Traditional Chinese medicine – just what the Doctor ordered?
27 February 2006
Everyone values good health and knowing that your choice of healthcare practitioner provides responsible information and is suitably qualified to offer the safest and most effective treatment available is essential. But, after concerns that patients could be at risk as a result of some of their advertising claims, the ASA has recently upheld complaints against three different leaflets promoting the services of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners.
In an adjudication published on 4 January 2006, the ASA upheld a complaint from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) a leaflet from Ever Well Ltd. The ASA concluded that the ad both made unsubstantiated claims about the safety of traditional Chinese medicines and referred to the treatment of serious and life threatening conditions (such as cancer), in a way that could deter the public from seeking advice from suitably qualified medical practitioners. The leaflet claimed that most western medicine has damaging side effects that Chinese medical treatment avoids. Click the link above right to read the adjudication.
In an adjudication published on 7 December 2005, the ASA upheld two complaints from the MHRA against a “Dr China” leaflet, one of which was an objection to the claim that Chinese medicine was safer than western medicine. Also, the ASA decided that “Dr China” breached the CAP Code by implying the advertiser held general medical qualifications. CAP’s guidance recommends that marketers of traditional Chinese medicine should not imply that they are “doctors” of conventional western medicine but instead state, if they are, they are a qualified TCM “practitioner”. Click the link above right to read the adjudication.
Herbal medicines can have an effect on the body and consequently they have the potential for adverse reactions and interactions with conventional medicines. And the variable quality of some products, especially TCM products, has resulted in concerns about their safety. In an adjudication published on 24 August 2005, the ASA upheld complaints against a “Dr & Herbs" leaflet that claimed that Chinese herbal medicine would not interfere with the effects of any western medicine. In general, such claims are unlikely to bear objective substantiation by marketers of TCM and they could be dangerous and jeopardise effective communication between the patient and the practitioner or doctor. Click the link above right to read the adjudication.
You can find more advice in the CAP guidance for marketers of traditional Chinese medicines in the AdviceOnline database on the CAP website and in the CAP Help Notes on Substantiation for Health, Beauty and Slimming claims and Health, Beauty and Slimming Marketing that Refers to Ailments.