Report urges regulation of complementary medicine

HERBALISTS, acupuncturists and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners should be legally bound to register with a professional body or face prosecution, an expert group has recommended.

However, all other complementary therapists, where treatment of the patient is non-invasive, should be allowed self-regulate, according to the recommendations of the report of the National Working Group on the Regulation of Complementary Therapists.

The report, launched yesterday by Health Minister Mary Harney, was expedited at her request last year following the inquest into the death of Mayo man Paul Howie, who died of suffocation caused by a cancerous tumour in his throat. Howie’s widow, Michelle, told the inquest that a natural health therapist, Mineke Kamper, had repeatedly told them that if Paul got other treatment, he would die.