Sir, - In response to Brian Cowen's reply to Trevor Sargent regarding the importation of St John's Wort for personal use (The Irish Times, January 12th) gave me a good laugh. For all his talk on protecting public safety the situation is now as follows:
No, you can't buy it from a reputable health food store.
No, you can't have it in your prescription from a trained herbalist.
Yes, you can buy it on the Internet, or import it from any other EU country.
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Yes, you can get it on prescription from your GP, who has no training in herbal medicine.
Public safety, my foot. - Yours, etc., Nicole Treacy,
Medical Herbalist, Sandycove, Co Dublin.