Naturopathy does not endorse the injection of frog skin toxins to cure depression.
Before I continue with this post, I would like to express my heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the family of the victim and to the owners of the establishment who were used to push ABC’S agenda in the 7.30 news segment which aired last night. My intention is not to use this tragic loss for clout, but to defend the bashing of naturopathy as a profession from the perspective of a student naturopath.
For those of you who were not aware, Last night ABC’S 7.30 television program aired a story involving the recent death of a 53-year-old who attended a private alternative medicine workshop in Victoria Australia. The program released the segment without access to the full details of the incident and filled in the blank space of airtime by connecting the incident to the current laws surrounding the registration status of naturopaths in Australia, highlighting the fact that we currently belong to an unregistered and falsely psychedelic endorsing profession.
The term “naturopath” is currently not a protected title under state law, meaning that anybody regardless of their education can legally practice “healing” as a naturopath, including unqualified individuals and healthcare workers adopting the term, due to their previous titles being stripped for failing to comply with standards outlined within their own professions (Wardle, Steel et al., 2013, p. 102; Sweet, 2015). However, something that was not indicated in the program was that the current naturopathic profession is heavily built upon a foundation of evidence-based practice, with qualified practitioners required to obtain a minimum 4 year bachelor equivalent degree at university where we study biology, anatomy and physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, herb- drug interactions, pathophysiology and attend multiple clinical placements amongst other relevant subjects (Torrens University Australia, n.d.).
The program then proceeded with an interview of a mother who claims that her naturopath recommended she pursue treatment for her depression using “Kambo”, which is the dermal injection of toxic skin secretions collected from a giant south American frog, in which she achieved successful results and became the gateway for experimenting with other psychedelics including ayahuasca, magic mushrooms and bufo toad venom.
The mother’s experimentation isn’t the problem I have with the segment, but the under representation of naturopathic perspective and the modalities we actually utilize, such as clinical pathological testing, comprehensive holistic consultations, supplementation and precisely measured herbal and diet therapeutics (NHAA, 2024). Jon Wardle, the naturopath whom the ABC interviewed in the segment for less than 2 minutes is incredibly knowledgeable on the topic of naturopathic registration in Australia and I believe would have provided a wealth of knowledge supporting registration, but unfortunately it seems he had his words cherry picked in order to throw the naturopathic profession under the bus.
The Naturopaths and Herbalists of Australia (2021), has some fantastic reasons for why the naturopathic profession should pursue registration including the creation of a public register of credited naturopaths thereby increasing practitioner visibility the guarantee of access and regulation of herbal medicines and other modes of treatment needed for the profession to continue functioning, gatekeeping the profession from underqualified individuals and enhancing patient safety measures.
There are also multiple self-run organizations similar to NHAA, such as the Australian Register of Naturopaths and Herbalists and the Australian Naturopathic Practitioners Association which have been lobbying for registration of the profession for years and will continue to do so until they achieve their goal.
If patient safety is the number one reason for which medical professions require registration, is this incident enough to facilitate registration?
I hope so because it would be a tragedy for more people to lose their lives by allowing underqualified individuals a plot hole to practice and for a profession with real credentials and a real chance of healing people to be defamed in the process.
Here is the news segment I am referencing:
https://www.abc.net.au/.../alternative-medicine.../103787734
#abc730 #naturopathaustralia 7.30
References:
Naturopaths and Herbalists Association of Australia. (2024). Naturopathy and herbalism. https://nhaa.org.au/news/naturopathy-herbalism/
Naturopaths and Herbalists Association of Australia. (2021, November 1). Q&As about registration. https://nhaa.org.au/qa-about-registration/
Sweet, M., (2015, July 15). Making the case for registration of naturopaths. Croakey health media. https://www.croakey.org/making-the-case-for-registration.../
Torrens University Australia. (n.d.). Subjects and units. https://www.torrens.edu.au/.../bachelor-of-health-science...
Wardle, J., Steel, A., & McIntyre, E. (2013). Independent registration for naturopaths and herbalists in Australia: the coming of age of an ancient profession in contemporary healthcare Journal of Herbal Medicine, 25(3), 101-106. https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/.../AJMH%20Independent...
