It would be arrogant for us to believe that our modern, Western view of medicine is the only valid approach. There are no-doubt valuable lessons we can learn from other cultures’ practices when it comes to medicine. The AP reports that over the last decade, $2.5 billion has been spent by the federal government on researching the efficacy of alternative medicine, but it has yielded little success. I’m sure some of money is going towards legitimate research, but there are a few investigations of some very unscientific methods occurring.
Alongside federal spending on research for well-known things like acupuncture and herbal supplements comes some far-fetched ideas like long-distance healing through energy and prayer, and breaking drug addiction by shooting brain waves at a patient from a master. None of those long-distance techniques has shown any promise. The studies are being conducted by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the NIH, and the lack of scientific rigor amongst some of the research premises has peeved some in scientific community. The selection of alternative medicine research projects should be conducted more carefully so that taxpayer money is not spent on ideas with no scientific merit. That is not to say all of alternative medicine lacks scientific merit, but there should be some consensus by the community on where the line is drawn.
For more, read the AP story here.
