There are a number of recent initiatives by the European Commission and European Parliament of relevance to the sector for homeopathic and anthroposophic medicinal products:

European Commission

New members for the Health Policy Forum
Membership of the Health Policy Forum has been renewed (click here for the list of new members). Some 50 EU-wide health stakeholders make up the Forum, which aims to ensure that the EU‘s health strategy is open, transparent and responds to the public concerns. The intention is to provide an opportunity to organise consultations, to exchange views and experience on a wide range of topics, and to assist in implementation and follow-up of specific initiatives.

Unfortunately, ECHAMP has been informed that it has not been selected as one of the participants; from all CAM-sector applicants, only the European Federation for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (EFCAM) has been invited to become a member. Representatives of EFCAM have however already expressed the organisation’s intention to represent the whole sector.

Consultation on veterinary medicinal products legislation
The Commission has called on stakeholders to share their views in relation to the application of the legislative framework governing veterinary medicinal products. The results of this public consultation could feed into the development of new legislative proposals, if deemed necessary.

Current legislation has been criticised for its complexity following the mixing up of authorisation procedures and centralised, decentralised and national responsibilities. In addition, producers underline the lack of incentive measures for opening up the market and developing new products. The legislation has also been criticised for its failure to take sufficient account of the specificities of the veterinary sector, as it was developed at the same time as the legislation governing human medicinal products. Stakeholders have until 15 July to send in their views.

Overuse of antibiotics
On 9 April, the Commission published two documents in relation to the prudent use of antibiotics: a Eurobarometer survey on public attitudes towards the use of antibiotics and a progress report on the 2001 Council recommendation on the prudent use of antimicrobial agents. Both documents conclude that, in general, Europeans are aware of the problem of overusing antibiotics. However, Member States should continue to inform the general public and implement the Council’s recommendation.

According to the Eurobarometer survey, 40% of respondents have taken antibiotics during the past year (with varying levels between the Member States). It was also found that there was a lack of awareness of the qualities and effects of antibiotics.

The progress report lists advances in several areas, but underlines the need for targeted national strategies in order to speed up the progress; awareness campaigns could be enhanced by including patients’ organisations, and improving educational measures for health care professionals.

Before the discussion of this topic in last December’s health council, ECHAMP issued a joint position statement on antibiotics with partners: European Central Council of Homeopaths (ECCH), European Committee for Homeopathy (ECH) and European Council of Doctors for Plurality in Medicine (ECPM), underlining the contribution homeopathy can make to countering antimicrobial resistance and calling on the EU to add a third pillar to the policy on antibiotics, by recognising the role complementary medicine and in particular homeopathy can play in the treatment of infectious diseases.

European Parliament

European Partnership on Cancer: Resolution adopted
On 7 April, the ENVI Committee adopted a Resolution welcoming the Commission’s proposal to establish a European Partnership for Action against Cancer for the period 2009-2013. Several amendments were agreed, focusing on reasserting the role of environmental factors on cancer, the quality of care and the need to work on prevention. A reference to ensuring sufficient financing was also added.

MEPs are also calling on Member States to establish integrated plans to combat cancer in order to achieve the partnership’s objective, i.e. reducing the cancer burden by 15% by 2020. Healthy lifestyles should be encouraged and a European prevention network could support this. The quality of treatment of infant cancer is another priority for MEPs.

Christine Marking
ECHAMP Public Affairs Consultant