The European Commission has been urged to intervene to prevent the Irish Medicines Board banning the over-the-counter sale of St John's Wort herb remedies.
Irish MEP Ms Nuala Ahern has written to the Commissioner with responsibility for the Internal Market, Mr Frederick Bolkstein, claiming the IMB's decision is a trade restriction which is contrary to the workings of the internal market.
Extracts of St John's Wort are sold as a natural treatment for depression, and have been available through health shops and pharmacies for years. However, from January 1st, 2000, they will become a prescription-only medicine in the Republic.
But the herbal remedy is available in the UK and in many other EU states without prescription and so the IMB move is a barrier to trade, she says.
In her letter, Ms Ahern warned that the IMB was behaving incorrectly in classifying as medicines food products which had traditionally been sold to promote health.
"It is clear from my knowledge of discussions regarding this issue over the last number of years that the IMB is not able to grant licences for health products and natural medicine under the conventional licensing system and therefore their attempt to draw as many products as possible into the medical net at this time is a prima-facie restriction on trade."
Ms Ahern has yet to receive a reply from Mr Bolkstein. The IMB is concerned about the side-effects of St John's Wort (hypericum perforatum) and advertising claims that it has no side-effects.
It believes it should also be a prescription-only medicine because of the risk of hypertensive crisis occurring if taken with other over-the-counter sympsthomimetics (e.g. cough mixtures), anti-depressants or foods containing tryamine (e.g. red wine or cheese).
Fine Gael's spokeswoman on environmental protection, Ms Deidre Clune, has called on the Government to introduce a special set of regulations to govern herbal and alternative medicines. She believes this would protect the consumer without placing alternative medicine manufacturers at a disadvantage.
Ms Clune has been supported by Irish MEP Mr John Cushnahan, who called on the Department of Health and the IMB to adopt a common-sense approach to the issue, rather than a ham-fisted bureaucratic one.