Spain to ban pseudo-therapies from universities

El País 16 November 2018

The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has put forward a plan to eliminate so-called alternative therapies that have no scientific evidence to prove their positive health impact from health centres and universities, writes Oriol Güell for El País.

The project, named Health Protection Plan Against Pseudo-therapies, comes two months after 400 Spanish scientists signed an open letter calling for action against pseudo-science following the death of a cancer patient who refused traditional medicine. It seeks to “eliminate pseudo-therapies from health centres” and “guarantee” that only health professionals with “officially recognised qualifications” work there and aims to remove any degree that includes pseudo-therapies from the country’s universities.

A report will be drafted to clarify which “practices and methods” are not backed by scientific evidence, and this will be used to filter out academic degrees that don’t meet the criteria. “Public and private establishments that include pseudo-therapies will not be able to call themselves health centres,” explained Health Minister Maria Luisa Carcedo, who presented the plan together with Science Minister Pedro Duque.
Full report on the El País site

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