Philip Green, from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, told BBC News Online, he welcomed the plans.

BBC: Prescribing shake-up planned

The advice was echoed by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.

BBC: Holidaymakers 'get wrong medicines'

David Pruce, Director of Practice and Quality Improvement at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, said they supported the safety review.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Painkiller safety is investigated

Dr Gillian Hawksworth, President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, said there was a "clear public health benefit" to be gained from making statins available over-the-counter.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Pharmacists to sell heart drugs

It is written by experts from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists Group, the British Medical Association and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Doctors get child medicines help

"There is good evidence for the efficacy of Orlistat (Alli) in weight reduction but it should not be used as the sole element of weight management, " says Dr Colin Cable of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, who reviewed the products.

BBC: Slimming pills: Do the claims add up?

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, confirmed that from wholesaler to chemist shops nobody is legally obliged to keep a record of drug batch numbers and the chemists do not keep records of which patient is dispensed drugs from which batch.

BBC: How fake drugs got into the NHS