The Science Thread
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hockeyfan1
New member
Bullfrog said:
The Royal Family, particularly the Her Majesty the Queen, can attest to homeopathic medicine. Even Paul McCartney swears by it.
No one professes cure. It helps with whatever symptoms they have.
Not all individuals are the same. Everyone is different. Therefore, what helps one may not be of the same results for another.
Just because it didn't or doesn't help you doesn't mean that it should be automatically negated. What about drugs and their side-effects?
What I can't tolerate isn't the same for someone else. It doesn't automatically mean that said medication is not good or that it has no benefits whatsoever. To someone else it may help them even if it is for the short term.
If you're going to label everything as some sort of quack or fraud, just remember, one size doesn't fit all.
hockeyfan1
New member
This was the actual quote by Dr.Oz (testifying before the Congressional committee):
"I get that you do a lot of good on your show," McCaskill told Oz, "but I don't get why you need to say this stuff because you know it's not true."
Oz insisted he believes in the supplements he talks about on his show as short-term crutches, and even has his family try them. But there's no long-term miracle pill out there without diet and exercise, he said.
?I actually do personally believe in the items I talk about on the show," he said. "I passionately study them. I recognize they don?t have the scientific muster to present as fact but nevertheless I would give my audience the advice I give my family all the time, and I have given my family these products. Specifically the ones you mentioned, then I?m comfortable with that part."
Within weeks of Oz's comments...a Florida-based operation began marketing a dietary supplement called Pure Green Coffee, with claims that the chlorogenic acid found in the coffee beans could help people lose 17 pounds and cut body fat by 16 percent in 22 weeks.
The company, according to federal regulators, featured footage from "The Dr. Oz Show," to sell its supplement. Oz has no association association with the company and received no money from sales.
Oz stressed...that he has never endorsed specific supplements or received money from the sale of supplements. Nor has he allowed his image to be used in ads for supplements, he said.
"If you see my name, face or show in any type of ad, email, or other circumstance," Oz testified, "it's illegal" ? and not anything he has endorsed.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/17/dr-oz-congress_n_5504209.html
"I get that you do a lot of good on your show," McCaskill told Oz, "but I don't get why you need to say this stuff because you know it's not true."
Oz insisted he believes in the supplements he talks about on his show as short-term crutches, and even has his family try them. But there's no long-term miracle pill out there without diet and exercise, he said.
?I actually do personally believe in the items I talk about on the show," he said. "I passionately study them. I recognize they don?t have the scientific muster to present as fact but nevertheless I would give my audience the advice I give my family all the time, and I have given my family these products. Specifically the ones you mentioned, then I?m comfortable with that part."
Within weeks of Oz's comments...a Florida-based operation began marketing a dietary supplement called Pure Green Coffee, with claims that the chlorogenic acid found in the coffee beans could help people lose 17 pounds and cut body fat by 16 percent in 22 weeks.
The company, according to federal regulators, featured footage from "The Dr. Oz Show," to sell its supplement. Oz has no association association with the company and received no money from sales.
Oz stressed...that he has never endorsed specific supplements or received money from the sale of supplements. Nor has he allowed his image to be used in ads for supplements, he said.
"If you see my name, face or show in any type of ad, email, or other circumstance," Oz testified, "it's illegal" ? and not anything he has endorsed.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/17/dr-oz-congress_n_5504209.html
hockeyfan1
New member
http://www.vox.com/2015/2/9/8003943/john-oliver-pharmaceutical-companies
Pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars marketing drugs to doctors:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQZ2UeOTO3I
Pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars marketing drugs to doctors:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQZ2UeOTO3I
Bullfrog
Active member
hockeyfan1 said:
Agreed, which is why I haven't labeled everything as quackery or fraudulent. If someone were to produce a properly prepared scientific study that is double-blind and peer-reviewed on homeopathy, I'd change my mind. I guarantee you'll find some positive study out there, but there are also literally thousands of studies that prove it doesn't do anything (similarly to acupuncture.)
