Posted 10 June 2013
The Nightingale Collaboration, a group of British activists, has submitted 100 complaints against practitioners and clinics registered with the UK’s Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC). The CNHC was set up in 2008 with government support to regulate Alexander therapy, aromatherapy, Bowen therapy, craniosacral therapy, healing, hypnotherapy, massage therapy, microsystems acupuncture, naturopathy, nutritional therapy, reflexology, reiki; shiatsu, sports therapy, and yoga therapy. To display the CNHC “quality mark,” registrants must meet a long list of standards that include, “Advertisements must not be misleading, false, unfair or exaggerated.” The Collaboration’s home page summarizes the situation this way:
- The breadth of these questionable claims is truly staggering, with just about no CNHC ‘discipline’ left untouched. The Alexander Technique is a notable exception in this batch of complaints—at least there is some good evidence for it for some conditions and we found no evidence of the outrageous claims