On Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:52:19 -0800, johac
<jhachmann@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote:

In article <t318q39q7jv86e827m8nq4f0nnqn8kh18k@4ax.com>,
Michael Gray <mikegray@newsguy.com> wrote:

Quacks are in the firing line!

http://www.randi.org/joom/content/view/153/1/#i2

James Randi writes:

"Down Under, a similar situation is shaping up, to my great delight.
“Complementary Medicine” in general is being questioned after the
Australian federal government asked the National Drug Regulator to
investigate claims that the present system is too lax. Senator Jan
McLucas, Parliamentary Secretary to Health Minister Nicola Roxon, has
asked the Therapeutic Goods Administration [TGA] to provide an
official response to data published in the Medical Journal of
Australia outlining ways to tighten the rules that now apply to herbal
and other alternative medicines. The “herbal” label has been used for
decades to soften the identity of quack nostrums.

Claims made for weight-loss products, for example, often aren’t
supported by the limited scientific evidence available. The Medical
Journal is suggesting that medicine labels state whether they have
been assessed for efficacy by the Therapeutic Goods Administration,
that complaint procedures and penalties for inappropriate or
misleading advertising be simplified and strengthened, and that the
TGA to do better checking of the composition of herbal products and
the claims made for them.

These proposals have of course infuriated the Alternative Medicines
industry.

Queensland scientist Loretta Marron, one of the co-authors on the
Medical Journal paper, won the Skeptic of the Year award from the
Australian Skeptics last year in recognition of her work to debunk
bogus medical claims. This government is clearly more interested in
these ideas than its predecessor was. "

Good! I wish that our FDA was good for something. I still see ads for
quack remedies and diets all over the place.

The "change" of government here, slight as it is, has at least had
some tangible social benefit in this regard.
As to whether one could say the same about a potential Democrat leader
in the US, is a moot point.