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LETTERS: Robert M Pittilo Regulating herbal medicine and acupuncture: author’s reply BMJ 2008; 337: a590 [Full text]

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Regulation of astrology

Luc Bonneux   (7 July 2008)

Regulation of astrology 7 July 2008
Luc Bonneux, epidemiologist 2511 CV Den Haag Send response to journal: Re: Regulation of astrology	In the Netherlands, in a recent report, complementary and alternative medicine is now called irregular medicine (versus regular medicine) (regular and irregular in English may not cover exactly the same load as in Dutch, but it shows the gist). Calling irregular medicine "Complementary and alternative medicine" is tantamount to calling astrology "Complementary and alternative astronomy". I would not advise the public to fly in airplanes, built on principles of "complementary and alternative aerodynamics". Regulating the irregular is a contradiction. The argument that CAM should be regulated because 10.6% of the population use "the more established therapies" is weird. Many journals publish zodiacs with astrological advice, likely because many read these. Consequently, universities should organise courses in astrology and study the efficacy of advice based on the Zodiac. A far larger percentage of Americans believes in "complementary and alternative theories of theoretical biology", called intelligent design or creationism. These should therefore be studied and teached at university. The public really should know that irregular medicine is irregular, not regulated and impossible to regulate as there are no discernible rules to base regulations on. You can tolerate magical practices, but not regulate these. Irregular medicine can become regular, as they show clear benefits (such as certain herbs in herbal medicine): then you can inform public and doctors about appropriate indications, and regulate their use. There is no reasons why the "more established therapies" should be regulated, and others not. Indians and Pakistani should point out that astrology is a very important practice, highly established in their communities. The more traditional islamics may wish to regulate the mollah's as treatment practitioners and latino american descendants of African slaves ought to point to the high prevalence of the use of Winti or Voodoo, Afro-American magical healing practices. There is no more scientific foundation to homeopathy than to Winti, Voodoo, astrology or one of the many thousands of others human believes in the world. Instead of regulating magical healing practices, we can tolerate those that are generally harmless and not tolerate those that may be harmful. We can tolerate prayer, but not life threatening rituals of certain exorcisms. There is little doubt that sick people, believing in the virtues of prayer, can find great comfort in this. But regulation of prayer as a healing practice ought to sound as ridiculous as regulating "alternative or complementary medicine". Competing interests: None declared