There's no money in natural medicine because you cannot patent it and get large subsidies from the government.

Yeah, because companies selling omega-3 fish oil capsules, St. John's wort, echinacea all went bust. No wait, it's the other one where they make millions of dollars.

Nice one Fireman Sam - totally debunked Kat's pseudoscience.

There's no money in natural medicine because you cannot patent it and get large subsidies from the government.

Wait, so why do all these natural medicine companys exist if they don't make any money?

Whats with the people in this thread that try to justify homeopathy doesn't kill by blaming the parents. What the f*** seriously. Are you going to say that jumping out a tall building doesn't kill you because it is actually the ground at the bottom that kills you? f*** me.
If you actively pursue alternative medicine, you are expending the resources (time, money, motivation) that you need to get actual help.

Wait, so why do all these natural medicine companys exist if they don't make any money?

Are you suggesting natural medicine companies trade on the same market caps as Big Pharma?

Are you suggesting natural medicine companies trade on the same market caps as Big Pharma?

No, just that saying "there's no money to be made" is stupid. My local fish 'n' chips shop doesn't make as much as McDonalds, doesn't mean they don't make money.

Pretty sure that a lot of well known natural and alternative remedies are sold by the big drug companies anyway.

yeah im pretty sure the people who own bullivants are struggling

NOT

lol
this thread reminds me of people who say "I don't take panadol for headaches because when I get really sick I want the medicine to work"
I bet kat is one of them.

Meh, I don't usually take headache relief as it doesn't do anything for me. If I can't sleep it off I will usually take something though. With three kids it's not easy to just rest.

All my kids are vaccinated and I will happily go to the Dr should anyone in this house get sick.

All my kids are vaccinated

thank god. seriously it should be illegal for parents not to do this.

yer, i got an issue with parents who dont vaccinate.

weird thing is you can never tell when people are gonna be non vaccinators.

i also dont need headache relief, does nothing for me

Here’s a shocker for you: after a decade and 2.5 billion (with a b, folks) dollar spent, a government study shows that almost no alternative medicines worked.

Echinacea for colds. Ginkgo biloba for memory. Glucosamine and chondroitin for arthritis. Black cohosh for menopausal hot flashes. Saw palmetto for prostate problems. Shark cartilage for cancer. All proved no better than dummy pills in big studies funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The lone exception: ginger capsules may help chemotherapy nausea.

So, they used actual scientific testing processes instead of anecdotes, and found that most of these simply don’t work. Like I said: shocker.

Let me be clear: I am not opposed to testing any so-called alternative medicines. A lot of our medicine today is based on herbs and such; aspirin comes from willow bark, for example, and ginger has been tested before for nausea and shown some promise. A lot of people comment on my blog when I talk about this stuff and call me closed-minded, which makes me chuckle ironically, since most of these people are so anti-science their minds are clamped tight. And in fact I want to test these techniques to separate what works from what doesn’t.

But I am decidedly against these techniques that have been tested and shown to be no better than placebos. This includes homeopathy, intercessory prayer, and the like. Chiropractic, which I dissed just today, may have some efficacy for some skeletal issues, but curing a toothache? C’mon.

My point: when the tests are done, and the technique is shown not to work as promised or even at all, then into the trash bin it goes. That’s science. That’s reality.

Of course, that’s if the tests are done correctly. According to the MSNBC article linked above, that wasn’t always the case. Not surprisingly, when the testers have some stake in the tests then science is out the window.

But even so, the studies have shown that most of these remedies don’t work. And will this change the minds of their advocates?

HAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaha! Oh man, sometimes I crack myself up.

This is just one more arrow in our quiver, but the alternative medicine believers will continue to move the targets around. Stay vigilant, and remember: people waste money, people get sick, and people die because of this antiscientific thinking. That’s why testing this, publicizing it, and fighting the misinformation is so important.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/06/10/alternative-medicine-you-misspelled-not/

This just appeared on slashdot - FDA Says Homeopathic Cure Can Cause Loss of Smell:

"The FDA has advised consumers to stop using Matrixx Initiatives' Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gel marketed over-the-counter as a cold remedy because it is associated with the loss of sense of smell (anosmia) that may be long-lasting or permanent. The FDA says about 130 consumers have reported a loss of smell after using the homeopathic cure containing zinc, an ingredient scientists say may damage nerves in the nose needed for smell and health officials say they have asked Matrixx executives to turn over more than 800 consumer complaints concerning lost smell that the company has on file

This just appeared on slashdot - FDA Says Homeopathic Cure Can Cause Loss of Smell:

"The FDA has advised consumers to stop using Matrixx Initiatives' Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gel marketed over-the-counter as a cold remedy because it is associated with the loss of sense of smell (anosmia) that may be long-lasting or permanent. The FDA says about 130 consumers have reported a loss of smell after using the homeopathic cure containing zinc, an ingredient scientists say may damage nerves in the nose needed for smell and health officials say they have asked Matrixx executives to turn over more than 800 consumer complaints concerning lost smell that the company has on file

Normally with all this alternative medicine bs that people use, it doesn't really bother me as long as they turn to real medicine when their airy-fairy methods don't work (unlike previously mentioned manslaughter father). But this just goes to show that we shouldn't even be using something that hasn't be scientifically proven, because how else do we know it won't f*** us up?! I like my sense of smell tyvm!

Insert inane argument here. How about something like, "Conventional medicines sometimes hurt people too!"

Headache relief doesn't work for you Kat because you aren't having headaches, you are having attention whore episodes disguised as headaches. You have been doing them for so long that you're now effectively lying to yourself. Panadol doesn't help that.

In America anything can be put on the shelf and then has to be proven to be unsafe for it to be taken off. In Australia it must be proved safe before it can be sold.

In America anything can be put on the shelf and then has to be proven to be unsafe for it to be taken off. In Australia it must be proved safe before it can be sold.

In the US I believe it can't be labeled as a 'drug' (that's why this thing snuck though, it was actually a drug and they tried to pass it off as a homeopathic remedy - see the slashdot comments for more)

The majority of headaches are caused by Dehydration.
Try some Homeopathic Water Hydration medicine.

In America anything can be put on the shelf and then has to be proven to be unsafe for it to be taken off. In Australia it must be proved safe before it can be sold.

Can you be a little more specific? I find it hard to believe proper studies were done to show things like ear candles are safe. Are you talking about foods, "medicines" or what?

The guys from Peep Show on homeopathy:

The majority of headaches are caused by Dehydration.

This is true, and what's awesome is people with a headache go and have a couple panadol with a big glass of water and then think the pills fixed it!

Haha awesome vid btw trog.

last edited by Hogfather at 14:05:35 04/Jul/09

Try some Homeopathic Water Hydration medicine.

That's made from two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom right?

That's the one 3dee, and it's all natural!

wow fpot, I didn't see that until now.

Dihydromonoxide, like all chemicals, is bad for you. Read all about it!