Most alternative medicine is pure fantasy. It's like the saying I've heard a number of times: "do you know what they call effective alternative medicine? Medicine."
Homeopathy is one of the worst of the quackish alternative medicines. It's whole premise completely disobeys the known laws of physics and other sciences. You're essentially consuming water, sometimes with sugars, flavorings, and other stuff to justify its cost. Diluting something doesn't make it more effective, it makes it less toxic and less effective. Most homeopathic medicines are diluted to the point that the supposed medicinal ingredient doesn't actually exist anymore. You'd have a greater chance of getting this ingredient (which on its own usually has dubious claims of any effectiveness in any concentration) by taking a sniff out of my shoes. It's true, someone may take a homeopathic medicine and get better, but I can guarantee it wasn't the medicine. There's a big difference between correlation and causation.
The appeal to nature and the placebo effect our powerful, persuasive phenomena. I'm coming down with a cold and have a sore throat. My wife is trying to force oil of oregano down my throat (somewhat literally.) The claim is I'll get better in a couple of days...... oy.
hockeyfan1
New member
Bullfrog said:
Absolute rubbish! Most alternative medicine is NOT like the way you say.
I don't know much about homeopathic. It does appear to help aome people obviously.
What I do know, (and no, I'm not speaking of Reikki or any of that stuff), is that alternative medicine that involves supplementation in the form of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, probiotics, etc.etc. can be an important part of a person's regimen to get better and improve symptoms, which is where I speak from...
...It (natural medicine) and equally Integrative Medicine saved my life. I would be dead, yes, d-e-a-d if I hadn't been treated by it. I have been going to regular medicine all the life long and what did it do for me?
N-o-t-h-i-ng. Because of conventional doctor's lack of knowledge of nutrition in general, no one could recommend anything except some drugs (with plenty of side-effects) in which by the way I have never been nutritionally sound enough to assimilate them in the first place.
I don't just speak of your friendly cute vitamin. For me, the list is a lot deeper than that -- natural blood thinners, an anti-inflammatory, digestive enzyme, etc,
My doctor went to medical school the way all others need to do and he took it upon himself to learn the other of medicine. Was surprised to discover that what he was taught in med school was at odds with he learned afterwards. That's when he discovered that there is a lot more to learn than what Big Pharma wants you to know. There are many alternatives to drugs without dubious side-effects, for various ailments some of the most common such as for thyroid, cholesterol, blood pressure, etc.
No, I have not been cured, but, my condition has stabilized and the best part -- I have not gotten any colds, viruses, flus, etc., in a long while.
And oh, by the way, Oil of Oregano is anti-viral. It won't work magically. It takes time. I take it and helps when I have sore throat or a cold.
'You want to know a really good cough/cold syrup? Echinamide by Natural Factors. Main ingredient: Echinacea.
(Echinacea acts as an immune booster and shouldn't be taken by those suffering from auto-immune problems, however when you need it, you need it. No problem with that. I take it at the onset of a cough told, as soon as I start feeling something coming on. Works every time!
hockeyfan1
New member
http://www.vitalitymagazine.com/article/government-protects-drugs-while-it-seizes-natural-health-products1/
One blatant example of Health Canada?s modus operandi occurred most recently with the seizure of the anti-clotting enzyme nattokinase from the shelves of health food stores despite the fact that no deaths or side effects were ever reported (see Part One of this article in the December 2012 / January 2013 issue of Vitality). Nattokinase, in fact, has been on the shelves of health food stores for over a decade in Canada. Its increasing usage by Canadians most likely has drawn some attention from Health Canada and their bosses. Nonetheless, the product is now gone from store shelves and the explanation for why it was seized is not forthcoming from Health Canada.
An excellent professional health product I can attest to. Far superior to other conventional anti-clotting blood-thinning medications with all their due complications.
