Quackademics running wild......

I agree that reality is a stubborn thing. You can daydream all you want about "toxins" and the need for "detoxification"; substances becoming stronger in healing potential with dilution and shaking; the ability of magicians--yes, magicians, what else are they to be called, except that they can't do real magic or even real illusions?--to wave their hands and manipulate a person's life force in order, in essence, to perform faith healing; or the claim that liver flukes cause cancer and all disease, but reality has a funny way of intruding. You can claim that cancer can be cured by natural diets, exercise, and supplements, but damn if that cancer will almost certainly have other plans. But that same cancer very well might "listen" to a combination of surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy. You can say that AIDS can be cured by "natural" remedies, but HIV will behave according to the laws of science regardless, and protease inhibitors will stop it.

Indeed, I would make an analogy myself. The subprime crisis was the result of arrogance and a fundamental misunderstanding and underestimation of the effect of packaging so many bad loans into risky financial instruments. The vast majority of CAM therapies (other than some herbal remedies; after all, medicinal herbs that work are, in fact, drugs) are based every bit as much on magical thinking, while a profound misunderstanding of the "laws" of human physiology lays on the side of CAM advocates, not scientific medicine. CAM advocates think they know how the human body works, but they are almost always profoundly wrong in their beliefs. The ironic thing about it is, they are so vociferous in accusing "Western" medicine of the very ignorance and arrogance they possess in such abundance.

I agree that reality is a stubborn thing. You can daydream all you want about "toxins" and the need for "detoxification"; substances becoming stronger in healing potential with dilution and shaking; the ability of magicians--yes, magicians, what else are they to be called, except that they can't do real magic or even real illusions?--to wave their hands and manipulate a person's life force in order, in essence, to perform faith healing; or the claim that liver flukes cause cancer and all disease, but reality has a funny way of intruding. You can claim that cancer can be cured by natural diets, exercise, and supplements, but damn if that cancer will almost certainly have other plans. But that same cancer very well might "listen" to a combination of surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy. You can say that AIDS can be cured by "natural" remedies, but HIV will behave according to the laws of science regardless, and protease inhibitors will stop it.

Indeed, I would make an analogy myself. The subprime crisis was the result of arrogance and a fundamental misunderstanding and underestimation of the effect of packaging so many bad loans into risky financial instruments. The vast majority of CAM therapies (other than some herbal remedies; after all, medicinal herbs that work are, in fact, drugs) are based every bit as much on magical thinking, while a profound misunderstanding of the "laws" of human physiology lays on the side of CAM advocates, not scientific medicine. CAM advocates think they know how the human body works, but they are almost always profoundly wrong in their beliefs. The ironic thing about it is, they are so vociferous in accusing "Western" medicine of the very ignorance and arrogance they possess in such abundance.