CBD Oil: Novel Food Classification - EU Countries And Potential Impact To Supply

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi all,

I get emails from a natural health mag I once signed up to and today there was a report about CBD oils being seized from the shelves as it has been banned in the EU. I noticed the source was the Daily Mail so Google a few variations of to see what more credible media sources said. I could only find another article by the Express...who are as bad as the DM.

You may see this today:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-anxiety.html

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/10...andards-agency

But it's scaremongering nonsense. Supplies are NOT being pulled from shelves by local Trading Standards offices. This was an instant red flag to me since product recalls are fairly common and CBD oil is a mainstream product now that is available in larger stores and chains as opposed to the small niche shops it started in.

I also can't find a reference to this activity and the FSA are still showing the product as legally available for sale.

What it appears to be about is that several EU countries, including ours, have pursued placing CBD oil on the Novel Foods register. This means it now has to be tested & proven to be safe/not detrimental. It is not a test of efficiency, purely health safety. This register covers new foods to the market not previously consumed in EU states (whether a main food or ingredient) prior to May 1997.

Unfortunately it is unknown whether sale will be allowed to continue until they obtain Novel Foods status. The industry is arranging all this and discussing this matter with the FSA but so far there is no decision. The certificates tend to take over 12 months.

Basically, some countries didn't get in quick enough to demand it pass this safety process first before entering the market.

Common sense would say the industry and FSA will strike an agreement to continue for current sellers.

I will have to check the UK FSA site for more for us, although one site states a decision is expected in March which makes me think there is nothing as of yet, but I did find one for Ireland, another EU state, which is allowing sales unless not produced a certain way:

https://www.fsai.ie/faq/cbd_oils_and...al_status.html

This is interesting since they are subject to the same EU ruling. They appear to be allowing sellers to enter the market at the current time. That's good news and also suggests it may be more specific methods affected and maybe not all suppliers will be affected.

Useful sites explaining this are:

https://www.hanway.associates/news-o...ovel-foods-cbd
http://m.digitaljournal.com/pr/4133377
https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/new-h...tion-1-5871953
https://www.blakemorgan.co.uk/news-e...nforcement-ac/

Given the size of this market and the potential confusion caused by the DM and Express, which is clearly part of their anti EU agenda, we will hopefully see some clarification by other sources. In the case of health matters the NHS have sometimes had to post their own article on NHS Choices to prevent public confusion.

It's worth noting the same is quoted as happening with krill oil and chic seeds. If there were no supply issues with those it would make sense there will be none with CBD oil too other than perhaps new market entrants having to wait or use existing approved methods only until the classification is complete.

Knowing it's getting popular for anxiety & depression and some on here use it thought it worth putting this out there just in case you come across it in the scaremongering media.

[Buster70]

There seems to be a lot of medical professionals who are just dead against anything cannabis related and the government seem to follow suit , given the amount of mind altering prescription drugs doctors are happy to prescribe cannabis seems to be the least of their problems , most people seem to think cbd will get them high and turn them into drug zombies ( like prescription antipsychotics ) cbd doesn't contain THC so no high .
Ebay have already banned selling it but sellers now sell it for topical use only not for consumption but they sneakily put things like improved taste .
I take it and believe it helps , if they ban it I'll buy a Winnebago and cook it up myself in Sherwood Forrest , I'll be rich winner winner

[MyNameIsTerry]

That's true, Buster. I've found GP's are always very wary of sticking their neck out when it comes to supplements and even vitamins. The NHS act as a safety blanket for them and when they need to go off label even it will come down to the GP.

CBD was continually conflated with cannabis legalisation. One step closer, some may think. It's a bit of a joke really when it comes down to the plant considering I have some lovely foxgloves growing up the back garden should I ever need to poison James Bond in a casino

Another current research avenue is the old magic mushies. There are some possibilities for mental health coming from them. You can imagine the reaction, although maybe the fact they are less in the spotlight might mean less push back.

It has always felt like an ignorance issue to me. Coppers and politicians not wanting to commit. Worrying it's a gateway. It's like how they stuck their heads in the sand over prostitution for such a long time. And all along worse is going on as you say. A doctor won' think twice about prescribing ketamine or morphine, which are far worse for us, yet are funny about a low grade supplement. They will dish out benzos for people who are afraid of flying or tons of strong (and addictive) painkillers. The latter they dish out to the elderly I bet is huge.

This just sounds like a number of EU countries wanting a stronger control over a supplement. Putting it on this list will give them more than the many supplements that exist without any proof of anything, not that this exercise is about proof of efficacy. Hopefully this means they will not take a kneejerk reaction into banning and allow supply until the certificate has been passed. Some EU countries can be seen sending their applications in (Czech Republic) and it was interesting to see it didn't cover pregnant or lactating women so I'm not sure how that works other than a box warning?

But hey, we still have DHEA and GABA banned over here just because of the athletic scandals and a tenuous link to GHB in the case of GABA.

A ban would be equally strange given cannabis for medical use is now possible, albeit in it's infancy as the government have pushed the problem onto the NHS as a practice guidelines issue. One possibility would be hoping it fails this certificate and trying to make it a med only product but they could do that anyway so it's probably just conspiracy stuff.

I didn't know Ebay had banned it. Why is that? Is it because of the potential for the fakes or low volumes? Maybe a misinterpretation of the EU reg? It's as legal as a bag of sugar. It seems strange when you walk into any Holland & Barrett to purchase it. And that is good news as it means it's too big for Trading Standards to swoop in like it's a local market stall selling the stuff. They just issue a recall request and get the suppliers to sort it out just as they would any product found to be substandard.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Update to this:

https://www.ms-uk.org/new-‘novel-foo...y-cbd-products

The EU added CBD in as hemp and now hemp is being argued as being around long enough to establish it's safety therefore not needing a novel foods classification.