On June, 12 I have visited Ministry of Health of Italian Republic, where I was invited as expert in field of halotherapy.

Ministry of Health of Italian Republic

In the last 2-3 years, there has been a great interest toward “salt therapy” in Italy; significant amount of “salt rooms” has been built. Many owners and operators of “salt rooms” claim to practice “halotherapy”. The term “halotherapy” has become quite trendy to exploit, but what they mean by that? It turns out to be either plain sitting in the room with salt walls but practically without any salt aerosol in the air; or usage of wide range of saline nebulizers; or application of halogenerators not having necessary permits; or usage of some kind of “special salt-mixtures”, and even more than that. For all that, such owners declare to successfully treat asthma and many other serious illnesses in their “salt rooms”.

Such situation compromises method of halotherapy, and gives a rise to sharp criticism of it in medical circles. For regulation of the method, which is relatively new in Italy, Ministry of Health started carrying out expert examination of using salt rooms, and determination of halotherapy’s role in healthcare and health-improvement (benessere) system.

I have presented to the Ministry my reference «Halotherapy in Medical Practice. Survey of the Modern State.»

Conclusion of the reference:

Thus, at present, there are many different types of salt therapy, and many are called halotherapy. The fashionable trend and the lack of reliable information on halotherapy have led to the commercial spread of techniques, often based on pseudo-scientific information. Of the hundreds of salt rooms built in Europe, only a few have modern equipment for full, effective, and safe use of the method of controlled halotherapy. This situation hinders the advancement of halotherapy, and arouses distrust in the medical community to this intrinsically efficient method.

Simultaneously, it is my belief that based on already available substantial scientific research and clinical experience, halotherapy has great potential for the use medical practice. This method can become an effective means of respiratory hygiene in the rehabilitative and preventative respiratory care. There is great potential for the use of halotherapy for family, and, especially, for children’s rehabilitation.[break] [break]
Due to the possibility of a differentiated approach, controlled halotherapy has the potential to be used in the health resort and SPA industries.

There is an urgent need for accumulation and analysis of practical experience of halotherapy application in Europe.

We have discussed problem of regulating of application of salt rooms and halotherapy with one of heads of Ministry of Health departments.