Many people labor under the mistaken belief than most, if not all, currently used medical treatments have proven themselves effective scientifically.
The truth is, few, if any have.
Many treatments cannot be tested under the most strict scientific conditions- using a double-blind experiment in comparison with a placebo. This is because the side-effects from the “active” treatment are too extreme to be confused with the effects of a placebo. Examples include chemotherapy used in cancer treatment and many kinds of surgery. The obvious side-effects from such treatments make a truly scientific double-blind experiment- where neither doctor nor patient know what they are receiving- impossible.
Another significant limitation to truly unbiased, objective testing of new treatments is the fact that many such trials are conducted by organizations that are financially tied to the outcome of the tests. Clearly, such trials cannot be claimed to be truly scientific and objective unless they are carried out by unbiased observers who stand to gain or lose nothing by the results of the trials.
Such factors suggest that most conventional medical treatments have the veneer of scientific respectability, while being rather unscientific in nature.
It is also clear that powerful vested interests run the medical establishment, thanks to the huge profits that are made in this sector. As a result, there is considerable momentum in an approach to medicine that supports the continued creation of new patentable drugs to continue the revenue streams of the largest pharmaceutical companies. Due to the ability of money to corrupt human judgement it seems this pattern will continue for some time.
Sharka Todd
A similarly themed article by another author can be found here.
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