Why are herbal and homeopathic remedies not included in the BNF?
We appreciate that such an expansion of the BNF would enable practitioners to access various options from a single volume. However, to expand the BNF in this way is unlikely to be practicable currently. The infrastructure of the BNF (the Joint Formulary Committee, the clinical advisers and the editorial staff) has been set up to possess special expertise and knowledge on the use of conventional medicines. Such a structure enables the BNF to provide authoritative information. In order to provide reliable and authoritative information on homeopathic or herbal medicines, it would be necessary to set up a parallel structure with specific expertise in complementary medicine. It would be very difficult to achieve this and to include all the information in one volume which provides advice on the selection of both types of medicines would add a further level of complexity. In short, we feel that it is best for the BNF to focus on what it does best! To expand its scope could risk devaluing the
