The Quackometer

*posted by Le Canard Noir at 12:56 PM*

I understand from little dickie birds that the newly launched Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), or Ofquack to give it its official title, has been seeing a few lawyers' letters flying backwards and forwards between itself and other organisations.

The CNHC was set up by the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health and the Department of Health to form a voluntary register for quacks, charlatans, mountebanks and other hawkers of dubious medical practices, so that the public can have 'confidence' in them with a government approved stamp. Maggie Dunn, co-Chair of the CNHC, believes "there are going to be a significant commercial advantages to signing up". No doubt, Maggie.

Criticism of the new body has been widespread with commentaries in the Economist and the FT. As the Oxfordshire MP Evan Harris was reported to have said in an article in the Guardian (False Assurances),

This register is an attempt to give legitimacy to a business model founded on deceiving the public with pseudo-scientific and misleading health claims.

One way Ofquack was going to allow its registrants to differentiate themselves from unregistered and obviously 'bad' quacks was by allowing its members to display a 'kitemark'. Their home page said,

Our key function is to enhance public protection, by setting standards for registration with CNHC. We anticipate that obtaining the CNHC "kitemark" will swiftly be recognised as the hallmark of quality for the sector.

In an interview with the Foundation for Integrated Health, Maggie Dunn said,

Complementary healthcare practitioners have been working in some cases for a couple of decades to get here. They don't want just another register. They want a proper regulator who can offer a kitemark and a gold standard.

Members will be able to proudly display their 'Kitemark'.

When you register you will be sent a certificate, incorporating the CNHC kitemark, for public display, showing the details of your entry on the CNHC Register. You will also be able to use the kitemark in your publicity materials. People will also be able to search the Register on-line to check that you are registered.

Now, the only problem is that the only organisation that is allowed to award kitemarks is the British Standards Institute. They say,

The Kitemark® is the world's premier symbol of trust, integrity and quality. Manufacturers having this associated with their product or service will reassure customers and specifiers alike that they have satisfied the most rigorous of quality processes.

And it looks like a number of troublemakers have let the BSI know how the CNHC are using their registered trademark. A comment from 'zeno' on a recent thread of mine (Ofquack's Toothless Squawk)reports that the BSI have taken action,

"Thank you for your enquiry and your concern for Kitemark. Please be assured that we take the protection of our trademark extremely seriously and all potential mis-usage is reported to our Group Legal department where we have a team specialised in Intellectual Property and its protection.
The legal team have been in contact with CNHC about their use of Kitemark and the Co-Chair of this organisation has assured us that they did not intend to mis-use Kitemark, have issued sincere apologies and have committed to put this in writing along with a commitment not to use the word again.
If you re-visit the links you should see that they have removed reference to Kitemark. Naturally should CNHC be interested in commissioning a standard and a Kitemark scheme then BSI would be only to happy to discuss this with them.
Thank once again for your query and I hope that this clarifies the situation and our action."

The CNHC have rapidly updated their web site to remove all traces of their fledgling 'kitemark'.

I find it rather remarkable that the CNHC, after taking years to get set up, has got such basic things wrong. I do think this rather supports my view that Ofquack is nothing but a thin veneer of so-called regulation being applied to dubious practices to keep both Prince Charles happy and to allow the government to say they are 'getting tough' on quacks. The result is nothing but an official rubber stamp on a deluded trade that does nothing to protect people from the absurdity of alternative medicine.

And one can only speculate what extra costs have now been incurred. How much printed material and certificates will have to be reworked?

(PS Ta Dr* T for the logo)

Labels: CNHC, Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council, ofquack