Countrygirl
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http://www.meassociation.org.uk/201...t-and-the-lightning-process-15-november-2017/
Dr Shepherd referred website advertising material from Lightning Process practitioner Kathy Kent to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA have now published the following adjudication:
Misleading Advertising:
Kathy Kent breaches UK Ad Rules with health claims about The Lightning Process on the website kathykent.co.uk
Section 12 of the CAP Code requires that advertisers must hold robust scientific evidence to support any health claims relating to their products or treatments. It also requires that advertisers must not discourage essential treatment for conditions which require medical supervision.
The website www.kathykent.co.uk contains misleading claims relating to The Lightning Process and its effectiveness in treating a number of medical conditions, including Depression and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
In 2012 and again in 2013 the ASA investigated health claims relating to The Lightning Process. The ASA found that there was insufficient scientific evidence to support medical claims for The Lightning Process training programme.
The CAP Compliance Team instructed Kathy Kent to remove efficacy claims for The Lightning Process and to refrain from offering advice on conditions which require medical supervision. In the absence of an appropriate response we took the decision on 14 November 2017 to place the company details on this section of the ASA website.
These details shall remain in place until such a time as Kathy Kent has removed or appropriately amended the claims on the website www.kathykent.co.uk to ensure compliance with the CAP Code.
Comment from Dr Charles Shepherd:
“I am very pleased to see that the ASA has once again taken swift and decisive action regarding a complaint from the ME Association relating to unproven therapeutic claims being made by a Lightning Process practitioner.
“However, it is very disappointing to find that the ASA Compliance Team’s instruction to remove these therapeutic claims from the practitioner’s website have not been complied with so far.
“We will continue to monitor what happens.
“This particular complaint is now the subject of a parliamentary question.”
ME Association critique of the SMILE trial:
“The SMILE trial is one of the worst examples of a clinical trial supposedly designed to assess the acceptability, effectiveness and safety of a treatment for ME/CFS that I have come across. In fact, in several ways it is a lesson in how not to conduct a clinical trial in people who have ME/CFS.