Azazello1313 Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 none of that crap works BETHESDA, Md. (AP) -- Ten years ago the government set out to test herbal and other alternative health remedies to find the ones that work. After spending $2.5 billion, the disappointing answer seems to be that almost none of them do. 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. The center was handed a flawed mission, many scientists say. Congress created it after several powerful members claimed health benefits from their own use of alternative medicine and persuaded others that this enormously popular field needed more study. The new center was given $50 million in 1999 (its budget was $122 million last year) and ordered to research unconventional therapies and nostrums that Americans were using to see which ones had merit. That is opposite how other National Institutes of Health agencies work, where scientific evidence or at least plausibility is required to justify studies, and treatments go into wide use after there is evidence they work - not before. couple billion down the drain. I for one can't wait until congress is in charge of ALL health care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpwallace49 Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Did they study medical Josh Gordon???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 none of that crap works couple billion down the drain. I for one can't wait until congress is in charge of ALL health care. You're right. Those products should have been allowed to be marketed as medical miracles offering false hope forever. Damned that Congress and its pursuit of scientific medical truth. Totally worthless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 (edited) couple billion down the drain. I for one can't wait until congress is in charge of ALL health care. On the other hand, you can be very glad that Congress decided not to step in and have the FDA regulate the herb and supplement industry. The free market will definitely make sure that people don't end up being tricked into buying snake-oil products that don't work. Edited to add: If this report has the appropriate effect of convincing people that this quackery doesn't work, it could very easily have been a good use of money. Edited June 11, 2009 by wiegie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Did they study medical Josh Gordon???? Yes. 96% of cancer patients studied acquired Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of The Moon' within 12 months of beginning therapy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted June 11, 2009 Author Share Posted June 11, 2009 You're right. Those products should have been allowed to be marketed as medical miracles offering false hope forever. Damned that Congress and its pursuit of scientific medical truth. Totally worthless. "You expect scientific thinking" at a federal science agency, said R. Barker Bausell, author of "Snake Oil Science" and a research methods expert at the University of Maryland, one of the agency's top-funded research sites. "It's become politically correct to investigate nonsense." Many scientists say that unconventional treatments hold promise and deserve serious study, but that the federal center needs to be more skeptical and selective. "There's not all the money in the world and you have to choose" what most deserves tax support, said Barrie Cassileth, integrative medicine chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. "Many of the studies that have been funded I would not have funded because they seem irrational and foolish - studies on distant healing by prayer and energy healing, studies that are based on precepts and ideas that are contrary to what is known in terms of human physiology and disease," she said. I think the real scientists already knew the crap didn't work. If this report has the appropriate effect of convincing people that this quackery doesn't work, it could very easily have been a good use of money. well in that case, we'd better get right on it and spend a few billion to study whether the lotto is a good investment, whether realtors deserve a 6% commission, anda few billion more to decide whether ed hardy t-shirts should sell for $120 bucks or be on the blue-light rack at k-mart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 I think the real scientists already knew the crap didn't work. Well, as long as R. Barker Bausell published a book on the subject, by all means: the federal government should just take his word for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 well in that case, we'd better get right on it and spend a few billion to study whether the lotto is a good investment, whether realtors deserve a 6% commission, anda few billion more to decide whether ed hardy t-shirts should sell for $120 bucks or be on the blue-light rack at k-mart. Please stop. My hyperbole detector just exploded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Great. Now they messed up the placebo effect it was having. Idiots! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmarc117 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 2.5b? thats chump change for the govt!!! what about the 1000s i spent on this horse sh1t for the last ten years thinking it worked!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 If the Good Lord wants you home, there's no medicine, alternative or otherwise that will help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmarc117 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 If the Good Lord wants you home, there's no medicine, alternative or otherwise that will help oh dear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Neutron Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 The government makes a lot more on Rx meds than alternative medicine. A lot of the "real drugs" cause other problems that need to be treated. Way too many of the "regulated" Rx drugs end up killing people because FDA approval is purchased, not earned. I, for one, am lightyears better off having stopped taking the crap the docs prescribed and eating better and exercising - go figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 well in that case, we'd better get right on it and spend a few billion to study whether the lotto is a good investment, whether realtors deserve a 6% commission, anda few billion more to decide whether ed hardy t-shirts should sell for $120 bucks or be on the blue-light rack at k-mart. touche Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chavez Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 If the Good Lord wants you home, there's no medicine, alternative or otherwise that will help Not even whiskey? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chavez Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 I, for one, am lightyears better off having stopped taking the crap the docs prescribed and eating better and exercising - go figure. That's crazy talk, you crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 So, the pill I take with ingredients like "bovine adrenal" isn't helping me feel better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Hey, if the government pays for it, I'll take it. It's just gotta be good for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Yes. 96% of cancer patients studied acquired Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of The Moon' within 12 months of beginning therapy. Yo Mama..The silent killer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Glucosamine and chondroitin for arthritis Wierd though. When my dog was a pup she had a condition where she was growing too fast for her joints. The Vet prescribed the above and it really helped her. We saw noticeable improvement within a few days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexgaddis Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Wierd though. When my dog was a pup she had a condition where she was growing too fast for her joints. The Vet prescribed the above and it really helped her. We saw noticeable improvement within a few days Placebo effect... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 If the Good Lord wants you home, there's no medicine, alternative or otherwise that will help If the Lord doesn't take you, the Jews will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 couple billion down the drain. I for one can't wait until congress is in charge of ALL health care. This from your quote: That is opposite how other National Institutes of Health agencies work, where scientific evidence or at least plausibility is required to justify studies, and treatments go into wide use after there is evidence they work - not before. Is this talking about other countries or other internal agencies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpwallace49 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Yes. 96% of cancer patients studied acquired Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of The Moon' within 12 months of beginning therapy. Anyone up for the Wizard of Oz? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avernus Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 alright...so medicine that has worked for over a thousand years = bad....check.................digesting chemicals = good...check... nevermind pills that have MSM in them relieving inflammation and pinched nerves or flax seeds lowering cholesterol, cleaning out your arteries and taking care of really bad kidney problems...among other things that I won't get into because I'm not really in the mood for a debate again... there are all sorts of choices for alternative medicine or diet that you can take which will prevent or even eliminate health problems....but it seems they have chosen which ones they wanted to study and I was already not sold on any of the things they mentioned... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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