Seagrove loses bid to overturn ban on remedy
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A campaign for herbal remedies led by the actress Jenny Seagrove failed yesterday in an attempt to overturn a government ban on kava kava, a natural tranquilliser.
A High Court judge ruled that there were insufficient grounds to order fresh consultations on the ban, even though the consultation process had been "procedurally flawed".
Ms Seagrove, 46, said she was "puzzled and bewildered" by the judge's decision. Kava kava has been shown to be effective in reducing anxiety. But the Government made it an offence to import or sell the product on 13 January after reports from Germany that linked it with four deaths and 70 cases of liver damage.
Campaigners argued that the benefits of the herb outweighed the risks, which they claimed were low. The case became a cause célèbre for the herbal industry, which has lost a market worth £7.5m. Kava kava was backed by several academics, including Edzard Ernst, Britain's only professor of alternative medicine, from Exeter University.
Ms Seagrove said yesterday: "All we want is fair and proper consultation with good science. I am speechless. They have not banned peanuts, but people die of peanuts. No one has died in this country from taking kava kava."
The actress, who is appearing in The Secret Rapture at the Lyric Theatre in London's West End, joined forces with the National Association for Health Stores (NAHS) to fight the ban. She said she depended on the herb, which has been used by Polynesian islanders for centuries, to help her cope with stage fright.
"I had a bottle left when it was banned which has now run out," she said. "Normally I would have been able to take kava kava and have a few nights' sleep but now I can't. I was hoping that we might roll back the duvet of the nanny state just a little today."
Professor Ernst, who was a member of the Medicines Commission, argued against a ban because it was an effective medicine and all medicines carry risks. He said: "There was a risk [with kava kava] and it needed addressing. To forget about it would have been totally wrong, but an outright ban on it was harsh."
However, Mr Justice Crane also ruled that regulations governing kava kava as a food were flawed because no reason had been given for not allowing the herb to pass through the UK under EU "food in transit" rules.