One blatant example of Health Canada?s modus operandi occurred most recently with the seizure of the anti-clotting enzyme nattokinase from the shelves of health food stores despite the fact that no deaths or side effects were ever reported (see Part One of this article in the December 2012 / January 2013 issue of Vitality). Nattokinase, in fact, has been on the shelves of health food stores for over a decade in Canada. Its increasing usage by Canadians most likely has drawn some attention from Health Canada and their bosses. Nonetheless, the product is now gone from store shelves and the explanation for why it was seized is not forthcoming from Health Canada.
An excellent professional health product I can attest to. Far superior to other conventional anti-clotting blood-thinning medications with all their due complications.
Bullfrog
Active member
hockeyfan1 said:
I'll admit I'm not a physician, so my defense of science-based medicine is based purely on what I read as a layperson.
What's your basis for making the claim that it's far superior to other prescribed medicines? And how do you know you're taking the correct dose?
WhatIfGodWasALeaf
Active member
Alternative medicine is almost entirely based on the very REAL placebo effect, it's remarkable the changes in some people if they believe what they are taking is helping them.
bustaheims
Well-known member
Patrick said:
Which, to be fair, can be helpful even though the substances they're taking aren't actually doing anything. The psychological impact of believing you're getting better can have positive changes in your behaviours that can, in turn, lead to positive changes in your health and recovery. Some "alternative" treatments do have very mild physiological impact, but, yeah, most are complete garbage. Same with most vitamin supplements. If you have a healthy diet, you're usually going to get the levels of vitamins and minerals you need. The supplements you take on top of that just get flushed out. Outside of vitamin D in the winter - when our ability to get it naturally is impeded - they're entirely unnecessary and largely unhelpful.
Bullfrog
Active member
Exactly, Patrick. If someone poking your skin with a needle helps to relieve your pain, great! All the power to you. But please understand it's not the needle, or the opening of your "meridians" or the stimulation of your chakras...it's your belief that it works.
Many people don't understand what placebo means.
It's like the oil of oregano my wife is suggesting I try for my cold (which is not "anti-viral" btw.) She takes it and, guess what, she feels better in a couple of days. Well guess what happens when I don't take it? I feel better in a couple of days! I have a cold and that's what happens with colds: you recover from them in a couple/few days.
Scott Guvara's explanations over at Science-Based Medicine blog sum it up well:
"There?s some evidence out there demonstrating that oil of oregano will kill different species of bacteria, etc in the test tube or Petri dish ( in vitro). If I pour a pile of salt, lime juice, Cointreau, or tequila on a Petri dish, it will likely kill most bacteria too ? but that doesn?t mean margaritas can treat pneumonia."
I raise this because it applies to many claims for alternative medicine. A result in one particular test with a certain set of circumstances that may or may not apply to humans is grabbed on to and waved about as irrefutable evidence of the efficacy of a certain treatment.
My concern with alternative medicine is its lack of testing and certification. I'm truly concerned that someone will suffer or even die from using alternative medicine. Not necessarily from the "medicine" itself, but perhaps by delaying or avoiding actual proven treatments.
Hey, I'm sure we all agree that if we can cure a disease by snorting a dandelion that we pick for free from our lawn rather than a pricey prescribed medicine concocted in a lab (oh, the horror!), then we'd pick that option.
Many people don't understand what placebo means.
It's like the oil of oregano my wife is suggesting I try for my cold (which is not "anti-viral" btw.) She takes it and, guess what, she feels better in a couple of days. Well guess what happens when I don't take it? I feel better in a couple of days! I have a cold and that's what happens with colds: you recover from them in a couple/few days.
Scott Guvara's explanations over at Science-Based Medicine blog sum it up well:
"There?s some evidence out there demonstrating that oil of oregano will kill different species of bacteria, etc in the test tube or Petri dish ( in vitro). If I pour a pile of salt, lime juice, Cointreau, or tequila on a Petri dish, it will likely kill most bacteria too ? but that doesn?t mean margaritas can treat pneumonia."
I raise this because it applies to many claims for alternative medicine. A result in one particular test with a certain set of circumstances that may or may not apply to humans is grabbed on to and waved about as irrefutable evidence of the efficacy of a certain treatment.
