Acupuncture wins BMA approval

Abstract

Six law firms in Ontario, Canada, have filed for permission to launch a $C300m (£135m; $203m) class action suit on behalf of victims of Canada's worst incident of contamination of water by Escherichia coli, in which 14 people have died.The defendants are the public utilities commission of the town of Walkerton, where the contamination took place; its manager Stan Koebel; the corporation of the municipality of Brockton; and the Bruce-GreyOwen Sound health unit, the district health unit that Walkerton is in. The Ontario government will be added if the class action is approved by the Ontario Superior Court.Lead plaintiffs Jamie Smith and Alana Dalton are each claiming $C200m. Mr Smith was unable to continue to work as a teacher because of E coli infection and moved his family to avoid further exposure. Ms Dalton and her 3 year old son, Matthew Cronin, were both infected and also relocated.Some 2000 of the town's 5000 residents became ill as a result of the outbreak.

Side-effects Associated With Acupuncture and a Sham Treatment: Perhaps We Should Take a Closer Look at What Is Really Responsible?

“…Such is its popularity that 95% of general practitioners report that their patients had discussed CAM with them over the previous year (Anderson and Anderson, 1987). Indeed surveys have shown that 59% of general practitioners had arranged for their patients to receive CAM therapies (Anderson and Anderson, 1987) and nearly half had specifically referred patients for acupuncture (Silvert, 2000). Another study (Wharton and Lewith, 1986) has shown a clear interest by general practitioners in CAM.…”

Acupuntura: prática baseada em evidências

“…Essa tendência na literatura médica ganhou um impulso a partir de reconhecimento da efi cácia do tratamento por acupuntura pela British Medical Association (BMA). A BMA não apenas reconheceu a sua efi cácia na dor lombar, dor odontológica, vômito e enxaqueca, de acordo com um estudo de dois anos da Comissão de Ciência e Educação da Associação Médica Britânica, como recomendou que National Health System (sistema de saúde pública da Inglaterra) passasse a aceitar a prática e ainda sugeriu que mais médicos de família deveriam receber treinamento em acupuntura 2,3 .…”

An Audit of the Effectiveness of Acupuncture on Musculoskeletal Pain in Primary Health Care

“…2 In July 2000, national news bulletins reported that the British Medical Association (BMA) had endorsed the use of acupuncture as an alternative form of pain control. 3 Acupuncture is a widely used form of traditional Chinese medicine which involves the insertion of fine needles into certain points to restore internal balance or flow of Chi (energy); it is the internal imbalance which leads to illness. 4 Each acupuncture point has a defined therapeutic action, and a range of points is usually used.…”