Arnica Cream

In 2016, I made an Advertising Standards Authority(ASA) complaint against Weleda Arnica Cream and other arnica products about their misleading health claims on HealthPost's website.

The evidence for arnica is lacking, and so is homeopathic arnica. Looks like not much has changed since my complaint.

The complaint was settled, and much misinformation was cleaned up. However, since Weleda Arnica Cream and Lotion were registered with Medsafe, they are permitted to carry therapeutic claims. So I made a complaint to Medsafe about this, and they got back in 2018, and this was their reply:

_"I can confirm that Weleda Arnica Cream can be found in the Medsafe Product/Application database (https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/regulatory/ProductDetail.asp?ID=9050). The claims made on the product ("Pain relief for muscle aches, sprains and bruises") accurately reflect what has been recorded in the Medsafe file for this product.

As you may be aware, many Weleda products (including Weleda Arnica Cream) have been 'grandfathered' through two consecutive sets of legislation. Any claims made for the product prior to the introduction of the Food and Drug Act 1969 and notified to the Department of Health, can continue to be made for those products.

Essentially under the current medicines legislation, Weleda is permitted to operate as it currently does. As the regulator, Medsafe is required to follow the relevant legislation in carrying out its responsibilities.

I can advise you that currently the government is looking to modernise the legislative scheme for therapeutic products. As this progresses, there will be the opportunity for consultation which will allow individuals and organisations to provide feedback into proposed future legislation. I suggest the issue of 'grandfathering' may be something that you may wish to raise when consultation commences.

You will find information about the proposed new regulatory regime for therapeutic products on the Ministry of Health website at https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/regulation-health-and-disability-system/therapeutic-products-regulatory-regime. You will find there an outline of the process, some key documents that have been released and how you can sign up for notifications about the process."_

Medsafe allows misinformation to spread and there is nothing we can do. So we continue to wait for the replacement of the Medicines Act 1981. Legislation is expected to be introduced to Parliament sometime in 2022.