Scientists and skeptics organisations attending the World Skeptics Congress in Heidelberg, July 1998, unanimously adopted a resolution to improve the quality of medicine. They reacted to several attempts to excempt some categories of medicine from a rational evaluation.

Resolution for Quality Standards in Medicine

The last decades have seen international scientific standards in medicine emerge. They are intended to ensure the quality of diagnostic methods and therapies and serve to enhance the reliability of medicine. These high standards are often not met, both for conventional medicine, as well as for alternative therapies. The result is a loss of quality and reliability for the concerned patients. At the occasion of the Second World Skeptics Congress in Heidelberg, GWUP, CSICOP and ECSO call on those responsible to:

• insist on existing scientific standards of evidence-based medicine world-wide
• apply these standards without dilution
• reject all exemptions for some forms of therapy and rescind all existing exemptions

It is with concern that the sponsors and co-sponsors of the congress observe the world-wide tendency of governments and official organisations to succumb to pressure groups. These groups intend to weaken or revoke existing standards or to exempt certain forms of medicine from these quality requirements. This is especially applicable to Germany. We appeal to the responsible in German parliaments and government to ensure the application of the same high-quality standards for all branches of medicine and in particular to rescind all exemptions according to the “internal consensus” or “Binnenkonsens” scheme.