Istkalen Istkalen
17 Jun 2023, 06:47

Alternative Medicine Regulation Act

Proposed by Cllr. Iras Tilkanas (Istkalen)

PREAMBLE

An Act to regulate alternative medicine.

SECTION I. DEFINITIONS

I. Alternative medicine: practices purported to have palliative or healing effects that lack scientific plausibility, testability, repeatability, and/or evidence for the claims made about them, as determined by individual member-states.

II. Provider: person or organization who or which provides services, practices, or products

III. Consumer: person or organization who or which receives services, practices, or products from a provider

III. Liability: the state of being legally responsible for something

IV. Treatment: care given to a consumer for an illness or injury, a session of such care, and/or the administration and/or prescription of substances purported to have palliative or healing effects.

SECTION II. REGULATIONS

I. Providers of alternative medicine are liable for the veracity of the claims they make regarding the effects and effectiveness of the treatments they provide.

II. Providers of alternative medicine are liable for all harm caused to consumers of the services, practices, or products they offer that arises because of the consumption of said services, practices, or products, the possibility of which was not previously disclosed by the provider.

III. Alternative medical providers must duly inform users of their services that practices deemed to be 'alternative medicine' under this act are not endorsed by any official health agencies, and the provider must disclose any possible consequences of undergoing alternative medical treatment.

a. All practising alternative medical institutions must apply for and obtain a licence to practise. This licence accredits appropriate compliance with disclosure requirements.

b. The disclosure, and disclosure licence, must be made public and readily available to users and to potential users.

c. The relevant government agency, determined by the government of a respective state, can request evidence of this disclosure and licence to ensure continued compliance, and issue penalties for noncompliance.

Alternative medicine has long been a scourge on Europe, offering false promises to the desperate that lead too often to severe illness and, in many cases, death. I have thus proposed this act, to force its practitioners to be responsible for the harm that they cause. I have attempted, in writing it, to leave as much as is possible to local jurisdictions in regards to enforcement and punishment; as a result, the act may be too vague, and I invite amendments on this line and others.

Iras Tilkanas
Council Speaker and Councillor for the Republic of Istkalen