Statutory Regulation Of Alternative Medicine: What Good Will It Do?

In the UK, statutory regulation of practitioners of herbal medicine and acupuncture has been advocated by a House of Lords’ Select Committee and by three subsequent Dartment of Health (DH) working groups as well as the vast majority of respondents to a previous DH consultation on this subject (the Pittilo consultation and report). The NIMH is strongly in support of statutory regulation of this sector. They feel that only statutory regulation of this sector can enable the public to identify qualified practitioners and maintain the availability of a full range of herbal medicines in herbal practice. The same discussion is going on in other countries, the Netherlands for example. For our Dutch readers: click here.

Is it true that statutory regulation will protect the public against the risks of alternative medicine?  Many people think not and we agree with them. The pitfalls and downsides of the suggested regulations have been aptly described in a submission that was sent to the Pittilo consultation. You can read it here. There is a summary on DC’s Improbable Science, as well as extensive information on the Pittilo consultation.

With Complements From Boots

Oh my…

😆

Alternative Medicine and Why It Seems To Work

Very rarely have alternative treatments or medication been able to show any therapeutic value. Yet countless people swear by it and are convinced they can’t do without.

The mysterious placebo effect has everything to do with this. But what is it and how does it work? Harriet Hall explains.

Is there hope after all?

Yesterday I received some e-mails.

The first was from a lady whose mother is suffering from cancer. During her mother’s illness, this lady searched the internet for information on cancer and decided it would be a good idea to collect everything she found in one place. So she started a blog.

She says on her blog: “I wanted to have a place where all the information I was researching on the internet could be stored in one convenient location (…). In addition, I wanted to make sure that all the information was positive, so having our own blog made that easy.” 

Breast cancer movie project

A young man loses his girlfriend to breast cancer and decides he will make a documentary of his struggle to save her. He sends an email with the film’s trailer to scientist/surgeon. We think it is important that you see the trailer and read what the young man wrote, as well as the response he received.