Green MEP Caroline Lucas has won EU recognition for alternative medicine in the EU’s health Plan, agreed this week after a series of tense last-minute negotiations between MEPs and national governments.
The ‘Health Action Plan’, approved by MEPs yesterday, is a € 321 million public health plan for the EU. After fraught negotiations, the adopted text includes the following clause:
(23a) The programme should recognise the importance of a holistic approach to public health and take into account, where appropriate and where there is scientific or clinical evidence about its efficacy, complementary and alternative medicine in its actions.
Dr Lucas, speaking after the vote, said: "People must have the right to use whatever sort of medicine helps them most, and the efficacy of alternative and natural therapies must be acknowledged in our approach to public health.
"It wasn’t easy persuading the governments’ negotiators to accept even this modest recognition of the importance and relevance of alternative medicine – but we have managed it , which should serve as a tool towards a broader and indeed holistic approach to public health."
Ends
