Trick or Treatment—The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine (Electronic book text)

Science, as we demonstrated in Chapter 1, is a universal approach for establishing the value of any medical intervention. The results of science are never complete and perfect, but step by step they bring us closer to the truth. The term ‘alternative’ is merely an attempt to escape from this truth by replacing the knowledge derived from science by hunches derived from other sources. This includes intuition, anecdote and tradition, which means that alternative medicine is based on personal opinions, the opinions of others and the opinions of our forefathers. However, in our introduction we pointed out:

‘There are, in fact, two things, science and opinion;

the former begets knowledge, the latter irgnorance.’

Even though Hippocrates wrote these words more than 2,000 years ago, it took us a phenomenally long time to really take this message seriously. When we finally did, about 150 years ago, medicine began to move rapidly out of the Dark Ages and doctors abandoned treatments such as bloodletting, which were more dangerous than the conditions they claimed to cure. Since then, progress has been immense and continuous. Immunization has eradicated killer infections; formerly fatal diseases affecting millions, like diabetes, appendicitis and many others, are now treatable; childhood mortality is only a fraction of what it once was, pain can be effectively controlled in most cases; and generally we live longer and enjoy a better quality of life. All of this is thanks to applying rational scientific thought to healthcare and medicine.

By contrast, the concept of an alternative type of medicine is a throwback to the Dark Ages. Too many alternative therapists remain uninterested in determining the safety and efficacy of their interventions. These practitioners also fail to see the importance of rigorous clinical trials in establishing proper evidence for or against their treatments. And where evidence already exists that treatments are ineffective or unsafe, alternative therapists will carry on regardless with their hands firmly over their ears.

Despite this disturbing situation, the market for alternative treatments is booming and the public is being misled over and over again, often by misguided therapists, sometimes by exploitative charlatans.

We argue that it is now time for the tricks to stop, and for the real treatments to take priority. In the name of honesty, progress and good healthcare, we call for scientific standards, evaluation and regulation to be applied to all types of medicine, so that patients can be confident that they are receiving treatments that demonstrably generate more harm than good.

If such standards are not applied to the alternative medicine sector, then homeopaths, acupuncturists, chiropractors, herbalists and other alternative therapists will continue to prey on the most desperate and vulnerable in society, raiding their wallets, offering false hope, and endangering their health.

Appendix: Rapid Guide to Alternative Therapies

THE CORE OF OUR BOOK HAS FOCUSED ON ONLY FOUR OF THE MAIN ALTERNATIVE therapies (acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic therapy and herbal medicine), but we have also evaluated many other therapies, which will be discussed in this section. We have devoted a page to each one, in which we address key issues, such as how did the therapy start, what does it involve, is it effective and is it safe? Despite the brevity of the sections, we have rigorously examined the scientific evidence for and against each therapy in order to reach our conclusions. You can also find more information about each alternative therapy in The Desktop Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine: An Evidence-Based Approach, a detailed reference book edited by Edzard Ernst, Max H. Pittler, Barbara Wider and Kate Boddy. This book also contains references to all the research that leads to the conclusions in this appendix.