Re: Definition Of Alternation Medicine

In article <5x3Qe.27$Z91.17@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Rich <joshew@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>"David Wright" <wright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>news:pv2Qe.5771$L77.4451@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> In article <sOEPe.20252$Q82.9857@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
>> Rich <joshew@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>
>>>"David Wright" <wright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>news:l3wPe.3769$u_6.1970@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>> In article <4DdPe.4737$Q82.1484@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
>>>> Rich <joshew@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>"LadyLollipop" <LadyLollipop@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>>>news:FibPe.304699$xm3.183127@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>
>>>>>> The boundaries of alternative medicine have changed over time as a
>>>>>> number
>>>>>> of techniques and therapies once considered to be "alternative" have
>>>>>> been
>>>>>> accepted by mainstream medicine.
>>>>>
>>>>>That last one is dubious. Can anyone here cite even one "alternative"
>>>>>method
>>>>>that has been incorporated in the the mainstream practice of medicine?
>>>>
>>>> It's not totally accepted yet, but how about glucosamine/chondroitin
>>>> to treat arthritis?
>>>
>>>Time will tell, but a more probable scenario is the isolation of the
>>>active
>>>ingredient(s) of g/c by a pharmaceutical company, which will then produce
>>>it
>>>in a standardized, dose-consistent form that is more effective with fewer
>>>side effects. That sort of thing happens often. Pharm companies have been
>>>known to hire jungle shaman medicine men to show them the plant materials
>>>they use and teach them how they prepare and use them. Useful medications
>>>have come out of such studies. But that is not the same as a vindication
>>>of
>>>an "alternative" practice and incorporation into mainstream medicine. . .
>>>.
>>>Perhaps if we could bottle the shaman's chants and drums . . .
>>
>> That would probably help too. It seems to me that Steve Harris once
>> posted a list of "alternative" ideas that were now part of mainstream
>> medicine. Shucks, how about Marshall's idea that h. pylori is the
>> cause of most ulcers? That was considered pretty far-out at one time,
>> but became mainstream fairly rapidly.
>
>Dr. Barry Marshall is and was a qualified gastroenterologist. He did good
>science, and published his findings in a peer-reviewed and prestigious
>journal, "Lancet". That his discovery was shocking and difficult for other
>physicians to accept initially did not make it "alternative medicine".
>
>"Alternative medicine" abounds with practitioners and therapists who have
>not undergone the rigors of a scientific education but who protest that
>"science doesn't know everything" and promote unproven modalities. Some
>alties like to think that science is often proven wrong and that one of
>these "alternatives" proves so efficatious that it is adopted by mainstream
>medicine. Even the NCCAM home page implies that this is so. I maintain that
>it is not, and that advances in medicine come only from science, not from
>the anti-science quacks. NCCAM itself is proving this. Despite providing
>millions of dollars for studies of quack theories that would never pass
>review for funding elsewhere, the agency has yet to produce any useful
>positive results.

I'm of two minds about NCCAM. On the one hand, you're right: they
fund studies of obviously dumb ideas. On the other hand, if enough
of those studies turn out negative, maybe it'll steer some people away
from some of the sillier ideas. (Well, it could happen.)

It's not NCCAM's fault it exists -- Congress did that. Pandering to
the unwashed masses.

-- David Wright :: alphabeta at prodigy.net
These are my opinions only, but they're almost always correct.
"If you can't say something nice, then sit next to me."
-- Alice Roosevelt Longworth
.

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