A must read piece by Steven Novella on the dangerous, widespread acceptance of fraudulent and quack medicine, such as homeopathy (water) to the extent that this statement may seem controversial:
“Fifty years ago what passes today as CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) was snake oil, fraud, folk medicine, and quackery. The promoters of dubious health claims were charlatans, quacks, and con artists. Somehow they managed to pull off the greatest con of all – a culture change in which fraud became a legitimate alternative to scientific medicine, the line between science and pseudoscience was deliberate blurred, regulations designed to protect the public from quackery were weakened or eliminated, and it became politically incorrect to defend scientific standards in medicine.”
After the collapse of the banking industry, deregulation is becoming a dirty word. Perhaps its time to fight back against the deregulation that allowed for alternative medicine? After all, this was a battle originally lost because of emotion rather than reason.
As Steven Novella puts it:
“Why hasn’t Ralph Nader noticed this? What if the auto industry promoted “automobile freedom” laws so that consumers could buy any vehicles they wanted, free from any government quality or safety regulation?”