BMJ  2008;336:1395 (21 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.a401 (published 18 June 2008)

News

Government insists on second public consultation before regulating complementary medicine

Zosia Kmietowicz

1 London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The Department of Health has insisted that it will consult the public a second time before it gives the final go ahead to the statutory regulation of practitioners of acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, and some other alternative therapies. This is despite there being what a health department committee says is "an urgent need" to protect the public from unsafe practices.

Mike Pittilo, chairman of the health department’s steering group on the statutory regulation of traditional medicine practitioners, which is urging prompt action, said, "The time for regulation is long overdue. The current incoherent state of affairs is simply not sustainable.

"Without statutory regulation I believe that vulnerable members of the public will be at continuing risk and that the efforts of responsible and well trained practitioners to follow high standards will be undermined."

He said that a consultation by the department in February 2005 had already shown widespread support for . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Pittilo, R. M (2008). Regulating herbal medicine and acupuncture: author's reply. BMJ 337: a590-a590 [Full text]  
  • Colquhoun, D. (2008). A very bad report on regulating complementary medicine. BMJ 337: a591-a591 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

A very bad report
David Colquhoun
bmj.com, 24 Jun 2008 [Full text]
Regulation of herbal medicine and acupuncture
Robert M Pittilo
bmj.com, 25 Jun 2008 [Full text]
A call to arms!
John Boyce
bmj.com, 30 Jun 2008 [Full text]
A response to David Colquhoun
Kim Maidment
bmj.com, 4 Jul 2008 [Full text]
Who has competing interests?
David Colquhoun
bmj.com, 6 Jul 2008 [Full text]
Professional Acupuncturist
Kim Maidment
bmj.com, 15 Jul 2008 [Full text]
A more moderate view
Val Hopwood
bmj.com, 17 Jul 2008 [Full text]
Response to Val Hopwood's Post
Richard Bartley
bmj.com, 18 Jul 2008 [Full text]
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