EU alternative-medicine safety rules will slim down access

Measures forcing the purveyors of alternative medicines to prove they are safe and that they have a long track-record of people believing they work will cut the number of herbal remedies and traditional Chinese medical products on the European market from 1 May.

Firms providing such products with medicinal claims, from echinacea to peppermint oil, have had seven years since the passage of an EU law governing the sector in 2004 to register their wares with national authorities, and the d...