On April 30, 2011, natural healing remedies made of herbs and plants are going to be banned by a directive from the European Union, leaving pharmaceutical products as the primary option for patients .

The directive, called the THMPD (Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive) seeks to not just ban the use of herbal remedies but to actually criminalize them — making the growing or keeping of herbs for use in teas just as illegal as those for less conventional use.