| TO WELCOME |
views on its relationship with conventional medicine |
| Alternative
medicine - the 18 Billion Dollar Experiment: Hope or Hype?
Extracts from a well written four part series in the Los Angeles Times. It has charts, diagrams and pictures and presents both sides of the picture without apparent bias. http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/REPORTS/MEDICINE/altmed1.htm Part 1: The alternative medicine movement is going mainstream, experiencing astonishing growth. Some swear by the unregulated remedies, while others call them 'quackery.' By TERENCE MONMANEY and SHARI ROAN, Times Staff Writers The movement is touching
tens of millions of lives, reshaping the health care system, and pumping
enormous sums into industries and professions whose considerable political
clout belies any image of the humble neighborhood folk healer.
Part 2: Remedy's U.S. Sales Zoom, but Quality Control Lags St. John's wort: Regulatory vacuum leaves doubt about potency, effects of herb used for depression. By TERENCE MONMANEY, Times Medical Writer Includes the results of independent laboratory tests Plus :The New-School Way to Heal the Body Medicine: The University of Minnesota is leading the way in teaching a blend of traditional and nontraditional health care methods. People are noticing. By SHARI ROAN, Times Health Writer "You want to put the two together," Bakken says. "Body, mind and spirit is what medicine was about before the scientific age. Good physicians know what their words can mean. It's a failing of our health care system that we don't have time for words at the bedside." Also: A Dose of Caution Some ethnic patent medicines contain toxic substances or powerful prescription drugs not listed on the label, and pose serious risk to consumers, health officials warn. By TERENCE MONMANEY, Times Medical Writer Part 3 Herbal Medicine Business Sets Firm Roots in Utah Health: Industry giants such as Nature's Way find the culture and political climate a tonic for rapid growth. By DAVID R. OLMOS, Times Staff Writer The history and politics of herbal supplements Part 4: Alternative, Conventional Care Forge Uneasy Alliance Medicine: Public demand is changing the way health business operates. But are profits or patients top priority? By SHARI ROAN and DAVID OLMOS, Times Staff Writers Plus: Two Approaches to Curing an Earache Both alternative and conventional medical practitioners must be able to communicate if health care is to become truly "integrative." However, each system has dramatically different philosophies and languages, as this graphic on treating an ear infection demonstrates |
| 17 September
NEJM
covered several aspects of alternative medicine including an editorial.
http://www.nejm.org/content/1998/0339/0012/0839.asp The New England Journal of Medicine -- September 17, 1998 -- Volume 339, Number 12 Alternative Medicine -- The Risks of Untested and Unregulated Remedies Extracts
only from an overview in a news article on Your Health Daily. See the full
article for comment by various bodies. The link is far too long to place
here but visit http://yourhealthdaily.com/and
do a search on the title below
At a time when many
doctors are trying to accommodate their patients' desires to try alternative
treatments and even the prestigious Harvard Medical School includes courses
on the subject, the editorial in Thursday's issue of the journal is anything
but conciliatory.
One longtime researcher in the pharmacology of natural substances, Dr. Varro Tyler of Purdue University, agreed with the journal editors that a problem exists, "because there are no standards of quality'' for dietary supplements and "what we need is regulation or legislation that would require them to be sold as drugs.'' However, "`there is also a very responsible segment of the industry and this kind of diatribe really hurts the whole industry,'' Tyler said |