The natural health sector has been famous for its fragmentation. Fragmentation causes a lot of problems if you want to have maximum impact on problematic laws. But the problem is that there are so many different interests involved in what can loosely be referred to as the natural health sector, ranging from full blown pharma companies like Pfizer, Merck and Wyeth, through to tiny cottage industries working out of the jungles of Amazonia.

This diversity makes it very difficult for people to come together on all issues. But when different organisations do come together, that's always a sign that wider interests are at stake, and the regulations that are needing to be fought off are pretty bad.

This is definitely the case when it comes to the impact on many herbal products that have long been associated with traditional medicinal systems as of next April in Europe. This is of course unless something very drastic is done - and done soon. We're talking about nothing less than the complete sabotage of a variety of herbal traditions that have been used for decades in Europe, and that have been used outside of Europe often for thousands of years. The two biggest traditions to be affected are those of Ayurveda from the Indian subcontinent and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

It's not possible to let the cat fully out of the bag yet, but some of you may know that there's an important meeting of stakeholders in the herbal sector in Brussels on 31st August.  The meeting is being convened by the European Benefyt Foundation and the aim of the meeting is to discuss its strategies, in the presence of lawyers and lobbyists, which aim to protect Ayurveda and TCM in particular, but also other minor traditions that are impacted by the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive.

We'll be issuing a press release to give you more detail following the meeting. But I can tell you that ANH-Intl and Benefyt have now combined forces to deal with the huge challenges ahead. These challenges won't affect many of the players in the natural health sector, and they even work in the interests of some of the herbal players, mainly European ones.

But when it comes to non-European traditions such as Ayurveda and TCM, it's a very different picture.

Stay tuned...and we'll keep you posted on the developments over the next few days.