Ontario, Canada regulating traditional Chinese medicine
The Candian province of Ontario is regulating traditional Chinese medicine practioners:
“A new law regulating traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture will protect Ontarians from the dangers of the current free-for-all that is plaguing the ancient practice, many long-time practitioners say.
But others contend the legislation — passed by Queen’s Park and put into effect Dec. 20 — will puncture a vibrant and ballooning alternative medical therapy industry that has worked hard to earn the trust of Canadians in recent decades.
“It is a very complex issue,” said Cedric Cheung, a doctor of Chinese medicine in London and president of the Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Association of Canada. “But it is an issue that is being addressed for the protection and the safety of the general Canadian.”
Royal assent for the controversial Bill 50 launched the process of creating a self-regulating professional body that will be known as the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of Ontario — similar to those that govern doctors, nurses, chiropractors and physiotherapists.
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Ontario joins British Columbia as the only provinces to regulate TCM and acupuncture. Two other provinces, Alberta and Quebec, regulate only acupuncture. About 48 U.S. states, along with England and Thailand, also have some type of regulation of Chinese medicine similar to those put into effect by Bill 50.
The college will be responsible for establishing different classes of Chinese medicine practitioners to avoid having practitioners wage a turf war with chiropractors and physiotherapists for exclusive rights to practise acupuncture. The classes would differentiate between medical doctors of traditional Chinese medicine, with advanced education, and practitioners with a general education in traditional medicine.”
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