The Daily Star - Ministers agree to draft law to control herbal medicines - March 4, 2011

BEIRUT: Five caretaker ministers agreed Thursday to come up with a strategy to control herbal medicine products and to start working on a draft law to serve the same purpose. Caretaker Health Minister Mohammad Khalifeh, caretaker Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, caretaker Economy Minister Mohammad Safadi, caretaker Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud and caretaker Information Minister Tarek Mitri attended a meeting at Khalifeh’s office to discuss the issue of herbal medicines. Last month, authorities cracked down on the illegal herbal medicine industry said to constitute hazardous risks to public health. “This issue has no laws to be governed by and there is no mechanism to rely on to specify violations,” Khalifeh told reporters after the meeting. “We agreed that concerned ministries will come up with a formula … to monitor this issue and then we will, like all countries in the world, work on suitable text [for a draft law] in cooperation with a committee from the Order of Physicians, the Justice Ministry and representatives from the concerned ministries and forward it to Parliament,” Khalifeh added. –The Daily Star