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Lip-service Legislation
- Leslie B Rose, John Garrow (3 December 2008)
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Leslie B Rose, Clinical Science Consultant Salisbury, UK, SP2 8NJ, John Garrow
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We share Professor Lean's enthusiasm for the purpose of the Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (BMJ 2008;337:a2408), but our practical experience is less encouraging. More than two months after reporting one case of evidence-free claims to Trading Standards (for an obesity `remedy'), we have nothing but a case number and repeated requests to re- send our complaint as it was lost several times. In another case we challenged the claims made for a widely marketed snoring remedy. The manufacturer refused to provide any evidence, claiming that although clinical trials had been carried out, the results were commercially sensitive and confidential. Trading Standards agreed that the manufacturer was not obliged to release the information, assuring us instead that their officer was satisfied with the evidence he had been shown. We received however no assurance that he could distinguish a good clinical trial from a bad one. Perhaps pharmaceutical companies should try telling the Medicines and healthcare Products Regulatory Agency that their clinical data are too commercially sensitive to be published. These are just two examples relating to a piece of legislation with laudable intentions that is found to be lacking when it comes to enforcement. The new Regulations are the UK transposition of European Union Directive 2005/29/EC, and member states are obliged under EU law not only to enact it as national legislation, but to provide for enforcement. If the government claims that it has provided adequate resources for such enforcement, in the form of staff and their proper training, the evidence is not convincing. The media, and especially the lnternet, are replete with false claims regarding health care, and sick people need protection. Every EU citizen has the right to complain to the EU Commission if their government fails to provide that protection. The world of `quack' medicine can be an ephemeral one. Purveyors typically conduct short sharp marketing campaigns, accrue substantial sales before complaints are acted upon, and move on to other markets and products. Unless enforcement of regulatory legislation is timely, it will be quite ineffective. Les Rose
John Garrow
Competing interests: None declared |
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