Friends of Science in Medicine Publishes 3^rd Newsletter. (September 14, 2012)

Friends of Science in Medicine (FSM) is not quite nine months old, has close to 800 subscribers to its 3-page newsletter which is now into its third issue.

Several excerpts:

An editorial in the July Medical Journal of Australia criticised the call by FSM to remove the teaching of complementary medicine from universities. 'The legitimacy of academic complementary medicine' was written by academics who support alternative medicine... [one sentence reads] “The debate on whether complementary medicine should be a university discipline, when seen from a sociological perspective, says much less about good science and much more about control and power”.

A student from the University of Sydney, who is currently studying Science... Concerned about some of their pseudo-science courses, including Introduction to homeopathy... wrote a letter to Southern Cross University in which he stated: "I would be ashamed to study at your university. If you wish to defend the integrity and prestige of your institution you should have a high threshold of quality and insight into the courses you offer".

In May, draft guidelines prepared by the Therapeutic Goods Administration were released. These required that the makers of complementary medicines (CM) would need to hold “expert reports” before their products could be listed on the register of therapeutic goods. The self-regulated CM industry claimed that many companies would be unable to comply, and so the TGA backed down and has now issued an updated draft, minus the requirement for an expert to conduct evidence reviews.
    Submissions on the latest draft close on October 22.

Friends of Science in Medicine who have had articles published, who were in the news or on current affairs programs recently.

Click to access newsletter, go to page 3 for links