Published 15 July 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a795
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a795

Letters

Complementary medicine

Regulating the irregular is a contradiction

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

In a recent Dutch report, complementary and alternative medicine is called "irregular medicine."¹ 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."

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.

The argument that CAM should be regulated because 10.6% of the population use "the more established therapies" is weird. There is no reason why the "more established therapies" should be regulated, and others not. Instead of regulating magical healing practices, we should 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 . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ 2511 CV The Hague, Netherlands

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