My concern with alternative medicine is its lack of testing and certification. I'm truly concerned that someone will suffer or even die from using alternative medicine. Not necessarily from the "medicine" itself, but perhaps by delaying or avoiding actual proven treatments.
Hey, I'm sure we all agree that if we can cure a disease by snorting a dandelion that we pick for free from our lawn rather than a pricey prescribed medicine concocted in a lab (oh, the horror!), then we'd pick that option.
Bullfrog said:
People actually HAVE died because of it. Makayla Sault is one example.
I get where people are coming from: I highly dislike the overmedicalization of society. There's a magic pill to cure everything, it's complete nonsense. It's far worse in the United States where doctors are, in some cases, colluding with big pharma to line their pockets.
However, I wouldn't be so quick to judge pharmaceutical companies and doctors if they're prescribing pharmaceuticals but are doing so in an ethical manner. For example, I tried many kinds of medications for asthma. I've tried all sorts of options from Alupent to Prednisone to Salbutamol, you name it I've probably tried it. But I will never forget the worst time of my life was when I wasn't given an inhaler, I was given a Lobelia tincture. My mom felt the other remedies weren't good enough so we went to a homeopathic doctor and he prescribed a Lobelia tincture, basically as a catch all even when I had bronchitis. Lo and behold, year in year out, I would always have the worst bronchitis and asthma of my life when I wasn't routinely taking an inhaler when I got sick. To a point where I felt like I was suffocating in the waiting room. The nurse would put me on an inhaled steroid and I'd be back to normal in 15 minutes. I've never had an experience of this magnitude since going back on inhalers, with the exception of one other time, when I contracted a terrible cough which was due to not receiving a vaccination because, you guessed it, I went to a homeopathic doctor. I've switched doctors and I'm all caught up on my vaccinations now.
For every anecdote I'm sure you can find an anecdote against. This is why anecdotal evidence is largely garbage and I'd rather look at studies that have the greatest good for the greatest amount. I don't understand how the most important thing isn't the utility of that thing rather than defending a standpoint for mostly ideological reasons.
Bullfrog
Active member
I keep bringing it up, because it needs to be discussed, but homeopathy is nuts. Absolute garbage. The whole concept is so deluded in its rationale.
The basic concept is curing with "likeness." Which is somewhat ironic because it's kind of like the idea of vaccination, in a way. Apparently if you add a substance (which to begin with is unlikely to cure you of anything or treat any symptoms) and dilute it numerous times, the water will "remember" the substance and that vigorously shaking (I kid you not) the solution will cause the curing agent to "reenergize" or whatever they call it.
They dilute the solutions so much that the chance of even a single molecule remaining is basically zero. It's the craziest thing I've ever heard. And people eat this up and worse, they buy these homeopathic medicines for stupid amounts of money.
One of the crazy things, homeopathy is a self-regulating medical profession in Ontario! It was just proclaimed in April.
Look at this homeopathic children's cough syrup, for the low price of $12:
https://well.ca/products/hylands-baby-cough-syrup_77609.html?cat=1886
The ingredients have a "6X" or "12X" behind them. This means each ingredient has been diluted to a 1:10 solution 6 times. That's one part per million! or for the 12X, one part per TRILLION!. Anything with a C behind it is a 1/100 solution.
Got the flu? Take Boiron's Oscillococcinum. The active ingredients: "Anas Barbariae Hepatis and Cordis extractum 200C". So, these are an extract from duck liver and heart. Diluted to the a solution of 1 to 10^400. I don't even know what the name of that number would be. Take a solution of this duck liver extract and dilute by 1/100; take that solution then dilute it by 1/100 and repeat 200 times.
The price? A low $40 for 30 doses, of which you take three a day! $40 for sugar water.
From Wikipedia: "The greatest dilution reasonably likely to contain even one molecule of the original substance is 12C."
The basic concept is curing with "likeness." Which is somewhat ironic because it's kind of like the idea of vaccination, in a way. Apparently if you add a substance (which to begin with is unlikely to cure you of anything or treat any symptoms) and dilute it numerous times, the water will "remember" the substance and that vigorously shaking (I kid you not) the solution will cause the curing agent to "reenergize" or whatever they call it.
