Italy moves to control alternative medicine

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Italy moves to control alternative medicine

 

 

 

ANSA) - Rome, August 15 - Italian legislators are putting the

finishing touches to a bill to regulate the practice and teaching of

alternative medicine, a move which is strongly contested by top

scientists and doctors .

 

The bill seeks to provide greater safeguards for the public while at

the same time incorporating tried and tested methods into mainstream,

state-backed healthcare .

 

Francesco Lucchese, of the centrist UDC party, said he was optimistic

that the bill - drawn up by opposition and majority MPs - would be

approved by parliament by the end of the year .

 

It has taken almost two years for the 19 legislators who worked on the

bill to hammer it, opposition Daisy party MP Gianni Vernetti said.

" But we're happy with the result because in the meantime we've

gathered a large consensus among MPs, " said Vernetti .

 

The bill calls for alternative treatment to be divided into two

different categories: specialties that can only be practiced by

doctors; and therapies that can be administered by non-medical

specialists, under the umbrella heading 'non conventional therapies' .

 

In addition, the bill tasks the health ministry with setting up

special commissions to regulate the sector and monitor schools which

train specialists .

 

 

The bill has come under fire from a group of top Italian doctors and

scientists who warned recently that the spread of alternative medicine

risked depriving the sick of effective cures .

According to the Group 2003, promoting the teaching of homeopathy,

pranotherapy and popular cures based on herbs and flowers in

universities is potentially disastrous .

 

" Just when scientific medicine is having its biggest successes, daily

medical practice risks being ruined by approaches that have nothing

scientific about them and which involve considerable risks, " a

statement said .

 

Nevertheless, recent surveys show that alternative medicine is

steadily gaining ground among Italians and the industry connected to

the trend is booming .

 

The National Bioethics Council said in a landmark statement recently

that it was sometimes ethical for doctors to direct their patients

towards what it called " other therapies. " But the Group 2003, which

has top immunologists, pharmacologists and orthopaedic doctors among

its members, said that modern medicine was based on centuries of

scientific knowledge .

 

" With initiatives like those being discussed in parliament we risk

making the public believe that alternative medicine can be put on the

same level, " they said .

 

However, MPs argue that their legislation is in line with European

Union guidelines and they also point to the need to regulate the

sector in view of growing public demand for alternative therapies .

 

The World Health Organization has also highlighted the need for

greater regulation of all strands of medicine and has expressed its

support for alternative options .

 

" WHO is in favor of both traditional and alternative methods when

their effectiveness has been shown and there is no risk of adverse

reactions, " said the report .

 

Although alternative therapies have been used for years - sometimes

centuries in the case of treatments such as acupuncture - they have

enjoyed a boom in the West over the past few decades .

 

 

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