Friday, August 21, 2009
In the midst of healthcare reform and rising medical bills, Americans are looking for second opinions beyond their physician. Some are perturbed at their vision of the medical elite, promising high prices and uncomfortable side-effects. Many more simply prefer a kind of medicine better aligned with their own personal philosophy. But regardless of their reasons, Americans spent about $33.9 billion on alternative and complementary medicine in 2007, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). Though many are shunning conventional medicine, these alternative medicines have failed to deliver a true alternative.
The NCCAM has spent $2.5 billion dollars of government money over the last decade to research the claims of a variety of alternative medicines, including acupressure, echinecea, magnet therapy, ginko biloba, energy field manipulation, glucosamine and everything in between. After years of research in rigorously controlled studies, nearly all of the alternative medicines showed no benefit over a placebo. Across the board, these therapies showed little or no efficacy.
Why haven’t these therapies been shown effective? Although their use may originate in ancient knowledge and have fervent followers, when put to the scientific test, they have not shown true efficacy. This lack of supporting evidence is primarily due to the intrusion of ideology onto the scientific claims of these treatments. For example, acupuncture and homeopathy are both based on a philosophical foundation contradictory to modern scientific knowledge. And thus, when these treatments are used, they are done so out of belief of efficacy, rather than proof.
The NCCAM, a national center exclusively funding alternative remedies, rigs the game against most biomedical research. Research institutions compete to gain funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Research grants are awarded based on the merit of the research proposal, not an ideology. Only the best projects, based on the best evidence and potential benefit, are given taxpayer money. The NCCAM gives funding to projects with little scientific plausibility.
Scientific research only exists because it improves upon the foundation of knowledge supported by past scientists and their discoveries. We test new cancer drugs on human subjects only after using animal models and before that we do studies in test tubes. Only by this process can biomedical research advance. We take what we have already tested and work to improve our knowledge.
The conventional scientific treatments are not perfect, and no one is claiming that they are. They exist by controlling dosages, patient usage and constantly researching to improve their ability to treat patients. Giving chemotherapy to cancer patients is a brutal process, but it can bring huge benefits to those who need it. Just because modern medicine has flaws does not mean that alternative medicine is flawless.
Complementary and alternative treatments should compete with the rest of the scientific community for government money. If they have good evidence for safety and efficacy, then they should be able to fund clinical trials just like the rest of the researchers in America. But creating an entity that only funds complementary and alternative medicine has ended only in a waste of scientific inquiry and taxpayer money.
— Folmsbee is a Topeka senior in Neurobiology
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