They dilute the solutions so much that the chance of even a single molecule remaining is basically zero. It's the craziest thing I've ever heard. And people eat this up and worse, they buy these homeopathic medicines for stupid amounts of money.
One of the crazy things, homeopathy is a self-regulating medical profession in Ontario! It was just proclaimed in April.
Look at this homeopathic children's cough syrup, for the low price of $12:
https://well.ca/products/hylands-baby-cough-syrup_77609.html?cat=1886
The ingredients have a "6X" or "12X" behind them. This means each ingredient has been diluted to a 1:10 solution 6 times. That's one part per million! or for the 12X, one part per TRILLION!. Anything with a C behind it is a 1/100 solution.
Got the flu? Take Boiron's Oscillococcinum. The active ingredients: "Anas Barbariae Hepatis and Cordis extractum 200C". So, these are an extract from duck liver and heart. Diluted to the a solution of 1 to 10^400. I don't even know what the name of that number would be. Take a solution of this duck liver extract and dilute by 1/100; take that solution then dilute it by 1/100 and repeat 200 times.
The price? A low $40 for 30 doses, of which you take three a day! $40 for sugar water.
From Wikipedia: "The greatest dilution reasonably likely to contain even one molecule of the original substance is 12C."
hockeyfan1
New member
Bullfrog said:
Nattokinase vs Coumadin: benefits, side effects, etc.
http://home.comcast.net/~pobrien48/nattokinase_vrs_coumadin_.htm
How do I know if it works for me or that I am taking the correct dosage? (My health care physician is an MD with a M.Sc in Biochemistry -- higher than an ordinary naturopath) with an interest in natural medicine. He has studied both (mainstream & alternative) and is very discerning about many natural products (he has high standards). If he is unsure about a particular supplement, or it's actual ingredients (if it actually does contain what it's supposed to contain), he won't endorse it.
Lab tests analysis showcases the efficacy of the products that have been recommended/requisitioned for me.
hockeyfan1
New member
Over the past two decades the pharmaceutical industry has moved very far from its original high purpose of discovering and producing useful new drugs.
Now primarily a marketing machine to sell drugs of dubious benefit, this industry uses its wealth and power to co-opt every institution that might stand in its way, including the US Congress, the FDA, academic medical centers, and the medical profession itself. (Most of its marketing efforts are focused on influencing doctors, since they must write the prescriptions.)
From:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2004/jul/15/the-truth-about-the-drug-companies/
Now primarily a marketing machine to sell drugs of dubious benefit, this industry uses its wealth and power to co-opt every institution that might stand in its way, including the US Congress, the FDA, academic medical centers, and the medical profession itself. (Most of its marketing efforts are focused on influencing doctors, since they must write the prescriptions.)
From:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2004/jul/15/the-truth-about-the-drug-companies/
hockeyfan1
New member
DP: What is the biggest issue relating to prescription drugs that the mainstream media misses?
MP: Overall, the biggest problem is that the news media is not objective when reporting on medicines. Much of the news coverage on prescription drugs exaggerates their potential benefits and glosses over their risks. Many news stories about new drugs don?t even mention the side effects. People are getting distorted information on prescription drugs. Many of these news stories are little more than press releases that come straight out of the drug companies? marketing departments.
http://www.alternet.org/story/147318/100,000_americans_die_each_year_from_prescription_drugs,_while_pharma_companies_get_rich
MP: Overall, the biggest problem is that the news media is not objective when reporting on medicines. Much of the news coverage on prescription drugs exaggerates their potential benefits and glosses over their risks. Many news stories about new drugs don?t even mention the side effects. People are getting distorted information on prescription drugs. Many of these news stories are little more than press releases that come straight out of the drug companies? marketing departments.
http://www.alternet.org/story/147318/100,000_americans_die_each_year_from_prescription_drugs,_while_pharma_companies_get_rich
hockeyfan1
New member
Doctors are obliged to improve themselves through continued medical education (CME). Drug companies influence the content of medical education (for example, by giving false product information, by deciding on the venues, speakers, topics, and so on). They also ?seduce? doctors with gifts, sponsored meetings (including luxurious dinners, cocktail parties and comfortable overnight stays in top of the bill hotels), high payments for conducting research or publishing reports, etc [60].
