A quarter of the UK population has tried some form of complementary therapy - the most familiar being acupuncture, osteopathy and homeopathy.
Osteopathy and chiropractic are regulated, but there is no body that regulates complementary or alternative medicine - and there is no law that says you have to be qualified to practice. The government has just announced it's to look into herbalism and acupuncture and propose statutory regulation, but that leaves a whole raft of therapies with no control.
Last Friday Reginald Gill, who called himself a wellness practitioner, was sentenced to a year in prison for deception under the Trades Descriptions Act. He claimed he could cure cancer. Sheila Cracknell tells Jenni how she took him to court after her son Stephen died.
So what sort of regulation would prevent quacks setting up as therapists and how can we be sure what works and what doesn't? Edzard Ernst, Profesor of Complementary Medicine at the Peninsula Medical School of the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth and Jayne Goddard, President of the Complementary Medical Association join Jenni to discuss.
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