Did you notice the new name?
I’ve decided that “natural medicine” doesn’t hold much credence any more.
I’m saying that if we can have a therapeutic benefit in an option to powerful medications, then let’s call a spade a bloody shovel!.
A meeting of many of the modalities in Melbourne last weekend, attended by some pioneers in the natural therapeutic medicine arena, has drawn a line in the sand.

No longer will the hysterical adverse publicity denigrating natural therapeutic medicine be tolerated. How would it be if we launched an obsessive campaign, given perceived credibility by a University, announcing “paracetamol is liver toxic in adults and children…….it should be more stringently regulated, and if the method of action can’t be clinically validated, then it should be banned!”

Really?
The latest AMH 2017 states in the paracetamol monograph that “the method of action is not fully understood”.
When that sort of statement is applied to natural therapeutic medicines there’s a demand for more regulation, and in the case of homeopathic therapeutic medicines, a blanket ban.

Imagine if a natural therapeutic medicine was widely and consistently advertised in medical and pharmacy journals as being the ”go-to” solution for osteoarthritis. 
The cries of “show us the evidence” would be overwhelming.
Turmeric has that evidence and more is coming.

Compare that to the Cochrane Review of the role of paracetamol in osteoarthritis released last year………”no better than placebo” was the research release.
The AMH – the bible of medications in Australia, says “paracetamol has negligible anti-inflammatory effects”.
Compare closely please.

This not-unexpected result was hidden beautifully behind slick marketing – those marketing dollars still being spent in the appropriate “professional” media and on TV.
Do I hear hysterical demands for retractions?
For evidence?
No……….silence all round.

If we have the interests of liver health and evidence-based results on behalf of our patients in the forefront, is that a professionally responsible option?

Interestingly, last week’s practitioner-only meeting was almost infiltrated by the Skeptics.
Will they stop at nothing to secretly gather information on the groundswell of support for natural therapeutic medicines?

It’s time that the various Associations representing natural therapeutic medicines got their backsides into gear.
Put egos aside, speak to one another with the respect we show to our patients, elect a spokesperson to respond to media hysteria in a sensible and balanced way, inform and educate those in the media pushing an opposing agenda (some are probably being subsidised), and demand and defend the rights of individual practitioners, safe modalities, and respected natural therapeutic medicines.

Maybe even whisper into the ear of a politician or two.
70% of Australians use a natural therapeutic medicine.
A groundswell of support might cause an issue or two in marginal seats……….