GCC extends complaints to cover all dubious claims

My complaints to the BCA focussed on claims to treat colic. I chose to just complain about colic claims for reasons of simplicity. It was easy to search the pages for one word and gather the evidence. When you’re submitting 55 complaints, it makes sense to go for the easiest method possible.

The GCC has now sent me copies of the responses to my complaints. What's interesting is that it appears that the GCC’s investigating committee has gone further than asked. They have manually gone through the Chiropractor's web pages looking for other claims.

Where they existed, the chiropractor will be investigated for those claims too.

I’m not sure of the GCC’s motivation is to make life easier for themselves in the knowledge that they will soon be needing to deal with Zeno’s 500+ complaints, or if this is a genuine attempt to properly regulate the profession. Either way, this is a positive step from the GCC and should be applauded.

A copy of one of the letters is below.

The General Chiropractic Council is knowingly and deliberately violating its own code of practice

The General Chiropractic Council is knowingly and deliberately violating its own code of practice and continuing to mislead the very patients it is meant to protect.

My previous post detailed how the General Chiropractic Council resolved my Advertising Standards Authority complaint against them informally. I also noted that as yet, the GCC has not removed their Patient Information Leaflet from their web site.

About a week after the informal resolution was made (but before it was published), I spoke to the ASA on the telephone about the fact that they were continuing to make these unsubstantiated claims. A concerned ASA voice told me:

"We would have hoped they would have taken this down by now."

So on the 6th October I emailed the GCC to ask their intentions:

"I notice that despite your informal resolution with the ASA, that the text still appears on your patient information leaflet here: http://www.gcc-uk.org/files/link_file/WhatCanI_142_5(Web-Version).pdf

Are you intending to take down or change this leaflet?"

And on the 8th, I received a reply in the post:

I emailed the ASA by email to get their take on this:

"I contacted the GCC following my finding that they had not removed the Patient Information Leaflet from their web site. I had a rather surprising reply from them this morning. They said that they will take it down in reasonable time - and suggested that this would happen once they had taken the time to re-write the document and translate it into several languages.

This is shocking. Surely it makes sense for them to take it down now if it breaches ASA standards - or not at all if it doesn't. Surely while they are re-printing they should not be continuing to distribute the material?

Can you clarify the ASA's position on this?"

And the ASA's reply was fairly clear:

"We’d normally expect an advertiser to implement the changes as soon as is 'reasonably practicable' (bearing in mind the time involved in printing new leaflets).

However, if it’s a leaflet on a website then it should be taken down as soon as possible."

So the ASA (rather unsurprisingly) agrees with me that it is unreasonable to continue to make unsubstantiated claims solely on the grounds that you haven't got around to writing and translating anything honest yet.

Based on the informal resolution and the above text from letters and emails, I can't draw any conclusion other than:

• The Chief Executive of the GCC is fully aware that its Patient Information Leaflet violates ASA guidelines.
• The Chief Executive of the GCC is aware that this leaflet is continuing to be made available on their web site.
• The Chief Executive of the GCC is in no rush to do anything about it.

How can the GCC be expected to regulate the chiropractic profession when it knowingly and deliberately violates the very guidelines it is meant to be enforcing?

I think it's time for a complaint against the GCC itself.

Hopefully they'll take my complaint seriously, clean up the regulatory body, start properly regulating the chiropractors and move towards a future of evidence-based chiropractic.

Then I can get back to my game of World of Warcraft.

General Chiropractic Council to Change Patient Information Leaflet

My complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about the General Chiropractic Council’s Patient Information Leaflet has now gone through the ASA’s process.

The ASA has managed to deal with my complaint as an “Informally Resolved Complaint” rather than pushing it through to a formal adjudication.

This is a very interesting outcome.

