More Bad Science

Author ^ | Sunday, July 21, 2002 | Charles Oliver

[decimon]

More Bad Science From Republicans. Thanks to TAPPED for pointing us to the credentials of the man who is now chairman of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine PolicyHERE.

James S. Gordon is a former follower of late Bhagwan Shree RajneeshHERE whose cult carried out bioterrorism attacks on U.S. citizens in Oregon in the late 1980s. Gordon seemingly has never met an "alternative" therapy he didn't embrace.

Clinton set up this commission, but W. has failed to disband it.

[Prolix]

Analysis of the Reports of the White House Commission on
Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy (WHCCAMP)

In March 2000, President Clinton announced the creation of a White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy (WHCCAMP) to provide a report to the President on "legislative and administrative recommendations for assuring that public policy maximizes the benefits to Americans of complementary and alternative medicine." Nearly all of the Commissioners are philosophically aligned and economically involved with the so-called "CAM" movement. Few knowledgeable critics were appointed.

The Commission worked for two years and submitted its final report to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson in March 2002. The report, which represents the views of 17 of the 19 Commissioners, recommends across-the-board "integration" of "CAM" into government health agencies and the nation's medical, medical education, research, and insurance systems -- a situation that would promote unscientific practices and waste countless millions of taxpayer dollars.
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[palmer]

Conventional medicine wastes taxpayer dollars too. Here's a Washpost screed complaining about the risks of Hormone Replacement Therapy and the uselessness of cartilage removal for osteoarthritis. Also studies like this have shown that placebos work almost as well as expensive antidepressants. The government needs to stay out of medicine altogether so that individuals and businesses start to give these expensive and useless treatments more scrutiny.

[decimon]

Did a search on "Gordon" so I didn't see the other thread.

You have to love this. The FDA withholds approval of pharmaceutical drugs and wants its paws on the Health Food Store kind of stuff while this agency spends money promoting what it calls Alternative Medicine. Kind of like having a WOD at the same time as they're forcing drugs on school kids.

[webstersII]

You are using Quackwatch as evidence to refute Complementary and Alternative Therapies? You must be desparate. That guy has not read valid studies on different types of therapies, simply because they do not agree with his thinking. He claims to be unbiased but he's about the most biased person on the web.

And if these therapies are so worthless, then why are so many people buying vitamins and other supplements? You can believe they are all suckers but there aren't enough stupid people to fund a $200+ million dollar industry for a long time.

[FreedomPoster]

but there aren't enough stupid people to fund a $200+ million dollar industry for a long time

You can fool some of the people all of the time. . .

In a country with around 300,000,000 people, you'd only have to fool 2,000,000 to the tune of $100 each a year to fund that paltry amount.

[decimon]

And if these therapies are so worthless, then why are so many people buying vitamins and other supplements? You can believe they are all suckers but there aren't enough stupid people to fund a $200+ million dollar industry for a long time.

I am myself a consumer of such products but I don't need or want a government agency pushing whatever is the therapy of the month on me or anyone else. And I especially don't want it done on my tax dime.

James Gordon sounds like a bit of a flake.