The rise of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) – a whole array of practices, products and approaches to health and illness1 – can certainly no longer be characterised as cultural fad or fashion. Changes in the use of titles (from ‘unscientific’ and ‘marginal’ to ‘complementary’ and ‘integrative’) reflect a more substantive relocation and transformation of many of these medicines from the fringe to the mainstream of both community and professional health-care discourse and practice (Tovey et al. 2004). The most recent reports from various late modern societies suggest the use of CAM is a widespread phenomenon amongst patient groups (Girgis et al. 2005) and the general public (Adams et.
