This is my first post - I don't know why I haven't been here before.

As you might be aware, the English science writer Simon Singh is being sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association. He called their claims "bogus" which was deemed by the court to mean deliberate dishonesty on the part of chiropractors - a claim impossible to defend. Btw, this case brought home to me how dangerous the English libel laws are to anyone - not just the English. I blogged about this here:
http://www.reasoncheck.com/2009/06/05/beware-english-libel-laws/This has caused quite a kerfuffle amongst English science bloggers, resulting in some close scrutiny of chiropractors' claims. This has caused some panic in the chiropractic ranks (see:
http://www.reasoncheck.com/2009/06/11/chiropractors-running-scared/ ), particularly their use of the title "doctor" to describe themselves, which I understand is not allowed in Britain. So I did some digging locally and found that all (so far) chiropractors in SA call themselves "doctor".
I have discovered that chiropractors are controlled by the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa, who have a non-functioning website (
www.ahpcsa.co.za). I have trolled though the entire Health Professions Act as well as a number of other notices and publications put out by the various health bodies but have not been able to answer the question: are chiropractors allowed to call themselves "doctor" in SA? All I could find out is that you're not allowed to call yourself anything if you're not registered.
This might sound a bit pernickety but it's a starting point in a series I want to do on woo medicine in SA, and I would like to cause a bit of a nuisance.
So I would appreciate any help in this regard. I must say I find it hard to believe that these quacks - including homoeopaths, aroma therapists and the like - are allowed to fob themselves off as "doctors".
Tim.