Safeguard Your Clinic Workspace Series 1 - Course 1

There are valid TCM industry concerns about the carcinogens emitted by ‘sidestream’ Moxa smoke. What are the effects of these carcinogens being inhaled by practitioners, staff members and patients – both short-term and long-term – in the closed-up confines of a clinic space? Despite 2,500 years of therapeutic usage, Moxibustion cannot escape the modern scrutiny of all combustible smoke inhalation risks, due to the awareness created by Tobacco smoking fatalities. Since the 1950s the ongoing Tobacco health crisis has prompted the refinement of research methods to confirm the causality between smoking – as in ‘active’ or ‘passive’ smoking - and Lung Cancer. This course explores the types of research directed towards the analysis of Moxa smoke in the clinic setting, especially those reputable research methods borrowed from the Tobacco industry. It highlights the relative lack of Epidemiology studies as the major weak area in Moxa smoke research. Mitigation methods are recommended for TCM practitioners using Moxibustion regularly in the workplace. But the main focus is on the modern thermal substitutes in the form of Infrared lamps and hand-held devices, for Moxa-averse practitioners wishing to follow the ‘precautionary principle’.