Are the trillions of dollars spent each year on medical care in the industrialized world worth the cost, even though the incidence and mortality rate of disease is accelerating year by year? The vast majority of medical procedures and pharmaceutical interventions used throughout the world are notbased on scientific studies. They are based on anecdotal evidence. This is a surprise to most people, but the simple truth is, as reported in the Journal of Medical Ethics (1992, 18:117), “only about 15 percent of medical interventions are supported by solid scientific evidence; in other words 85% are not.” So the question is, why is the FDA insisting that 100% of all alternative health treatments be backed by scientific “proof” — and throwing people in jail and shutting down distribution outlets if they do not comply? It’s certainly not a question of public safety. If drugs that kill over 100,000 people a year (in the United States alone) can legally be promoted and sold, then it makes no sense to hold herbs that may be responsible for only 5 or 10 deaths a decade (and that’s when severely overdosed) to regulations some 600% more stringent? We must demand a level playing field. If you find this topic interesting, you may want to read the following newsletters:
On healthcare and health plans:
- Healthcare’s Downward Spiral – Newsletter
- Health Insurance Premiums on the Rise – Blog
- Juggling Health Care in Today’s World – Newsletter
- Healthcare Confusion – Podcast
- PAX TV Interview on the Healthcare System – Video
- New Healthcare Policies – Podcast
- The Cost of Universal Health Care – Blog
- Universal Healthcare Coverage – Podcast
- The Compounding Demographics of Health Care – Newsletter
- Mandatory Healthcare? Universal Healthcare? – Blog
- The Health Care Disaster – Newsletter
- Two More Health Plans – Blog
- Hillary Clinton’s Healthcare Proposal – Blog
- Health Care Costs Out of Control – Blog
- Canadian Healthcare Cost Crisis – Blog
- Money Makes Government Health Policy – Blog
Doctors, drugs and medical care:
- World’s Greatest Medical Failures – Newsletter
- World’s Greatest Medical Advancements – Newsletter
- Medications Most Likely to Send You to the Hospital – Blog
- Accidental Medication Poisoning – Blog
- The Hospital Night-Weekend Effect – Blog
- No One Wants to Know About Hospital Safety – Blog
- Hospital Overuse of CT Scans – Blog
- Hospital Mistakes – Podcast
- Kudos to Medical Doctors – Newsletter
- Why Your Doctors Do You Like They Do – Newsletter
- Doctors: See No Evil – Newsletter
- Scientists and Doctors on Drugs – Blog
- How Pharmaceutical Companies Influence Doctors – Blog
- Fat Doctors, Fat Patients? – Blog
- The Value of Medical Care – Newsletter
- The Pharmaceutical Industry – Newsletter
- Medical News – Newsletter
- The Powers of Regenerative Medicine – Blog
The FDA and natural health laws:
- New FDA Labeling Guidelines – Podcast
- Government Legislature & Health Freedoms – Podcast
- Pharmaceutical Drugs & the FDA – Podcast
- Off-label Drugs Get Free Pass from FDA – Blog
- GlaxoSmithKline Petitions the FDA – Newsletter
- Glaxo, Rumsfeld, the FDA, and Dan Brown – Newsletter
- Alternative Medicine Is Valid – Newsletter
- Alternative Health – Now You See It, Now You Don’t – Newsletter
- Nutritional Freedom, the Frog in the Water – Newsletter
- El Guapo and the FDA – Newsletter
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