The deregulation of complementary and alternative medicine in science-based regulation: merging myths, science and law

Abstract

This work examines the compatibility of the diagnostic and therapeutic theories of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) with a science-based regulatory framework. The paper examines the relationship between scientific validation and health care system legitimization, based on the centrality of therapeutic effect to legal regulation, consumers' patronage and health care funding. The paper analyzes two competing theories for CAM regulation—science-based (statutory) regulation and voluntary/ethical regulation through a number of approaches, ranging from medical epidemiology/philosophy to anthropology in the determination of the appropriate regulatory framework for CAM. The central argument is for a broad-based regulatory framework that supports a pluralistic health care system and balances the imperative of quality assurance with the need to ensure access. In establishing legal standards that are correlative to the practice within a particular school of CAM, policy makers would in effect be applying the law to accommodate the present growth of diverse health practices.