Crisis for alternative medicine academics
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Your support makes all the difference.Britain's only dedicated university department studying complementary medicines is in financial crisis. Despite being the world's leading scrutiniser of fashionable therapies such as herbal cures, aromatherapy and acupuncture, the team at Exeter University is now fighting for its future.
It was launched in 1993 with a £1.5m endowment from building magnate Sir Maurice Laing, on condition that the university matched that figure. But Exeter has failed to attract further supporters – even though the department has established itself as the world's premier centre in its field.
The head of department, Professor Edzard Ernst, said: "I've raised £1.1m for specific research projects, but we need core funding for administrative costs."
He added: "We had several potential benefactors, but they all pulled out on account of our reputation for being over-critical. But it's important to distinguish useful therapies from useless and sometimes downright dangerous ones."
Some practitioners, such as John Wilks of the Craniosacral Therapy Association, are scathing: "He rarely says anything positive about complementary medicine. He tends to be very critical."
But Professor Ernst enjoys staunch support from Healthwatch, which promotes effective testing of all medical treatments. Stressing the need for complementary medicine to subject itself to scrutiny, Professor John Garrow, of the University of London, said: "Ernst has done us a great service by making the evidence available to those who seek it."
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