What this means is that the General Chiropractic Council has withdrawn the claims as soon as they were approached and asked the ASA’s guidance in how they can make their advertising comply. There is an important point to note here: if the General Chiropractic Council believed they had the evidence to back up the efficacy of using chiropractic as a treatment for asthma, headaches, migraine and infant colic – then they simply could have produced it.

The ASA would have assessed this for them free of charge and either upheld the complaint asking them to remove the advertising, or not upheld the complaint. There is only one reason for backing off from the complaints: the GCC must have appreciated that that they simply do not currently have the evidence.

This is a significant change, and has huge implications for the circa 600 complaints currently being handled by the GCC.

By backing off and removing their claims before the ASA investigates, the GCC is acknowledging that even their loosely worded, slightly ambiguous leaflet (text below) is in breach of ASA guidelines.

There is some evidence, though more research is needed, that you may see an improvement in some types of:
• asthma
• headaches, including migraine
and
• infant colic.

If the GCC believes this loosely worded text to be in breach of ASA guidelines, then they must also believe that every complaint made to the GCC surrounding this subject is valid.

Am I being too optimistic in anticipating a vast number of guilty verdicts against chiropractors in the forthcoming months?

It also brings up a second potentially interesting outcome. If you’ve been following this blog, you will be aware of the letter that the GCC sent to Trading Standards in defence of their members. The advice given in that letter includes the exact text within the patient information leaflet that I complained about.

Will the GCC now follow that letter up with another saying that they are now withdrawing that claim? I will be putting that question to them.

Perhaps I'm being a bit optimistic – especially considering that more than a week after agreeing to informally resolve the complaint, the patient information leaflet remains on their website in its original form.

I am now beginning work on my second ASA complaint about the same Patient Information Leaflet.

While you're in the mood for chiro woo, I highly recommend Zeno's post on his recent ASA complaint - published at the same time.

Please sign the letter to Trading Standards

UPDATE: We've now got 500 signatories and I'm preparing the letter to send off. Thank you for all your support.

You can sign the letter by filling out this form.

If you've visited this blog for the first time, here's a lightning-speed explanation: the evidence suggests that Chiropractic doesn't work as a treatment for colic, I made several complaints to trading standards about Chiropractors who were making this claim. Most trading standards offices have taken action, a few chiropractors are holding out. This last letter is to get those last few businesses to stop making unscientific claims about important issues of health. It will be mail-merged the details and claims made by approx 50 chiropractors.

While the names of signatories will of course need to be printed on the letters to Trading Standards, they will otherwise be kept private.

Please sign the letter.

The full text is below.

To Whom it May Concern,

We are writing to complain about [company name]. While it is up to you to establish whether this company is breaking the law, we wish to bring a possible infringement of The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 to your attention.

This company makes the following claims on their web site [web site url to be inserted here]:

[copied & pasted claim]

This text clearly implies that the company in question is willing to use chiropractic to treat infant colic. There is no reliable evidence to support the belief that colic is caused by a problem with the spine, nor that chiropractic is effective in treating it. In addition, there is reliable evidence from a controlled trial that clearly shows chiropractic to be no more effective than placebo.

Below are listed the studies typically cited by chiropractors to show that chiropractic is an effective treatment for colic. We have included an explanation of the trial and the conclusion that can be drawn from it. The final study in the list is generally ignored by chiropractors making this claim; however, it clearly shows the treatment to be ineffective.

