It's not exactly a "Ban", it's new regulations that went into effect on May 1st concerning the sale of herbal products. This new EU and UK law says that herbal products must be licensed OR prescribed by a licensed herbal practitioner. A licensed product requires presentation of evidence that the product is safe. Still now requirement to prove that it actually does something!

I'm not sure why there's a knee-jerk reaction about this right now as it's been on the horizon since 2004 (2005 in the UK). That's when the "Ban" initially went into effect with a 7 year grace period. At that time, companies were instructed to prove, at least, their product’s safety. And I don't think they meant the tired old "it's been used for centuries" kind of safety evidence. There were grandfathering loopholes in the law, now expired, like if the product has been sold for at least 30 years, it's a simple registration. Unless, of course, a real problem has been identified by health authorities like side effects or interaction with other drugs. After all, many herbs do have bioactivity and side effects and interactions with drugs have been reported. They can be classified as drugs even if they are "natural".

I found some informative web pages (not news media reports) via a Dutch source:

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/11/71&format=HTM...


http://ec.europa.eu/health/human-use/herbal-medicines/index_en.htm