Doctors worried about 'snake oil' in NZ pharmacies

The Medical Association says it is dangerous to place unregulated products next to approved drugs.

A change to the pharmacists code of ethics is worrying doctors in New Zealand, for fears it could "legitimise snake oil".

The Pharmacy Council's revised code of ethics includes an appendix that makes it ethical for pharmacists to supply unregulated products, as long as they inform the customer about the lack of scientific evidence surrounding that particular item.

In an interview on RNZ, Medical Association chair Kate Baddock said it was dangerous to place these items alongside approved drugs as, even with the advice from pharmacists, it would still make them appear legitimate.

Baddock said people were used to thinking of pharmacists as trusted advisers and, as such, they should be not selling products that do not meet the "credible level of efficacy" requirement.

"If they put snake oil right next to omeprazole, there is understandably in the patient's mind a legitimacy to that snake oil because the pharmacist is selling it," she said.

"If [the patient] bought it on a stall down the road they might go 'okay, buyer beware, it's snake oil'. But if it's sitting next to omeprazole in a pharmacy there is a legitimacy, a credibility, which it is given simply by virtue of being there."

However, Pharmacy Guild president Graham Blanchard says it is just a matter of presenting people with complementary medicine or alternatives for when proven medicines fail.

In its July newsletter, the Pharmacy Council points out that the revised code now includes the appendix on complementary and alternative medicines. This appendix will likely be updated once the Therapeutic Product and Natural Health and Supplements legislation are finalised.