News
ATMS Statement:
Tuesday 14 February 2017
In response to the ABC TV program, Four Corners titled: ‘Complementary medicines with unproven benefits being sold to Australian consumers’ that aired on Monday 13th February, the Australian Traditional-Medicine Society (ATMS) would like to provide clarity on behalf of their accredited members of natural medicine.
ATMS reiterates that the practitioner is central to understanding good natural medicine and safe natural medicine practice is best delivered following a quality consultation with an accredited practitioner. It is from this personalised consultation process that the opportunity to provide effective natural remedies occurs, and quality outcomes are best achieved through practitioner only products (POPs) being recommended from initial and ongoing consultation with an accredited natural medicine practitioner.
In Australia, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) oversees a two-step process for the regulation of supplements similar to that of pharmaceuticals standards. This includes checks against the ingredient listing on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG), and a finished product listing or registration on the ARTG. Both steps involve a high level of scrutiny aimed at ensuring that only responsible, evidence-based and high quality products are available to consumers.
ATMS strongly supports our community of accredited members who practice safe and effective ingestive natural medicine. ATMS regularly updates and informs members on their obligation to follow TGA guidelines when prescribing to their clients.
ATMS will continue our advocacy on behalf of natural medicine, and will continue to respond on behalf of members as required. Natural medicine is a key component of good health - in the long and short term.
Natural medicine involves a wide range of modalities with a wide range of benefits, ATMS strongly believes that incorporating natural medicine into the Australian health system is a cost effective and clinically effective wellness strategy.
ATMS urges consumers to always seek out accredited practitioners of natural medicine. As Australia’s largest association for natural medicine, ATMS is focused on ensuring the public’s safety by providing a listing of qualified and accredited practitioners and their qualified modality. Consumers are advised that they may request accreditations via associations and organisations such as ATMS.
ATMS is working closely with our counterpart industry associations to represent practitioners in Australia. Our colleagues at Complementary Medicines Australia (CMA) have also provided media statements in response to the ABC program.