Red Flag for Acupuncture

The Society for Science Based Healthcare has had a complaint upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority against a misleading advertisement for acupuncture.

ACC spent more on acupuncture last year than the government expects to spend on the flag referendum, but many funded treatments are not supported by evidence.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against Five Elements acupuncture clinic, ruling an outdoor sign claiming acupuncture could provide various health benefits was misleading.

The complaint, laid by Society for Science Based Healthcare member Susan Sinclair, alleged that the advertisement’s claims that acupuncture has health benefits for various conditions “have not been substantiated”. Both the ASA’s codes and the Fair Trading Act require that all claims made in advertisements must be substantiated by adequate evidence.

The sign promoted the “Health Benefits of Acupuncture” and listed various conditions including arthritis, facial paralysis, apoplexy, herpes zoster, and infantile malnutrition.

The Complaints Board’s ruling stated that:

"the sign implied acupuncture could treat or benefit the conditions listed and, as such, the advertisement was misleading."

The Society for Science Based Healthcare’s Chair, Mark Hanna, said

"It’s disappointing to see this clinic trying to shirk the responsibility we expect of healthcare providers.

People have the right to make informed decisions about their healthcare. When a healthcare provider misinforms their patients, they deprive them of this right."

Five Elements’ response to the complaint mentioned ACC’s funding of acupuncture in defense of their claims:

"ACC has recognised the benefits of acupuncture and since 2005 it has been accepted in practice by physiotherapists, osteopaths and the likes."

Through documents obtained via the Official Information Act, the Society for Science Based Healthcare has discovered that ACC’s reviews of the evidence for acupuncture have only drawn positive conclusions for three conditions covered by ACC: frozen shoulder, chronic shoulder pain, and chronic neck pain.

In the 2014/15 financial year ACC spent $26,388,572 on acupuncture treatments, comparable to the $25,700,000 projected cost of the flag referendum. ACC’s spending includes $662,598 for fracture/dislocation and $317,251 for laceration/puncture wound injuries.

Over the past 3 years ACC has spent over $80,000,000 on acupuncture treatments, despite the apparent lack of evidence. Since 2003, ACC has spent $81,970 on acupuncture for dental injuries and $10,278 on acupuncture for treating deafness.

The ACC’s best practices document for registered acupuncturists, the Acupuncture Treatment Profiles, prescribes various forms of acupuncture to treat many injury types in ways that are not supported by evidence, such as laser acupuncture to treat a toxic reaction to a bee sting.

On the 13th of August the Society for Science Based Healthcare requested under the Official Information Act that ACC provide them with the evidence for the content of this document. So far, ACC has not been able to find any of this evidence.

Prior to this complaint, the ASA has upheld four complaints from the Society for Science Based Healthcare against ACC registered acupuncture clinics due to misleading health claims in advertisements: Lulu Acupuncture, Gill Burdett, Dr Mala Dutta Acupuncture and Patrice Hardy.

Society Chair Mark Hanna said:

"The fact that ACC will pay for acupuncture gives it tacit government approval, and leads to people having a confidence in these treatments that isn’t justified by the evidence. This has created an environment where ACC registered acupuncturists have been able to mislead patients, and tens of millions of dollars of the public’s money has been spent on unproven treatments.

If ACC can’t find the missing evidence for their acupuncture guidelines, they owe it to the New Zealand public to subject their guidelines to a thorough review. No one should have to worry that their government-approved healthcare provider is misleading them."

Links:

Red Flag for Acupuncture: http://sbh.nz/complaints/advertising-standards-authority/red-flag-for-acupuncture
Five Elements complaint: http://asa.sbh.nz/complaint/15428
ACC's literature reviews on the effectiveness of acupuncture: https://fyi.org.nz/request/1891-literature-reviews-on-effectiveness-of-acupuncture
Acupuncture spending breakdown 2014/15: https://fyi.org.nz/request/3043-acupuncture-spending-breakdown
Acupuncture spending breakdown 2002-2014: https://fyi.org.nz/request/1822-acupuncture-spending-breakdown
Acupuncture Treatment Profiles: http://www.acc.co.nz/PRD_EXT_CSMP/groups/external_providers/documents/guide/wim2_059359.pdf
Acupuncture Treatment Profiles evidence OIA: https://fyi.org.nz/request/3044-correspondence-and-advice-on-acupuncture-funding-and-standards
Lulu Acupuncture complaint: http://asa.sbh.nz/complaint/15251
Gill Burdett complaint: http://asa.sbh.nz/complaint/14646
Dr Mala Dutta Acupuncture complaint: http://asa.sbh.nz/complaint/14405
Patrice Hardy complaint: http://asa.sbh.nz/complaint/14192

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