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Complementary and alternative medicine and consumer law

August 2013Competition & Consumer Law Journal 21(1):85

Project: Complementary medicine and the law

Authors:

Michael john Weir

Bond University

Jonathan Wardle

Southern Cross University

Brenda Marshall

Eloise Archer

Flinders University

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Citations (7)

References (26)

Abstract

The application of consumer Law has become significant in the health sector including the provision of complementary and alternative medicine. Many legal authorities in this area deal with extreme examples of breaches of consumer law which provides a problematic image for the evidence base for this form of health care especially when high quality scientific is sought in regard to representations made. The article discusses the fact that in some contexts traditional use evidence is applied in regard to the determination of appropriate indications of use for the registration and listing of complementary and alternative medicine but this does not appear to be applied in consumer law decisions. The capacity to provide high quality scientific evidence is limited for many form of complementary and alternative medicine based upon their historical background and approach to healing. Based upon an analysis of the value obtained from scientific evidence for complementary and alternative medicine this article argues for a broader use of traditional evidence and other forms of evidence to support compliance with consumer legislation in a context of where public safety is preserved.

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References (26)

... With regards to claims of misleading representations in advertising or in the course of practice by health practitioners, the case law suggests that these claims are evaluated based upon the need for high quality scientific evidence. According to Weir et al 2013 [7], -This is no doubt reflective of a view that when dealing with health matters there is a need for good evidence to avoid personal injury. ...

Medical Law and Misrepresentation in the Practice of Homeopathy and Alternative Medicines in Ghana: Lessons learnt in studying Law and Practicing Holistic Medicine

Article

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Apr 2020

Raphael Obu

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... With regards to matters relating to marketing and advertising of therapeutic goods including complementary medicines, there is a legal requirement that it has to be carried out law requires in such a way that facilitates promotion of the quality use of the product. Besides, it needs to socially responsible to consumers and does not eventually lead to misleading of deception to them (Weir, 2013). Thus, such an advertisement is made subject to the advertising requirements provided under the Therapeutic Goods Act. ...

REGULATORY CONTROL OF HERBAL AND TRADITIONAL MEDICINES IN MALAYSIA: ISSUES AND CONCERNS

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Jan 2020

Suzi Fadhilah Ismail

Ida Madieha AzmiAbd Ghani

Sahida Safuan

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... On the other hand, Complementary and Alternative medicine(CAM) is consisted with a variety of medical treatment modalities,i.e. Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Chiropractic, Reiki, Acupuncture, Kampo, Traditional Chinese Medicine, etc., each having separate principles of treatment and is not an integral part of Conventional medical practice (Weir M., 2005). A traditional healthcare practice of indigenous people pertaining to human health is termed as Ethnomedicine (Vedavathy, 2003 (Debas et al, 2006). ...

Does Treatment Choice Vary with Disease? An Analysis of Demographic Factors and Disease Burden

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Apr 2018

Praheli Dhar Chowdhuri

Suman Meyur

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... Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) refers to a broad range of health practices (National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine N, 2012;NICM, 2011;Weir, 2005) and thus a definition of what constitutes a CAM therapy has at times been unclear. The National Centre for Complementary and Integrative Health separate complementary and alternative medicine with complementary being "a non-mainstream practice used together with conventional medicine" and alternative being a non-mainstream practice used in place of conventional medicine" (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, 2008). ...

The role of complementary and alternative medicine in the treatment of Eating Disorders: A systematic review