Controversy Over Alternative Healthcare
Sidelined by many in conventional circles as being unscientific and unproven, alternative medicine have remained in use on the fringes of modern Western medicine, often resorted to when mainstream practices prove ineffective. The term “alternative medicine” is western-centric, with techniques that are often centuries older than conventional methods being dismissed in favor of modern, scientific medicine in which the outcome can be easily measured.
The line between mainstream and alternative is somewhat blurred internationally, with methods such as chiropractic care and acupuncture more widely accepted in some Western countries than others. Many in the scientific community define alternative treatment as that which has not been tested through peer-reviewed, controlled studies. Thus, new evidence will lead to the reclassification of treatments.
Just as treatments have crossed from alternative to mainstream medicine, conventional techniques have also been discredited when the outcome was found to be a placebo effect, or when adverse side effects outweighed their benefits.
Debate has raged over the lack of attention the media and government departments direct at alternative medicine – and unfortunately the middle ground has been difficult to establish. On one extreme, alternative health advocates claim to find natural miracle cures without any scientific evidence while on the other side, equally outspoken supporters of conventional methods categorically dismiss all alternative treatment as “quackery”.
Alternative Medicine Remedies
Alternative medicines cover a broad range of consumables – including a vast plethora of dietary supplements that are often taken as preventative medicine. In general, alternative remedies have been criticized by conventional practitioners for delaying patients' visits to conventional treatment centers. More pressing attention has recently been paid to regulating the production and sale of alternative remedies, which are not required to prove the truth of their claims, or their safety.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is one of 27 bodies that make up the National Institutes for Health in the United States. Established in 1998, the center was set up to research and communicate information about the function and safety of complementary and alternative medicines. With increasing awareness of unconventional healing methods, the term alternative medicine is slowly giving way to “complementary medicine,” which emphasizes therapies that are used in conjunction with mainstream treatments, rather than in place of them.
