I take umbrage at several things in that article. First of all, the subheading, "You're Not the Only One Sold on Alternative Approaches," assumes that I, the reader, have been sucked into this stuff. I guess the writer didn't think skeptics would be reading it, or does she seriously believe that literally everyone uses alternative therapies?
Second, this phrase, "It's not exactly a secret that Americans have leapt ahead of the science on alternative medicine." What does she mean, "leapt ahead of the science"? I don't consider ignoring science and testing to be "leaping ahead."
Some researchers say it's time for the science to catch up with this hefty market -- especially since not all of these treatments can be presumed to be harmless.
Oh, so it's the fault of science (I assume she means the scientific community) that people are experimenting on themselves with potentially harmful substances. I didn't know "science" was supposed to be mankind's babysitter. Anyway, "science" is aware in most cases of the lack of efficacy of these therapies and points it out quite often, but few people are interested in listening.
Because most mainstream medical researchers have shown little interest in studying alternative healing methods and because funding for large-scale research has been scarce, controlled, randomized studies are rare. The NCCAM is trying to change that. The center, which was established by Congress in 1998 and is part of the National Institutes of Health, will spend an estimated $103.5 million in 2005 to fund scientific studies into alternative and complementary medicines and treatments. Government funding for the center has risen from $50 million in 1999 to $117 million this year.
Ah, excuse me, but the way it is supposed to work is that a purveyor of a medical remedy must prove its efficacy before bringing it to market. We used to have laws in place to ensure that, but that's been out the window since 1994. So NCCAM wants the taxpayers to pay for research to determine whether their snake oil works or not. Great.
