Homeopathic products should not be sold in Australian pharmacies because they place consumers at “unacceptable risk,” an independent review of pharmacy regulation for the Australian Department of Health has found.
In his interim report, review panel chairman Stephen King found homeopathy and homeopathic products should be kept out of pharmaceutical benefits scheme-approved pharmacies.
“The only defense put to the panel regarding homeopathy was that it was harmless and able to be used as a placebo in certain circumstances,” the report said. “The panel does not believe that this argument is sufficient to justify the continued sale of these products in pharmacies.”
Ian Carr, a pharmacist and member of Friends of Science in Medicine, welcomed the finding and said homeopathic products could be harmful if used in lieu of evidence-based treatments for serious conditions.
“My biggest complaint about the status of homeopathy is not that people are essentially putting placebos into their bodies, it’s that they are putting their trust in a certain way of thinking that has no evidence base,” he said.
“It means they’re not looking in the right places for information, which is concerning if they are suffering from serious health problems. Yes, there is always a small risk that scientifically proven medicines carry, but those medicines also offer a huge benefit. Homeopathy carries a small or medium risk with no benefit,” he said.
Homeopaths say that illness-causing substances can, in minute doses, treat people who are unwell and dilute these substances in water or alcohol.
They say the resulting mixture retains a “memory” of the original substance that triggers a healing response in the body.
These claims have been disproven by multiple studies.
In 2015 the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council reviewed 225 research papers on homeopathy and found there were “no health conditions for which there is reliable evidence that homeopathy is effective.”
“People who choose homeopathy may put their health at risk if they reject or delay treatments for which there is good evidence for safety and effectiveness,” it said.
An independent company reviewed the council’s analysis and appraised the evidence to prevent bias, drawing the same conclusions.
Carr said the interim report on pharmacy regulation was not tough enough on the wider complementary and alternative medicine sector.
In September last year the Australian government announced a more comprehensive system of post-market monitoring of products, which would provide the Therapeutic Goods Administration with better information about emerging safety issues.
Because of these and other changes under way, the panel had made no further recommendations on complementary and alternative medicine products (CAM), King said.
However, Carr said he would liked to have seen a more critical look at the sale of such products in pharmacies by the panel.
“I’m particularly concerned by pharmacies that place naturopaths in the pharmacy environment, given naturopaths promote treatments that are unscientific and unproven,” he said.
Professor of public health and medicines policy expert Ken Harvey agreed.
“There should be a completely separate section for CAM products and there should be a clear sign in that section that tells customers: ‘These products have not been evaluated by government to see if they work and they may interact with medications. Talk to a pharmacist,’” he said.
The report also found that community pharmacy expenditure and funding was “insufficiently transparent,” a concern given that community pharmacies draw funding from a range of federal, state and territory government programs.
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) president Joe Demarte said the interim report had raised some concerning issues for the sector.
“We will consult with members from all areas of practice to comprehensively assess the interim report, which will inform PSA’s detailed response,” he said.
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
The Vatican Museums on Thursday unveiled the last and most important of the restored Raphael Rooms, the spectacularly frescoed reception rooms of the Apostolic Palace that in some ways rival the Sistine Chapel as the peak of high Renaissance artistry. A decade-long project to clean and restore the largest of the four Raphael Rooms uncovered a novel mural painting technique that Renaissance painter and architect Raphael began, but never completed. He used oil paint directly on the wall, and arranged a grid of nails embedded in the walls to hold in place the resin surface onto which he painted. Vatican Museums officials