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10:52 am, November 18, 2009
Bury clinic rapped by ASA

Bury Family Chiropractic has been rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after placing a misleading advert in the regional press.

The company, registered as Larsen Health Care Ltd, was reprimanded by the Authority over an advert promoting services available at its Tenters Street clinic in Bury.

The advert featured a quote from a Dr Mark Larsen which said: “Facilitating the correct working of the nervous system can not only ease back problems but can also help improve your general health. People with conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, recurrent colds, asthma or colic in infants often find improvement.”

An investigation was launched following a complaint to the ASA. The Bury firm said the advert did not claim to treat or improve the conditions mentioned, but the advertising watchdog ruled consumers were likely to come to that conclusion.

The ASA said it had not seen any “robust scientific evidence, such as controlled clinical trials, that showed that chiropractic could improve asthma or the other conditions named in the ad, irritable bowel syndrome, recurrent colds and colic in infants”. It concluded the advert was misleading.

The ASA also pulled the company up over its use of the title Doctor. In the second part of its adjudication it decided that as Larsen did not hold a general medical qualification, “use of the term was likely to mislead”.

The ASA ruled the advert must not appear in its current form again.

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