"Ten years ago the government set out to test herbal and other alternative health remedies to find the ones that work. After spending $2.5 billion, the disappointing answer seems to be that almost none of them do.This news makes me feel happy while being angry at the same time. Generally speaking, people who advocate pseudoscience like all those frauds falling under the rubric of "alternative medicine" can go fuck themselves. All the crap you've been dicking us about is now officially bullshit. At least we can get back to the scientific method instead of messing around with kid's games.
'You expect scientific thinking' at a federal science agency, said R. Barker Bausell, author of 'Snake Oil Science' and a research methods expert at the University of Maryland, one of the agency's top-funded research sites. 'It's become politically correct to investigate nonsense.'"
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
"Alternative Medicine" is 99% Bullshit, NIH Concludes. No Duh.
After $2.5 billion dollars spent, the government finally figured out what I've been saying for a while:
All I know is that when I put my own ear wax on a burgeoning cold sore, it goes away. So put that in your pipe.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I doubt this will change anything.
ReplyDeleteBy God, I've been searching for something to make cold sores disappear for years and finally I know what to do - rub ear wax on them. One question. Does it have to be one's own ear wax or will ear wax from friend/foe, dog, or cat work just as well?
ReplyDeleteExamples of a few of the many natural occurring drugs are aspirin, atropine, ephedrine, digoxin, morphine, quinine, reserpine and tubocurarine. These were originally discovered through the study of traditional cures and folk knowledge of indigenous people. Ispaghula, Garlic, Ginseng, Ginger, Ginkgo, St. John's Wort, and Saw palmetto are a few examples of newer botanicals which are being studied intensively. This trend is likely to continue partly due to high cost involved in the development of patentable chemical drugs.
ReplyDeleteI forget who said this originally, but you know what they call alternative medicine that actually works? Medicine.
ReplyDeleteAnony's list is proof of that. There's nothing wrong with looking to nature for cures. The problem comes when you choose those cures in spite of the fact that there is zero evidence of their efficacy. That's the bread and butter of most alternative medicine proponents.
Anon: Yes, there is no doubt that there are legitimate medicines that derived from natural sources. And there is no doubt that there will more more medical advances based on the study of natural sources. This, however, is not the point of the article. Here, I'll quote the article I cited because it doesn't appear that you actually read it:
ReplyDelete-------------
"The government also is funding studies of purported energy fields, distance healing and other approaches that have little if any biological plausibility or scientific evidence.
Taxpayers are bankrolling studies of whether pressing various spots on your head can help with weight loss, whether brain waves emitted from a special ''master'' can help break cocaine addiction, and whether wearing magnets can help the painful wrist problem, carpal tunnel syndrome.
The acupressure weight-loss technique won a $2 million grant even though a small trial of it on 60 people found no statistically significant benefit -- only an encouraging trend that could have occurred by chance. The researcher says the pilot study was just to see if the technique was feasible.
''There's not all the money in the world and you have to choose'' what most deserves tax support, said Barrie Cassileth, integrative medicine chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
''Many of the studies that have been funded I would not have funded because they seem irrational and foolish -- studies on distant healing by prayer and energy healing, studies that are based on precepts and ideas that are contrary to what is known in terms of human physiology and disease,'' she said."
-------------
These are the things that I'm referring to as bullshit and not worthy of serious consideration. NIH shouldn't be throwing money at any ole quackery just because fools believe it -- especially when taxpayer money is involved.
The federal labs have a mandate to protect us from bogus products, and spending 0.25 billion/year to investigate alternative medications etc. seems to me to be warranted considering that the market has now reached at $8-$10 billion/year in America and is one of the fastest growing market sectors out there.
ReplyDeleteHello friend congratulation you did a great blog and thanks for sharing, I want to find an alternative treatment to control the ED problems I don't want to use Generic Cialis
ReplyDeletehello
ReplyDeleteif you wanna improve youre sex life use a lil blue pill renew youre self in bed longer erections for different positions do them all . :mrgreen:
Viagra Online
John B. Barnhart
Great piece of article. Your creativity continues to amaze me! Thanks for sharing such information. -- hilton hotel anaheim
ReplyDelete