HEALTH minister Peter Roffey has vowed to put an end to rogue supplements companies which make false claims to peddle their products. HEALTH minister Peter Roffey has vowed to put an end to rogue supplements companies which make false claims to peddle their products.

New legislation should soon force such businesses from the Bailiwick.

Some companies have used a loophole to sell their products to the UK as ‘cures’ for serious conditions such as strokes, diabetes and heart disease without any medical proof they actually work.

They are able to get away with it because Guernsey has not yet adopted EU codes of conduct banning such marketing techniques.

Deputy Roffey said that ‘some companies’ used Guernsey as a base to ‘promote supplements in an unethical manner’.

‘We have wanted to close down this group for a long time.

‘They tend to be smaller companies that move around from place to place a lot,’ he said.

‘However, I wouldn’t include larger reputable companies such as Healthspan and Healthy Direct, which conduct business in a more responsible way, with them.’

The issue came under the national spotlight before Parliament’s summer recess, with probing questions being asked in the House by Labour MPs.

Guernsey’s States has come under mounting pressure from the UK Government to deal with the problem once and for all.

Deputy Roffey said that after years of hard work to address it, new legislation was hopefully ‘just around the corner’.

He dismissed the MPs’ allegations that there had been ‘dragging of feet’ on the part of States and insisted no attempt had been made to sweep the matter under the carpet.

‘We have been working our socks off for the new medicine law to come to fruition,’ he said.

‘I hope that it is ready to go to the States by September and I hope that it is treated as a matter of urgency.

‘There are other clauses within the law, not just health supplement claims, that we have been desperate to get into place for years.

‘Allowing nurses the power to prescribe is a major priority, for example.

‘But these things take time as we seek a great deal of legal advice on every bit of EU legislation and I believe that is the right thing to do.’

Deputy Roffey also added that the new law was coming into place because it was the ‘right thing to do’ and not because Guernsey was being pressed to do it.

‘We are bringing in these measures because we agree with their aim to protect the consumer, but we don’t feel that constitutionally we have to take on board EU codes of conduct,’ he said.

‘We just don’t think there is any point in putting up a fight over something that we all agree on.

‘But what we don’t want to do is set a precedent of accepting EU directives in all cases.’