Natural Health Care has Validation

In the states it often happens that when something good is available to the people, either some would-be elitist tries to establish a monopoly or the concepts are attacked.

I suggest this is something likened to the on-going attack on supplements proffered by the FDA in conspiracy with the AMA and Big Pharma.

It is also very much like the establishment of restricted access to traditional care by four schools of the new hybrid form of naturopathy, coined "naturopathic medicine".

The schools also seem to want to control who practices using herbs, flower essences, aromatherapy and other related modalities.

Of course the end result is less access to care, more control over what kind of care is offered and higher costs to users.

Idaho is one state where the right of choice and access to care is protected, at least for now. A number of other states do not have legislation limiting care to those who have finished up a degree at the four pro ND licensing schools (some with primary hope to get third-party insurance reimbursement and pay down school loans).

It seems the attack has started in the UK.

As an activist, I would encourage readers to speak out loudly to prevent any further damage -

Alternative medical degrees 'harm' universities
By Tom Peterkin
Last Updated: 2:43am BST 24/04/2008

A growing number of universities are offering "bogus" degrees in alternative and complementary medicine, researchers warn today.

Greenwich offers five BSc degrees including aromatherapy

The increasing number of courses in subjects such as homeopathy, acupuncture and Chinese medicine is "besmirching the reputation" of the country's higher education system, they say.

A top five list of institutions offering "unscientific" degrees has been compiled to highlight the extent to which alternative medicine is being taught in universities.

The rankings, which are topped by Westminster University, have been drawn up to provoke vice-chancellors into debating the scientific basis for such degrees.

"We want to embarrass them into acknowledging the pseudo-scientific degrees they are offering," said the authors of the survey, which is published in the Times Higher Education magazine.

advertisementWestminster University offers five BSc honours degrees, which cover Chinese medicine and acupuncture, complementary therapies, homoeopathy, naturopathy plus remedial massage and neuromuscular therapy.

An MSc in Chinese herbal medicine is also available.

Students at Middlesex can choose from three BSc (Hons) courses in complementary health sciences and Chinese medicine, plus two MSc degrees in Ayurvedic medicine, native to the Indian subcontinent, and Chinese medicine.

Greenwich offers five BSc degrees including aromatherapy and complementary stress management therapies. Counselling, Chinese medicine, homoeopathy and acupuncture are on offer in Salford University's four BSc complementary medicine degrees.

At Thames Valley University, students can study for a BSc (Hons) in homoeopathy or complementary medicine in healthcare or an MA in Naad yoga.

The table was drawn up by Edzard Ernst, a professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University, and Simon Singh, a science author.

They went through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service and university websites and found 43 institutions offering a total of 155 "unscientific" courses.

Westminster University said its courses included research and criticism. Middlesex University said Indians and Sri Lankans had considered Ayurveda a science for thousands of years.

Tim Duerden, a complementary medicine lecturer at Salford, said students were given the chance to develop their critical faculties.

Greenwich said the survey had wrongly listed three different courses, which were in fact three different strands of the same degree. Two others had been withdrawn.

Thames Valley said the yoga course was not part of its science department.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/24/nuni124.xml