Herbal Medicine in Europe — Relaxing Regulatory Standards

Herbal medicine is big — and relatively mainstream — business in Europe: in 2003, European countries spent almost $5 billion (at manufacturers' prices to wholesalers) on over-the-counter herbal medicines. But not all European countries have embraced herbal treatments with equal warmth. Germany and France are indisputably in the lead in over-the-counter sales (see graph), and they have also had noteworthy markets for prescription herbal preparations. In 2003, German health insurance paid $283 million in reimbursements for prescribed ginkgo, St. John's wort, mistletoe, saw palmetto, ivy, hawthorn, stinging nettle root, myrtol, phytosterols, and cucurbita, and in 2002, French health insurance paid . . .