Chapitre 6. Towards effective and efficient preventive medicine in France: The necessary evolution of the legal framework of health practices and products.

Abstract

Traditional medicine is a subject of the highest interest. Its impact on healthy lifespan is well established, and Oecd statistics for 2016 show that Japan is the country with the oldest population in good health. This traditional medicine based on a global vision of the health of the human being, and on the recognition of preventive practices in care and treatment.This notion of preventive medicine integrates the health systems of the European Union countries, under the impetus of the European Commission's "aging in good health" program. France, as part of its health policy (national health strategy), is actively involved in a prevention policy aimed at improving, from childhood and throughout life, healthy eating, sport, stopping addictive practices (tobacco, alcohol). This policy is based on the reimbursement of preventive acts of health professionals by health insurance, and on the prescription of sports and food practices. This policy is part of a trend of recognition by the French and European population strongly focused on treatment with so-called natural medicines. Mistrust for allopathic treatments leads to the increasing use of natural medicines, but with a need to frame these practices.This movement towards a preventive medicine, founding the foundations of traditional medicine, in the Asian sense, requires an evolution of the legal, regulatory, ethical, deontological framework, which concerns at the same time the recognition of new perimeters of the practices of care, and the management of preventive health products (biomedicines, biotechnology). This also raises the particular issue of control and safety in the manufacture, circulation, and use of products such as food supplements, oils, medicinal plants, and nutraceuticals.The study will focus on new products from personalized preventive predictive medicine and the concomitant evolution towards a natural medicine, with the legal framework necessary for all these products for the purpose of preserving health and security.