Doctors are being enticed into, for example, the twisting of trial results or the groundless creation of data. A study conducted by the FDA has revealed that one in five doctors investigated, who carry out field research of new drugs, had invented the data they sent to the drug companies, and pocketed the fees. Citing case examples, Dr Braithwaite states: ?The problem is that most fraud in clinical trials is unlikely to even be detected. Most cases which do come to public attention only do so because of extraordinary carelessness by the criminal physician...?
According to Dr Judith Jones, Director of the Division of Drug Experience at the FDA, if the data obtained by a clinician proves unsatisfactory towards the drug being investigated, it is quite in order for the company to continue trials elsewhere until satisfactory results and testimonials are achieved. Unfavourable results are very rarely published and clinicians are pressured into keeping quiet about such data.
http://www.corporatewatch.org/company-profiles/pfizer-inc-corporate-crimes
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Doctors are being enticed into, for example, the twisting of trial results or the groundless creation of data. A study conducted by the FDA has revealed that one in five doctors investigated, who carry out field research of new drugs, had invented the data they sent to the drug companies, and pocketed the fees. Citing case examples, Dr Braithwaite states: ?The problem is that most fraud in clinical trials is unlikely to even be detected. Most cases which do come to public attention only do so because of extraordinary carelessness by the criminal physician...?
According to Dr Judith Jones, Director of the Division of Drug Experience at the FDA, if the data obtained by a clinician proves unsatisfactory towards the drug being investigated, it is quite in order for the company to continue trials elsewhere until satisfactory results and testimonials are achieved. Unfavourable results are very rarely published and clinicians are pressured into keeping quiet about such data.
http://www.corporatewatch.org/company-profiles/pfizer-inc-corporate-crimes
[/color]
hockeyfan1
New member
So, How many children has it killed?
Placebo? Figment of one's imagination? Feel good stuff? Nonsense stuff?
No, none of that:
...when you compare the tiny number of injuries inflicted on natural medicine patients compared to the hundreds of thousands of deaths recorded each year due to medical errors.
WHO estimates that one in 10 hospital admissions leads to an adverse event while one in 300 admissions leads to death. WHO puts medical errors as among the top 10 killers in the world. According to the US's Institute of Medicine, preventable medical errors kill 98,000 people in the US alone each year and injure countless more.
One of the group's biggest complaints,...is that natural medicine "doesn't strive to be tested". He says that modern medicine is "totally devoted" to taking an "evidence-based approach" and "do good science and do good research into the things we do to people".
The argument that modern medicine is evidence-based as opposed to other types of medicine is an argument that is often used by medical lobbyists, and tends to be generally accepted by the public. However, according to a report by a panel of experts assembled by the prestigious Institute of Medicine, "well below half" of medical care in the US is based on or supported by adequate evidence.
Natural therapies have been used for more than 10,000 years, and so they deserve a place in society, in Australian universities, and even in modern medicine. According to Australian trauma and general surgeon Dr Valerie Malka, former director of trauma services at Westmead Hospital, while modern medicine is revolutionary when it comes to surgery, particularly in emergencies, for pretty much everything else, traditional, natural or alternative medicine is much more effective.
She says in particular, modern medicine is completely unable to treat or cure chronic illness. Rather than focusing on symptom control, natural medicines work on the body's ability to heal the cause of the illness while modern medicine suppresses the body's healing mechanism with drugs that attack the body's natural defence mechanisms, throwing the immune system out of whack."
...the attack on natural medicine has more to do with the threat to modern medicine's power base as well as its "unhealthy relationship" with the "trillion-dollar pharmaceutical industry".[/This is not the first time natural medicines have been attacked by the medical industry.