Study	Summary	Conclusion
1. Klougart N, Nilsson N and Jacobsen J (1989) Infantile Colic Treated by Chiropractors: A Prospective Study of 316 Cases, J Manip Physiol Ther,12:281-288.	This study tracked 316 children with symptoms of colic during chiropractic treatment and showed that there was improvement in 94% of cases. However, this study failed to provide any evidence for or against the efficacy of chiropractic in the treatment of colic for the following reason: all children with colic improve over time. If all children improve from colic anyway, then showing that they improve after a certain treatment is unhelpful unless there is a control group not receiving treatment with which to compare them. This study contained no such group.	This is irrelevant. It is irrelevant because it cannot demonstrate that treatment improves recovery from the condition.
2. Mercer, C. and Nook, B. in the Proceedings of the 5th Biennial Congress of the World Federation of Chiropractic (1999)	This doesn't seem to have been published, so was not peer reviewed. As it seems to be almost impossible to get hold of the paper, there is very little that can be said. From the summary provided by the BCA, however, it appears that this was a simple observational study like the one above with no control group.	This is irrelevant. It is irrelevant because it cannot demonstrate that treatment improves recovery from the condition.
3. Wiberg J, Nordsteen J, Nilsson N. The short term effect of spinal manipulation in the treatment of infantile colic. A randomised controlled trial with a blinded observer. J Manipulative Physiol Ther (1999) 22:517-522.	This study was a randomised controlled trial comparing chiropractic with dimethicone in the treatment of colic. Without blinding between the two groups, it is likely that the placebo effect could play a major part in the outcome. The placebo effect is likely to be more pronounced with the chiropractic treatment as it is a more dramatic intervention. In addition, the system of measurement (asking parents to record crying hours) adds another potential bias. The parents who were keeping the diaries were were not blinded. Wiberg and Nilsson appear to concede this point themselves here: http://adc.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/84/2/138#124	This is inconclusive at best due to the lack of blinding, with the effects shown likely to be due to placebo and bias in record keeping.
4. Hayden & Mullinger (2006) Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice (2006) 12, 83–90.	This study did not investigate chiropractic, but cranial osteopathy. Even so, this was a preliminary trial. Preliminary trials are of too small a scale to reach a conclusion. They are used only to see if it might be worth performing a proper trial.	This is irrelevant. It is irrelevant because it does not study chiropractic.
5. Hipperson AJ (2004) Clinical Chiropractic 11, 122 – 129.	This was merely a report of two case studies. This is irrelevant for the same reason as Klougart N, Nilsson N and Jacobsen J, but with only two subjects.	This is irrelevant. It is irrelevant for the same reason as the first study.
6. Browning M. Miller, J. Clinical Chiropractic (2008) 11, 122—129	This study compared two different forms of chiropractic in the treatment of colic. Maybe they both work, maybe neither work. This study did not attempt to answer that question.	This is irrelevant. It is irrelevant because it did not test if the treatment worked. It merely compared two different types of chiropractic treatment. This outcome would be expected if neither method worked.
7. Leach RA (2002) J Manip Physiol Ther, 25, 58 -62.	Simply another two case studies as Hipperson AJ (2004) above.	This is irrelevant. It is irrelevant for the same reason as the first study.
8. Miller J (2007) Clinical Chiropractic 10, 139—146 Cry babies: A framework for chiropractic care.	This is not a study at all, we are not sure why it has been quoted by the BCA.	This is irrelevant, as it is not a study of any kind.
9. Nilsson N. 1985 Eur J Chiropr 33, 264 – 255 Infantile colic and chiropractic.	This is merely a survey of parents who have had their child gone through chiropractic treatment for colic. No parents who did not take their children to chiropractors were questioned, making this study even more poorly designed than Klougart N, Nilsson N and Jacobsen J.	This is irrelevant. It is irrelevant for the same reason as the first study.
10. Olafsdottir E, Forshei S, Fluge G, Markestad T (2001) Randomised controlled trial of infantile colic treated with chiropractic spinal manipulation.	AIMS: To investigate the efficacy of chiropractic spinal manipulation in the management of infantile colic. METHODS: One hundred infants with typical colicky pain were recruited to a randomised, blinded, placebo controlled clinical trial. RESULTS: Nine infants were excluded because inclusion criteria were not met, and five dropped out, leaving 86 who completed the study. There was no significant effect of chiropractic spinal manipulation. Thirty two of 46 infants in the treatment group (69.9%), and 24 of 40 in the control group (60.0%), showed some degree of improvement. CONCLUSION: Chiropractic spinal manipulation is no more effective than placebo in the treatment of infantile colic. This study emphasises the need for placebo controlled and blinded studies when investigating alternative methods to treat unpredictable conditions such as infantile colic. This is the only properly conducted trial comparing chiropractic against placebo for the treatment of colic. The conclusion is that it simply does not work.	This is highly relevant, and clearly shows that chiropractic spinal manipulation is no more effective than placebo in the treatment of infantile colic.

