regulation

Duchy Originals Pork Pies

March 11, 2009

Prince Charles is being labeled a quack in today’s news. And not a moment too soon. The BBC report that “Prince Charles has been accused of exploiting the public in times of hardship by launching what a leading scientist calls a “dodgy” detox mix.” Dodgy Originals, as now they will become known, is selling three herbal tinctures. Two of them, echinachea and hypericum, are the first herbal preparations to be licensed by the MHRA under the new traditional herbal medicines scheme. This is a highly controversial scheme that means that the MHRA has abdicated its responsibility to license medicine that has proven efficacy. Under this scheme, all you have to do to seek official approval to sell a herbal remedy is to show that it has been used ‘traditionally’...

The Graceless Dr Michael Dixon OBE

February 25, 2009

By Andy Lewis

In today’s Pulse, the magazine for GPs, a spat between Dr Michael Dixon and critics of alternative medicine has been reported. Dr Dixon, chairman of the NHS Alliance, was accused of breaking GMC guidelines by issuing ‘misleading or incorrect’ statements about alternative medicine. The NHS Alliance is not actually part of the NHS, but is an independent body that acts a bit like a club, lobby and research organisation into matters concerning NHS Primary Care Trusts. Professor Edzard Ernst has accused the NHS Alliance of proffering a ‘dangerously one-sided’ view of alternative medicine. They are an important organisation and have a responsibility to have a balanced view. What I have seen on their website is disturbingly devoid of any critical evaluation. Instead of addressing the concerns,...

Ofquack’s Toothless Squawk

January 19, 2009

By Andy Lewis

Today sees the long awaited launch of the government backed Ofquack, better known in some circles as the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC). Ofquack is the “national voluntary regulator for complementary healthcare practitioners” and was set up by Prince Charles’ Foundation for Integrated Health and funding from the Department of Health. You can find their sparkly new website at http://www.ofquack.org.uk/. It has been quite a long road getting here. The quackometer reported on the newly emerging regulator’s woes this time last year when I described it as a dead duck. The CNHC had grand ambitions to be the one-stop-shop regulator for all complementary therapists – a single register that the public can check to see if their chosen quack professional was ‘legit’. The House of Lords, in a...

Andy Burman Resigns From Ofquack

August 5, 2008

By Andy Lewis

Andy Burman, Chief Executive of the British Dietetic Association, appears to have resigned his post from the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (Ofquack). This news follows my recent criticism on this site of the BDA for not doing enough to educate the public about the difference between pseudoscientific Nutritional Therapists (as to be ‘regulated’ by Ofquack) and professionally trained and regulated dietitians (as currently represented by the BDA). This came in the wake of the news that a brain damaged woman had been given £810,000 by the insurers of self-styled nutritionist Barbara Nash. I commented that the situation was being made worse by the emergence of the ill-conceived, government sponsored and Prince Charles driven, CNHC. Ofquack will not protect the public from the practices and commercial motives of Nutritional...

Prince Charles’ Ofquack is a Dead Duck

January 7, 2008

By Andy Lewis

Prince Charles’ Foundation for Integrated Health and its new regulatory quango, the Natural Healthcare Council (or Ofquack, as it is bound to become known), is due to launch in April. Ofquack is designed to be an ‘independent self-regulatory body for complementary therapists. In 2000, the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee looked into the regulation of non-medically trained health workers. It asked the Prince of Wales Foundation to look into setting up a body to mop up all the ‘harmless’ CAM therapies, such as reiki, massage, aromatherapy, yoga and homeopathy. Alternative therapies that have the potential to have real effects on people such as osteopathy, herbalism and acupuncture have already been statutorily regulated or are soon set to be. Ofquack, The Natural Healthcare Council, will not be...

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