Regulating herbal medicine and acupuncture: author's reply

doi:10.1136/bmj.a590

Published 1 July 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a590
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a590

Letters

Complementary medicine

Regulating herbal medicine and acupuncture: author’s reply

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

In the same week that the report to ministers from the Departmentof Health steering group on the statutory regulation of acupuncture,herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicine. and other traditionalmedicine systems practised in the UK was published,¹ the Medicinesand Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued a furtheralert on poor practice causing serious harm in the herbal medicinessector.² Colquhoun (previous letter) criticises our report andthe Department of Health for advocating regulation to protectthe public³ because of the absence of evidence for efficacy.The evidence from the MHRA, coupled with survey data suggestingthat as many as 10.6% of adults in England have accessed themore established therapies,⁴ shows that there is a need forregulation to protect the public. This should be pursued alongsideresearch on efficacy and not be a prerequisite. The report statedthat any NHS funding should be dependent on demonstrable benefit. . . [Full text of this article]