Part 2, Section 5 of the regulations list misleading actions as below. You can see from the text below that a trader is in breach if they present information in a way that is misleading even if it is factually accurate. For instance, a trader presenting a testimonial from a client promoting efficacy or even just stating "some parents have found chiropractic useful in treating colic" or a trader citing a poorly conducted trial as evidence without informing the potential customer of a well conducted trial showing the opposite outcome is therefore performing a misleading action under the regulations.

Misleading actions
5.—(1) A commercial practice is a misleading action if it satisfies the conditions in either paragraph (2) or paragraph (3).
(2) A commercial practice satisfies the conditions of this paragraph—
(a)if it contains false information and is therefore untruthful in relation to any of the matters in paragraph (4) or if it or its overall presentation in any way deceives or is likely to deceive the average consumer in relation to any of the matters in that paragraph, even if the information is factually correct; and
(b)it causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise.

According to The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, the onus of evidence relating to any factual claim is on the company making the claim. So it is not a requirement that a prosecutor proves that the claims are factually incorrect, rather it is a requirement that the company must be able to show that their claims are backed by adequate evidence. Section 27 of the regulations state:

(1) This section applies where an application for an enforcement order or for an interim enforcement order is made in respect of a Community infringement involving a contravention of Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market.
(2) For the purposes of considering the application the court may require the person named in the application to provide evidence as to the accuracy of any factual claim made as part of a commercial practice of that person if, taking into account the legitimate interests of that person and any other party to the proceedings, it appears appropriate in the circumstances.
(3) If, having been required under subsection (2) to provide evidence as to the accuracy of a factual claim, a person—
(a) fails to provide such evidence, or
(b) provides evidence as to the accuracy of the factual claim that the court considers inadequate,
the court may consider that the factual claim is inaccurate

As an enforcement authority, you also have the right to demand any documentation, such as their evidence for the claim, from the company. Section 21 (b) states "if he has reasonable cause to suspect that a breach of these Regulations has been committed, he may, for the purpose of ascertaining whether it has been committed, require any trader to produce any documents relating to his business and may take copies of, or of any entry in, any such document;"

So, to summarise the points above:

• The consumer protection regulations cover the overall impression given by the trader and the trader may be in breech even if the actual claims are factually accurate.
• The consumer protection regulations require the trader to provide evidence for any claims they make, rather than the prosecutor needing to prove those claims to be false.
• The evidence we have found from chiropractic organisations so far appears not to be relevant to the question of efficacy in all but one study. In the one study where it is relevant it appears to be inconclusive, with a complete lack of blinding.
• The only properly conducted trial of the use of chiropractic in treating colic shows this treatment to be no more effective than placebo.
• While prosecution can proceed solely on the grounds that the company provides no evidence, or inadequate evidence; your position is much stronger: the best evidence available clearly shows this treatment to be ineffective.

We have only checked the claims on this company's web site. They may also be making similar claims in leaflets within their practice, or their advice to their customers. We hope you will be able to visit the practice to ensure compliance with the law.

While we have focused on colic for the purposes of this letter, we have also found some practices also claiming to treat children for sleeping and feeding problems, ear infections, asthma and prolonged crying. The evidence for chiropractic's efficacy for these treatments is similar to that for colic above. We sincerely hope you will take similar action against any such claims.

Yours faithfully,

[list of names, titles etc]

You can sign the letter by filling out this form.