Friends of Science in Medicine
Following a Channel 9 story on alt-health products that fail safety standards, Complementary Medicines Australia (CMA) has hit back. They called the story “false and malicious” and “evil-intentioned”. In social media, CMA has been crowing that FSM fell for “fake news”. … [Read more...]
Can a few zaps a day keep the pain away? It seems like a great idea, but the evidence base for transcutaneous electric neuronal stimulation (TENS) for relief of chronic pain is severely lacking. Complaints made to the TGA that these … [Read more...]
Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine research assistant Abdullah Sheriffdeen spent the summer of 2019 following up complaints sent to the Therapeutic Good Administration (TGA) which had been classified as ‘low risk’ and ‘closed’ by the regulator by sending a Regulatory … [Read more...]
How do we stop crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe from being used to fund quackery? “GoFundMe and other crowdfunding sites have long been used by desperate patients seeking to fund their use of unproven and downright quacky treatments. How can these … [Read more...]
FDA proposes ban on curcumin and other naturopathic favorites in compounded drugs: “Freed from the normal safety and efficacy evidence requirements for prescription drugs, these practitioners were able to create drugs based on scanty evidence or, in some cases, … [Read more...]
Health professionals and complementary therapies: what can consumers reasonably expect? The Medical Board of Australia is developing guidelines for the use of complementary therapies by health practitioners. Under standard guidelines, recommending complementary therapies might constitute unprofessional conduct, as these therapies … [Read more...]
On 7 April 2019, the Minister for Health announced an updated review of natural therapies.[i] The review will be led by the Australian Government Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Professor Brendan Murphy, and be supported by the Natural Therapies Review Expert Advisory Panel (NTREAP). NTREAP … [Read more...]
Reform Calls: Private health insurance at the crossroads: There is a plethora of data from other countries supporting primary care strategies that reduce hospital admissions for medical problems. The $11 billion of support for PHI should be steadily diverted to pay … [Read more...]
Acute flaccid myelitis – enterovirus to blame according to new CDC report: Not the Polio Vaccine. The anti-vaccine community has wasted no time in attributing the recent outbreak of accute flaccid myelitis – AFM – to the polio vaccine. … [Read more...]