Kava has a tradition of more than two thousand years of use in the South Pacific. A sedative ritual drink is prepared from the root of the plant. In Europe, kava preparations have had great success since 1886, as medicines to treat patients suffering from symptoms of stress and anxiety. During this long traditional and medical use kava preparations have never shown severe side effects.

At the end of 2001, kava came under fire from by public health authorities of Germany and Switzerland. The cause of this was a small number of cases of liver damage, which were, almost always incorrectly, connected to the use of a kava-containing product. This led to a new evaluation of the benefit risk ratio of kava preparations and finally to an unjustified withdrawal of the drug authorization for kava products by the German health authorities (BfArM). Many public health authorities in Europe and around the world followed this example. This ban created a catastrophe for the commerce of many Pacific island states and endangered the livelihood of a large part of their populations.

On behalf of one of the effected Pacific island states the "Centre for Development of Enterprise" (CDE) has contracted Phytopharm Consulting, to write an expert report based on all available information on kava and the cited cases of side effects from kava products, and to evaluate whether the restrictions that most EU states have now put into effect are justified or not.

The complete report in English, "In-depth investigation into EU member states market restrictions on kava products", can be downloaded here.

This report was presented at the kava strategy symposium – supported by CDE/PRO€INVEST – in Brussels/Belgium on 25/26 August 2003.

CDE is a joint EU-ACP institution devoted to private sector enterprise development in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific under the Cotonou Agreement.

PRO€INVEST is an EU-ACP partnership programme managed by the CDE under the supervision of the EuropeAid Co-operation Office of the European Commission.

Gruenwald, Joerg; Skrabal, Juergen (2004). Breakthrough In Kava Debate. Nutraceuticals World 6: 24-25.
Gruenwald, Joerg; Skrabal, Juergen (2004). WHO To Re-Evaluate Kava. Nutraceuticals World 1-2: 22-23.
Gruenwald, Joerg (2004). Kava Stakeholders Plan Regulatory Review and Market Return. HerbalGram 61: 69-70.
Gruenwald, Joerg (2004). The tale of the little fish that dared to swim in a big pond. Functional Foods & Nutraceuticals(3): 26-28.
Gruenwald, Joerg; Mueller, Cordula (2003). Kava Update. Nutraceuticals World 6: 30-32.
Gruenwald, Joerg (2002). International Kava Alliance. Nutraceuticals World 4: 24.
Gruenwald, Joerg; Freder, Janine (2002). Kava: The Present European Situation. Nutraceuticals World 1-2: 22-24.

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