year. Why aren't these considered disasters? When regulating herbal medicines would it be too much to ask for a sense of proportion? - Yours, etc.,
Brod Kearon, Chairman, Irish Association of Health Stores, Carrownalassan, Four Mile House, Roscommon.