Friday 29 October 2010

The College of Naturopathic Medicine Talks Shit


I haven't written nearly enough complaints about colonic irrigation - a bizarre and unpleasant therapy that is both ineffective and highly dangerous.



How can I be sure? The UK's leading expert on complementary therapies has written:

"There is no reliable clinical evidence that colonic irrigation does any good at all and some evidence it causes serious harm by, for example, perforating the colon or depleting our body of electrolytes...Colonic irrigation is unpleasant, ineffective and dangerous. In other words, it's a waste of money and a hazard to our health."

A waste of money, eh? You'd never have guessed it from reading the College of Naturopathic Medicine's promotional flyer (available here and here).

"Colon hydrotherapy is the most powerful method available for restoring optimum bowel function... Colon hydrotherapy [has] a huge range of health benefits... including: Restoration of regular bowel movements - Improvements in conditions such as diverticulosis or [sic] irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) - Reduced gas or bloating - Clearer skin - Improved mental clarity - Increased energy - Fewer headaches"

I hope no-one falls for the College's faecal sales pitch. My contacts in the industry tell me there are already more therapists than customers - in fact, the only people making money are the ones selling the poo-extraction machines.

ASA complaint follows!


"I write to complain about a flyer I picked up at the CamExpo exhibition in London on 24th October this year.

The flyer, for the College of Naturopathic Medicine, promotes their courses in colon hydrotherapy.

I suspect that the flyer may be in breach of the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (CAP Code). I can provide the original flyer by post, if necessary.

1. "Colon Hydrotherapy" is better known as "Colonic Irrigation".

2. The UK's leading authority on complementary medicine, Professor Edzard Ernst, has recently written about colonic therapies [1]:

"There is no reliable clinical evidence that colonic irrigation does any good at all and some evidence it causes serious harm by, for example, perforating the colon or depleting our body of electrolytes...Colonic irrigation is unpleasant, ineffective and dangerous. In other words, it's a waste of money and a hazard to our health."

3. Therefore, under section 12.1 of the CAP Code, I challenge whether the advertisers can substantiate any of the following claims, and under Section 3.1 I challenge whether they are misleading:

(i) "Many people are becoming toxic throughout their bodies, suffering from unexplained symptoms such as skin complaints and headaches, due to impaired colon function...As a natural medicine practitioner, you and your patients will benefit from adding colon hydrotherapy to your therapeutic armoury."

(ii) "Colon hydrotherapy is the most powerful method available for restoring optimum bowel function..."

(iii) "Colon hydrotherapy...is at the same time gentle and rejuvenating"

(iv) "Colon hydrotherapy" has a "huge range of health benefits" including "Restoration of regular bowel movements", "Improvements in conditions such as diverticulosis or [sic] irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)", "Reduced gas or bloating", "Clearer skin", "Improved mental clarity", "Increased energy", "Fewer headaches"

(v) "Colon hydrotherapy may also be useful in cases of circulatory, immune, inflammatory and weight problems when accompanied by diet and lifestyle changes"

4. I confirm I have no connections with the advertiser. I confirm I am not involved in legal proceedings with the advertiser.

Footnotes:

[1] Simon Singh, Edzard Ernst, "Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial", American edition 2008, p304"

6 comments:

  1. The College of Naturopathic Medicine are "interesting" to say the least. http://www.scientology-london.com/fraud/hermann-keppler/ suggests that many of the staff are scientologists.

    The companies that are linked to the College of Naturopathic Medicine sell all of sorts of products, some of which, that to my untrained eye look like unlicenced medicines. And I will make various complaints against them in good time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I had completely forgotten about that.

    The best thing is that, somewhere in my pile of soon-to-be submitted adverts, I have some more of the college's stuff.

    Watch this space!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am a graduate of NCNM and a licensed naturopathic doctor. When I was a student, colon hydrotherapy/irrigation was not taught as part of the core therapy classes. I never recommend it as a therapy to patients, because I believe that it is unnecessary at best and risky at worst, but that being said, I have had a few patients (who had it prior to consulting me) who claimed it helped them with chronic constipation and other lower GI issues. This could be attributed to the other supportive modalities used such as nutritional guidance, probiotic recommendations, and other treatment strategies often used in conjunction with colonics. Who knows? But just as in conventional medicine, there is a lot that can be completely unnecessary and even unsafe in natural medicine. I am someone who has worked as a health professional in both paradigms, and I think it is great to be a skeptic, especially when something does not make sense or could possibly be harmful.

    ReplyDelete
  4. All are fraud the person who is running this college and training is non qualified person he has not got training and qualification.He showed CNM degree as his qualification and also he has written that he is founder of this college what a stupid

    ReplyDelete
  5. CNM have a serious reputation not least for the strong connections the college has with Scientology.. I have experienced one of their courses and to say the lecturer was unqualified to teach was an understatement. The lecturer's only qualification to teach us was being a past pupil of CNM Ireland and the course that she was teaching to us and it was her first year teaching.. CNM operates like a pyramid scheme in my opinion..Not at all about patients but more about recruiting students, beware what you sign with them. Be wary..

    ReplyDelete
  6. Help! CNM have gobbled up my "enrolment fee" having helpfully guided me through the forms and leaving out that it's non-refundable. I got in touch less than 48 hours to ask for a refund and they're saying I can't have it. I was told that the enrolment fee is charged to (a) hold someone's place and (b) cover adminstration costs of running the course. Despite pointing out that (i) I contacted them less than forty-eight hours after paying it over; (ii) the course has already started and therefore must have sufficient people attending; and (iii) I haven't used any adminstrative services, they will not accept giving me a refund despite because the non-refundable bit was in the forms which I signedwhen I was 'helpfully' guided through them! Utter disgrace.

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.