BANT statement on Association for Nutrition Charter Petition
BANT announce they will be making a formal Counter-Petition against the Petition for a Royal Chater, tabled by the Association for Nutrition last week.
The Privy Council Office (PCO) contacted BANT last week to notify that the Association for Nutrition (AFN) Petition for a Royal Charter was tabled. PCO stated that comments and responses from BANT and AFN thus far are regarded as informal and formal comments should now be made by 2 January, to which AFN will be asked to make a formal response.
BANT will be making a formal Counter-Petition.
A Royal Charter is all about pre-eminence in a field, in this case the field is "nutrition, health and allied subjects". While focus has been on conferring the title 'Chartered Nutritionist' this is only one of a number of Powers listed in the Charter for it to pursue its Objects. The Objects of the Charter of Incorporation also includes the Object for which the Academy of Nutrition Sciences has recently been incorporated. BANT suspects this means that the AoNS is likely to quickly suffer the same fate as the Nutrition Professions Confederation, set up a decade ago as an umbrella body for The Nutrition Society, British Dietetic Association and British Nutrition Foundation, if AFN is successful.
BANT does not challenge that AFN is pre-eminent in the field of nutrition science but BANT is clear that AFN is not pre-eminent in the field of Nutritional Medicine which practice has been clearly delineated by the House of Lords and in which AFN has no professional or regulatory standing.
The Petition (including appendix – parts a and b), Charter and Byelaws are substantial documents so we would ask BANT members to refrain from submitting individual comments to PCO.
Instead, if BANT members have any insights or comments that they would like to provide for BANT to consider for inclusion in its counter-petition, please email: regulation@bant.org.uk
