ABSTRACT
Two disciplines, osteopathy and chiropractic, have moved along the path of self regulation and have acts of parliament that protect their titles and provide additional external and orthodox regulation of their activities. Both the General Osteopathic Council and the General Chiropractic Council have opened their statutory registers. The House of Lords also identified acupuncture and herbal medicine as two therapies ready for moves towards statutory regulation under the Health Act 1999 and considered such moves might later be appropriate for non-medical homoeopaths. Given the moves to increase professional accountability in the medical profession, complementary and alternative medicine organisations will need to increase public scrutiny of their affairs, regardless of whether they get statutory regulation. In 1997 and 2000 the Centre for Complementary Health Studies reported the results of surveys of about 140 professional bodies representing about 50 000 practitioners working in up to 30 complementary or alternative therapies.
