Issues 84, September 2008
Complementary Medicine

Editorial

Regulation of Complementary
Medicines in Australia
David Briggs, Head, Office of Complementary Medicines, Therapeutic Goods Administration
David Briggs explains the role of the Therapeutic Goods Administration in regulating complementary medicines in Australia.

Complementary Medicine:
Handle with Care
Ken Harvey, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, School of Public Health, La Trobe University
Some forms of complementary medicine are efficacious but many have unproven or no health benefits. Claims that cannot be substantiated by scientific research are common, and all have some degree of risk.

Regulation of Naturopaths
Jon Wardle, School of Population Health, University of Queensland
Many naturopaths support further regulation, but other industry elements disagree. Jon Wardle discusses this dichotomy and the benefits of regulation.

Assessing Complementary and Alternative Treatments
BrainLink
How do you distinguish and assess conventional, complementary and alternative treatments and their practitioners? BrainLink offers a range of issues to consider and questions to ask.

An Evidence Base for
Complementary Medicine
Warwick P. Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, National Health and Medical Research Council
The National Health and Medical Research Council’s  has set aside $5.3 million to fund research into the use of complementary medicines in Australia.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the News
Billie Bonevski, Senior Research Academic, Centre for Health Research and Psycho-oncology, Cancer Council NSW; and University of Newcastle
Australian news reporting of complementary and alternative medicine is often poor, but a study identifying the problem could also provide the solution.

Complementary Medicines: Integral to the Australian Health System
Trixi Madon and Kristy Roberts, Complementary Healthcare Council of Australia
Complementary health care is an important part of Australian preventative health care.

Complementary Medicine Research
in the Spotlight
Dimity Pinto, National Institute of Complementary Medicine, Sydney
There needs to be a better balance between Australia’s high usage rates of complementary medicines and the evidence to support its use.

A Critical Look at Pharmacies that Promote Complementary and Alternative Medicines
Stuart Adams, Nutritionist
Pharmacies have a vested interest in selling complemenary medicine products that have little or no evidence of efficacy.

CAM or SCAM?
Peter Bowditch, Australian Council Against Health Fraud
Do complementary and alternative medicines like homeopathy, chiropractic and acupuncture work?

A Skeptics’ Guide to Chiropractic
Skeptics Association of South Australia
The Skeptics Association of South Australia accepts evidence-based chiropractic but advocates further research for unsubstantiated practices.

 “Rational Investigation”
and Chiropractic
Dennis Richards, President, Chiropractors’ Association of Australia (National)
The Chiropractors’ Association of Australia rejects the SA Skeptics’ view of chiropractic.

Integrating Acupuncture with the Australian Healthcare System
Charlie Xue, Tony Zhang, Angela Yang, Zhen Zheng and Brian May, Division of Chinese Medicine, School of Health Sciences, World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicine, RMIT University
Acupuncture is gaining significant acceptance in Australia, but further research and review will aid its integration with the broader healthcare system.

Complementary Medicine
and Depression
beyondblue: the national depression initiative
Many Australians use alternative treatments for depression, but do they work?

Partnerships in Traditional Medicinal Plant Research
Subramanyam Vemulpad and Joanne Jamie, Indigenous Bioresources Research Group, Macquarie University
A Macquarie University research group has been building partnerships with indigenous Australians to preserve their unique medicinal plant knowledge and to identify natural medicinal agents.

What If There's No Baby in the Bathwater? Do We Really Need a CAM Industry?
Michael Vagg, Deakin University School of Medicine and Barwon Health
A draft of the Therapeutic Good Administration's consultation document on the vidence required for listed medicines has not been received well by the dietary supplements industry.

Issues: Published by Control Publications, publishers of Australasian Science.
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