Health Advice... Atrogel Arnica Gel

The Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (or THMPD) was brought in 2 years ago to introduce a licensing scheme for herbs with a long tradition of medical use. Herbal medicines' manufacturers who successfully apply for licences under the new scheme are permitted to display on the packaging the condition that the herbal remedy may address, e.g. coughs and colds, acid indigestion, etc. For products to qualify manufacturers must be able to furnish proof that a particular herb has been used in the European Union (EU) for at least 30 years for a particular medical purpose (or 15 years in the EU and 15 years in another country). Evidence is also required that the herbal product is safe and is manufactured and tested to the appropriate quality standards.

The Herbal Directive is enforced by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). As with all EU Directives, there is a 'period of introduction' to allow manufacturers time to have their herbal medicines registered, the deadline being April 2011. By this date, all herbal remedies remaining on the shelf must be licensed. The only other way to sell them will be as a food - in other words, you must prove that the remedy is used as a food, e.g. ginger or sage.

Food supplement products and herbal medicines need to be able to communicate their health benefits to customers on the product packaging and the intention of these regulations is to allow this to happen in a controlled and harmonised manner throughout the European market. In so doing consumers will be provided with the information to make informed, healthy choices. The other key benefit of this legislation is that poor quality products will be removed from the market. There will be less chance of the remedy you have chosen not working either because it's not what it says it is on the packaging, or because it's not as strong as it says it is. Unfortunately, poor quality products do exist at present, and the hope is that these will disappear in 2011. Anything that remains, with a licence, will have undergone rigorous checks and been thoroughly scrutinized in terms of safety and quality, so that you can rest assured that it is of a good standard of production. It will also tell you what it does on the label, which should make your life a great deal easier!

A. Vogel already has a medicine's licence for one of its products, Echinaforce, which is why it says that it is for colds and flu on the label. They are also the first company to gain a licence under the new legislation: A. Vogel's Atrogel Arnica Gel is now licensed for use in muscular aches, pains and stiffness. It has an impressive record for tackling inflammatory pain of many kinds extremely quickly. It was proven to reduce stiffness and pain in osteoarthritis in a trial on osteoarthritis of the knee (Knusel O et al. Advances in Therapy, 19(5): 209-218), and then in a trial on arthritic pain in the hands, it was proven to work as well as ibuprofen gel (Widrig R et al. Rheumatol Int; 27: 585-591). The great thing about Atrogel Arnica Gel is that it has no side effects and, no matter how long you use it for, it remains effective. This is not the case with many conventional anti-inflammatory medications. The other factor which encourages many people to use it and then keep on using it is that it works very quickly, often giving relief within 20-30 minutes.

Now that Atrogel Arnica Gel has its licence, it is able to state on the packaging what it does, and more people will be able to benefit from its medicinal effect in the knowledge that it has been proven to be safe and of high quality.

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