11/09/2026
🚨 Regulatory Alert: EU Consultation on Botanicals & MPLs 🌿
Our profession is currently facing potential regulatory changes regarding two interconnected pieces of European legislation that could impact access to herbs and herbal products:
1️⃣ Maximum Permitted Levels (MPLs) for Vitamins & Minerals: Proposed EU-wide limits risks reducing doses of key nutrients (like Vitamin D, B vitamins, and Magnesium) so low that they lose clinical effectiveness.
2️⃣ New Restrictions on Botanicals: A priority list of 13 key substances - including Ashwagandha, Curcumin, St John’s Wort - is currently under review.
The National Institute of Medical Herbalists (NIMH) supports proportionate, evidence-based regulation. However, we oppose restrictions based on single-constituent toxicology that fail to account for the distinct pharmacology of whole-herb preparations.
📍 Impact on Northern Ireland: Under the Windsor Framework, any new EU restrictions will automatically apply in Northern Ireland.
NIMH will be submitting a formal response to the imminent consultation on this topic, and coordinating across professional registers to protect access to herbal medicine and ensure regulation matches the evidence.
🔗 Read our full positioning statement: https://tinyurl.com/yc4f2p26
