Regulation Can Ensure That Complementary Medicines Do Their Job

I applaud the recent interest the Federal Government has shown in stricter regulation of the complementary medicine industry ("Crunch on way for natural therapies", June 10).

Crackdown On 'natural' Hormone Remedies

PHARMACISTS who mass produce their own "natural" hormone replacement products and put women at risk by using them as "guinea pigs" will soon be answerable to Australia's drugs regulator.

Can Natural Remedies Recover?

Snake oil or cure-alls? Paul Heinrichs examines the debate about the usefulness of complementary medicines.

Doctors And Chemists Should Tell The Truth About Natural Medicines

Complementary drugs appear to work their magic mainly on the bottom line, writes John Dwyer.

Hospital To Study Mix Of Medicines

Concern about the possible dangers of combining alternative medicine with prescription drugs has prompted the Royal Melbourne Hospital to set up a study involving up to 400 people.

Education And Lifestyle

National Complementary Medicine College (NCMC) founder and principal director Patrick Braz lives and breathes the motto "deficiency creates dysfunction". As a clinical therapist and teacher of natural medicines, Mr Braz imparts this philosophy to his students. "One of our main r

Natural Way To Go

NATURAL remedies and vitamins from ginseng to evening primrose oil will become a recognised part of mainstream medical treatment after the Federal Government reviews health regulations. The changes, announced by parliamentary secretary for health Senator Chris Ellison, are designed to improve pat

Bush Medicines May Yield Drugs To Cure Modern-day Ills

High-tech science has turned to traditional bush medicines, used by Aboriginal people for thousands of years, in its search for new drugs for cancer and viral diseases such as AIDS. Twelve plants still used as bush medicines have been identified for further investigation in a drug-development pr

A Natural View Of Health Government

The leaders of the Natural Law Party sound more like committed priests than committed politicians. They claim to be committed scientists _ scientists in the sense that their policies, they say, are ``scientifically proven". The leader, Dr Bevan Morris, is described variously as the prime

'natural' Oils Can Poison, Doctor Warns

Children are being poisoned by eucalyptus and tea tree oils left lying around by parents who think they are "natural" and therefore safe, according to a letter in this week's edition of the Medical Journal of Australia. In the letter, Dr Helen Wilkinson, the community paediatri

Rainforests May Hold Cancer Secrets

THE destruction of the world's tropical rainforests may be depriving future generations of a variety of valuable natural medicines, including some that might help cure cancer. About 5 per cent of tropical plants, and only 1 per cent in the Amazon basin, have been examined for what the scien