Alternative healthcare professionals such as chiropractors, naturopaths, and midwives have been targeted by the American Medical Association (AMA) for nearly a century, in spite of a federal court injunction against the AMA in 1987 for illegally trying to create a monopoly in the healthcare market.
Up until 1983, the AMA had held that it was unethical for MDs to associate with "unscientific practitioners" and they labelled chiropractic "an unscientific cult". They also had a committee on "quackery" which challenged what it considered to be unscientific forms of healing. Five chiropractors including Chester Wilk sued the AMA, claiming that the committee was established specifically to undermine chiropractic.
Wilk won the case, with Judge Susan Getzendanner ruling that the AMA had engaged in an unlawful conspiracy in restraint of trade "to contain and eliminate the chiropractic profession," also saying that the "AMA had entered into a long history of illegal behaviour".
If you look at the history of attacks on natural healthcare providers over the last 100 years,...attempt to influence the public into believing that natural medicine is, as it says, "quackery" by spreading propaganda that most of the time is simply not true.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-21/schwager-war-against-natural-medicine/3840682
Placebo? Figment of one's imagination? Feel good stuff? Nonsense stuff?
No, none of that:
...when you compare the tiny number of injuries inflicted on natural medicine patients compared to the hundreds of thousands of deaths recorded each year due to medical errors.
WHO estimates that one in 10 hospital admissions leads to an adverse event while one in 300 admissions leads to death. WHO puts medical errors as among the top 10 killers in the world. According to the US's Institute of Medicine, preventable medical errors kill 98,000 people in the US alone each year and injure countless more.
One of the group's biggest complaints,...is that natural medicine "doesn't strive to be tested". He says that modern medicine is "totally devoted" to taking an "evidence-based approach" and "do good science and do good research into the things we do to people".
The argument that modern medicine is evidence-based as opposed to other types of medicine is an argument that is often used by medical lobbyists, and tends to be generally accepted by the public. However, according to a report by a panel of experts assembled by the prestigious Institute of Medicine, "well below half" of medical care in the US is based on or supported by adequate evidence.
Natural therapies have been used for more than 10,000 years, and so they deserve a place in society, in Australian universities, and even in modern medicine. According to Australian trauma and general surgeon Dr Valerie Malka, former director of trauma services at Westmead Hospital, while modern medicine is revolutionary when it comes to surgery, particularly in emergencies, for pretty much everything else, traditional, natural or alternative medicine is much more effective.
She says in particular, modern medicine is completely unable to treat or cure chronic illness. Rather than focusing on symptom control, natural medicines work on the body's ability to heal the cause of the illness while modern medicine suppresses the body's healing mechanism with drugs that attack the body's natural defence mechanisms, throwing the immune system out of whack."
...the attack on natural medicine has more to do with the threat to modern medicine's power base as well as its "unhealthy relationship" with the "trillion-dollar pharmaceutical industry".[/This is not the first time natural medicines have been attacked by the medical industry.
Alternative healthcare professionals such as chiropractors, naturopaths, and midwives have been targeted by the American Medical Association (AMA) for nearly a century, in spite of a federal court injunction against the AMA in 1987 for illegally trying to create a monopoly in the healthcare market.
Up until 1983, the AMA had held that it was unethical for MDs to associate with "unscientific practitioners" and they labelled chiropractic "an unscientific cult". They also had a committee on "quackery" which challenged what it considered to be unscientific forms of healing. Five chiropractors including Chester Wilk sued the AMA, claiming that the committee was established specifically to undermine chiropractic.
Wilk won the case, with Judge Susan Getzendanner ruling that the AMA had engaged in an unlawful conspiracy in restraint of trade "to contain and eliminate the chiropractic profession," also saying that the "AMA had entered into a long history of illegal behaviour".
If you look at the history of attacks on natural healthcare providers over the last 100 years,...attempt to influence the public into believing that natural medicine is, as it says, "quackery" by spreading propaganda that most of the time is simply not true.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-21/schwager-war-against-natural-medicine/3840682