Ten lawmakers of the House of Representatives of Chile presented the bill (December 17, 2024) to recognize and regulate ozone therapy as a medical practice. The following day it was submitted to the Health Commission for consideration. https://www.camara.cl/verDoc.aspx?prmID=17530&prmTIPO=INICIATIVA
Of the ten signatories of the project, five are physicians, who in turn are part of the Health Commission made up of thirteen deputies. The president of this commission, Helia Molina Milman, former Minister of Health and former Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Santiago de Chile, is among the signatories of the bill on ozone therapy.
The ten legislators are members of different political parties (7 from the Independent Democratic Union, one from the Party for Democracy, another from the Broad Front and there is one that is independent. https://www.camara.cl/legislacion/ProyectosDeLey/tramitacion.aspx?prmID=17937&prmBOLETIN=17304-11
Purpose of the project
The project (No. bulletin 17304-11) “aims to recognize ozone therapy as an ‘Alternative Medical Practice’ in the terms of the ‘Regulations for the Practice of Alternative Medical Practices as Auxiliary Health Professions and the Premises in which they are carried out’”, contained in Supreme Decree No. 42 of 2004, in order to regulate its application in our country in accordance with a special regulatory framework that tends to order its use for therapeutic purposes for the benefit of the population, collecting the recommendations of the Protocol of Madrid.” [Madrid Declaration on Ozone Therapy].
Content of the bill
The bill specifies the authorization of “ozone therapy as an Alternative Medical Practice” (art. 1), understood as the “activity that is carried out with the purpose of recovering, maintaining and increasing the state of health and physical and mental well-being of people, through procedures different from those of official medicine, which is exercised in a coadjuvant or auxiliary manner to the former.” (art. 2)
Article 3 of the bill states that “ozone therapy consists of the application of ozone and oxygen for therapeutic purposes for the treatment of pain and other physical conditions.”
Once the bill is approved, the respective regulations must regulate ozone therapy, at least in the following aspects: Training, requirements of the premises authorized for the practice, health authorizations, therapeutic efficacy, and the information that the patient must know before treatment (art. 4).
Information from the AEPROMO website and the Madrid Declaration on Ozone Therapy
It is worth noting that the submitted project cites exclusively the AEPROMO website as its reference sources, for example, when in the paragraph on comparative law it cites the ozone therapy law approved in Brazil in August 2023 by the legislative branch and signed by the president of that country, the news of which is on the website of this association.
It explicitly states that “the regulation must include, where relevant, the recommendations of the Madrid Protocol on Ozone Therapy [Madrid Declaration on Ozone Therapy].” (art. 4, final paragraph).
Regulations on ozone therapy in the world
Until 1990, there was no country in the world that had legal regulations on ozone therapy. Since 1991, the situation has begun to evolve.
There are now 16 countries where ozone therapy has been regulated throughout the country or in parts of it:
- Greece – Pioneer in the regulation of ozone therapy in the world (1991 and 2014)
- Ukraine (2001 and 2014)
- Italy (2003, 2006, 2007, 2009). In 3 of the 20 regions that the republic has.
- China (2005)
- Russia (2005 and 2007)
- Spain (between 2007 and 2012). In 15 of the 17 communities of the kingdom.
- Cuba (2009 and 2015)
- Sultanate of Oman (2010)
- United Arab Emirates (UAE). In the Emirate of Dubai (2011)
- Portugal (2013 and 2014)
- Turkey (2014)
- Brazil (2015, 2018, 2020, and 2023)
- Mexico (2018, 2023, 2024). In three of the 32 states in the republic.
- Honduras (2019)
- Venezuela (2020)
- Germany (2020)
If the bill is approved, Chile could become the 17th country to have regulated the practice of ozone therapy.
This content is also available in: Spanish
