Soc Sci Med. 1994 Feb; 38(4): 497-507.

Danger and safety in medicines.

O'Neill A.

Department of Health Administration and Education, Lincoln School of Health Sciences, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.

Convictions about established medical safety and the danger of alternative remedies and practitioners are discussed in this article. While most alternative medicines continue to be denounced as unscientific and unsafe, government reviews have concluded that chiropractic and osteopathy and (more recently) acupuncture should be registered occupations and that qualifying courses of tertiary education should be instituted in Australia. This paradoxical result follows the widespread adoption of acupuncture and spinal manipulation by established practitioners of medicine and physiotherapy. The practices become intrinsically dangerous as their efficacy is accepted. Consequently, the argument is that only established practitioners are safe enough to use them. But alternative groups can use the established announcement of danger to represent the desirability of official action to protect the public. The article concludes with a review of the idea that therapies become dangerous as they are introduced.