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Mind Over Matter: Debunking Alternative Medicines
The New York Times ^ | July 1, 2013 | Abigail Zuger

Posted on 07/03/2013 12:49:19 PM PDT by EveningStar

When Dr. Paul A. Offit published “Autism’s False Prophets” in 2008, he elected to skip the usual round of book signings. His defense of childhood vaccinations so enraged some people who consider them a cause of autism that he was getting credible death threats.

Others might have chosen to flee the public arena after that, but not Dr. Offit, the chief of infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, whose appetite for the good fight seems only to have grown. Over the last decade he has become a leading debunker of mass misconceptions surrounding infections and vaccines, and now he is taking on the entire field of alternative medicine, from acupuncture to vitamins.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: alternativemedicine; health; medicine; paulaoffit; pauloffit; scientificmedicine
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Thank you! Let’s not forget to question all information put forth by those with agendas, and I mean agendas on both sides if the aisle! Remember that scientists, doctors and experts have tried to hammer into us global warming and a fetus isn’t a baby.


21 posted on 07/03/2013 1:22:16 PM PDT by goodwithagun (My gun has killed fewer people than Ted Kennedy's car.)
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To: TigersEye

This is a concerted media prelude to reintroducing Codex Alimentarius.

Again.

It’s been defeated many times in the past but maybe this time they’ve got enough dirt on enough congresscritters they’re certain it will pass. Or maybe they’ve met the price of the rest of them.

They’re just laying the preliminary ground work to get the LIV’s to accept it as in their best interests.

In most of Europe multivitamins only contain 150% of the RDA and come in expensive bottles of 30 only. So if you’ve got a documented SNP involving methyl donor metabolism you’re screwed.

At least sunshine is still free. For now.


22 posted on 07/03/2013 1:22:28 PM PDT by Black Agnes
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To: Sparticus

***the majority of doctors thought that the idea that infections are caused by germs was ludicrous. ****

You mean it is not caused by bad air (Miasma)?


23 posted on 07/03/2013 1:23:28 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: driftdiver

“I’ve met many a western medical doctor who could do nothing but prescribe pills.”

Western doctors do all sorts of things besides prescribing pills. They can tell you to get at least 30 minutes of vigorous excercise every day. They can tell you to eat less fat, red meat, and sugar and more green vegetables. They can tell you to reduce emotional stress. No one listens. That’s not the fault of western medicine.


24 posted on 07/03/2013 1:24:14 PM PDT by altsehastiin
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To: Black Agnes

I expect that you are right. Follow the money. This goes hand in hand with 0bamaCare. Total control of people’s lives.


25 posted on 07/03/2013 1:26:16 PM PDT by TigersEye ("No man left behind" is more than an Army Ranger credo it's the character of America.)
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To: goodwithagun

We have alternative medicine guy who is all over the radio locally. I think I agree with him about 60% of the time. I’m all for trying diet and nutrition over prescription drugs and surgery whenever possible.

On the other hand he rails against fluoride. I think it’s contribution to improving dental health is pretty well established at this point.


26 posted on 07/03/2013 1:26:56 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: altsehastiin

“No one listens. That’s not the fault of western medicine.”

bah! way to give a simplistic answer to a complex question.

MDs are very good at Symptomatic treatment.


27 posted on 07/03/2013 1:26:59 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: altsehastiin

Poor patient compliance is just as much of a problem for an herbalist as well. They don’t work if you don’t take them and take them properly.


28 posted on 07/03/2013 1:27:39 PM PDT by TigersEye ("No man left behind" is more than an Army Ranger credo it's the character of America.)
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To: altsehastiin

People with a lot of money and a self-serving agenda are capable of hijacking just about anything. Politics, government, medicine, education, etc.


29 posted on 07/03/2013 1:28:02 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Buckeye McFrog

” I think it’s contribution to improving dental health is pretty well established at this point.”

Its also pretty well unnecessary because of changes in the diets, culture, and hygiene practices of Americans.


30 posted on 07/03/2013 1:29:05 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: driftdiver
Doctors bury their mistakes, both now and 200 years ago.

Likewise witch-doctors, wise-women, medicine-men and faith-healers.

They also all bury their successes.

31 posted on 07/03/2013 1:31:40 PM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: Jack of all Trades
eat right, and don't work at killing yourself

I switched over about four years ago to what some now call a pure foods diet. It's very sensible foods....some processed foods are okay, manufactured ones are not.

It's getting easier to choose decent foods, as more people become aware. The unintended consequence is that it's very easy to avoid over-eating. Pure foods get into your system very quickly so you're not hungry. The trick is to NEVER eat stuff your body shouldn't ingest.

That includes avoiding pharmaceuticals.

32 posted on 07/03/2013 1:31:49 PM PDT by grania
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To: driftdiver
cure few diseases

Smallpox. Diptheria. Cholera. Plague. Dysentery. Typhus. Typhoid. Scarlet fever. Tetanus. Pertussis. Syphilis.

33 posted on 07/03/2013 1:32:02 PM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: Sherman Logan

I think plumbers and engineers had as much to do with wiping out a few of those diseases as doctors did.


34 posted on 07/03/2013 1:33:09 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: driftdiver

Here half a century and still no cavities.


35 posted on 07/03/2013 1:34:09 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Water seal flush toilets with post flushing sanitary isolation from water supplies and food has done a lot to prevent the spread of disease.


36 posted on 07/03/2013 1:34:58 PM PDT by Black Agnes
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To: driftdiver

Not to mention that people used to routinely die from what we now consider minor infections.

Maternal mortality rates used to range from 10% to up to 50%, though admittedly the high end was due to late pre-modern hospital procedures.


37 posted on 07/03/2013 1:37:35 PM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Absolutely. But we can cure most of them if somebody comes down with it anyway.


38 posted on 07/03/2013 1:38:25 PM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: driftdiver; EveningStar

I will only see a D.O. or MD who uses natural remedies and practices the eastern variety of medicine-and then only if I’m badly injured or dying-and I know a very good Chinese acupuncturist. I take vitamins and supplements, don’t eat processed food, don’t weigh much for my height, and both my work (construction) and my lifestyle-living alone in the country-require physical labor. I do like wine or beer and a cigarette two or three times a month or so. And I do believe totally in the power of prayer.

We should make our own choices-not have them made by a nanny government-and be responsible for those choices-if you consent/buy into taking the drug, then the consequences are yours to accept-not anyone else. It would cut down on the prescription drug abuse problem, the lawsuits, and everyone might just live a healthier, happier life-but that is just my opinion...


39 posted on 07/03/2013 1:38:42 PM PDT by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: EveningStar

Sounds like Dr. Offit is one of the good ones.


40 posted on 07/03/2013 1:39:34 PM PDT by Kip Russell
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