A lawyer for British Columbia’s naturopathic regulator has rejected claims in a court hearing about a naturopath’s business performing fecal transplants on autistic children that the profession is “not bound by science.”
The British Columbia Naturopathic Doctors Association is fighting two lawsuits filed by Dr. Jason Kropp, who is asking a judge to limit the investigation into his practice and revoke a ban on the manufacture, promotion and sale of pills and enemas made from human feces.
In British Columbia Supreme Court on Wednesday, Angela Westmacott, lawyer for the university, referred to a statement made earlier by Kropp’s lawyer who had argued that “naturopaths may rely on science, but they are not bound by it.”
Westmacott pointed out that the college’s code of conduct and prescribing standards state that naturopathic doctors must follow evidence-based practice.
“With all my respect, the idea that anything goes is not accurate,” she said.
Westmacott argued that Kropp’s legal challenge was based on a misunderstanding of the law and a misinterpretation of the role of investigators on the university’s review committee.
Klopp claims he is only involved in the production and export of faecal microbial transplants. [FMT] This is through his business Novel Biome and is unrelated to his naturopathic practice.
Westmacott countered that evidence gathered so far by the university and undercover investigators shows that Kropp also counsels parents, encourages their children to try FMT and monitors them during treatment – all within his role and responsibilities as a naturopathic doctor.
“What concerns me is that Dr Klopp appears to be using ND. [naturopathic doctor] “He has used his title and university affiliation to legitimize his business and make claims about the effectiveness of FMT for autism that are not supported by Health Canada guidelines,” Westmacott said.
Naturopaths Fight “Special Behavior”
As C.B.C. First reported in January 2020Kropp charges parents about $15,000 to treat their autistic children as young as 2 years old with FMT, primarily at his clinic in the Mexican coastal city of Rosarito.
FMT treatment involves taking bacteria and other microorganisms from a healthy person’s stool and administering them to the patient via the anus or orally, with the goal of restoring a normal environment in the intestine.
Currently, FMT is only approved in Canada and the United States for the treatment of recurrent breast cancer. Clostridium difficile infection Other treatments have not shown any benefit, but the drug is being investigated for a range of other possible applications.
While doctors and scientists have warned that other uses of the new treatment are currently experimental and carry serious infection risks, people with autism are being encouraged to try Klopp’s treatment. Unproven treatments put vulnerable children at risk.
Last August, the university It announced it would take “extraordinary measures.” To protect the public, Klopp has banned the manufacture and sale of FMT products while he investigates his new biome.
The order was in response to a complaint filed in April 2021 by a former employee of Kropp’s lab who alleged that he was manufacturing FMT products using his nephew’s feces in his Abbotsford apartment without proper quality control or testing.
Klopp has filed two petitions in court: one asking the judge to revoke the emergency measures, and another seeking an injunction barring the university from investigating his manufacturing and export business.
Klopp’s lawyer, Jason Grattle, made it clear on Wednesday that he was not trying to block the university’s investigation into Klopp’s advertising in Canada, unsubstantiated claims that FMT works for autism, or allegations that he was involved in inappropriate business relationships.
On the first day of the hearing on Tuesday, Gratl argued that the university’s investigation committee had not presented enough evidence of patient harm to support action.
But Mr Westmacott said such claims were based on a misunderstanding of how the commission worked – it was an investigative, not a fact-finding body and any evidence of wrongdoing would be considered in a disciplinary hearing once the investigation was completed.
She said that if Kropp wanted to prove that conditions in his lab were hygienic and in compliance with the law, he was welcome to give evidence directly to the commission of inquiry and argue for his ban to be lifted.
Mr Westmacott added that the commission has “very broad” powers to investigate naturopathic doctors and is duty bound to investigate complaints that are lodged with it.
“If there is information that suggests someone’s conduct may be problematic, that’s enough,” Westmacott said.
“This is not a police officer detaining someone on the side of the road. … Professionals’ right to privacy is limited under the law.”
But she said Kropp has not fully cooperated with an investigation into his conduct that has been ongoing since August 2019. He has repeatedly refused to provide financial records and other information requested by the university about his advertisements and claims, she said.
The hearing on Klopp’s court petition is expected to continue on Thursday.
