Why is there no regulation/requirement of evidence/safety for Alternative Medicines?

Question

I asked this in another section but no one seemed interested haha so I thought Id have a go here..

What I mean by this question is:

In proper science (hehe :P joking) when we have a new idea for a treatment plan or a drug - we (generally) have to go through research proposals, ethics approvals, then months/years of animal testing, followed by months/years of clinical trials.

All of this is regulated and must be approved by the relevant bodies to ensure safety and efficacy. You must provide evidence!!! evidence!!!!!

Why do alternative medicines and procedures get away with not doing the same thing? Why are they not held to the same standards of safety as 'traditional' medicine is? 'Natural Herbal' remedies contain chemicals just as a synthetic drug does. This is basic biochem. Alternative therapies have an effect on the body just as a traditional ones do.

What do you guys think?

Answer 1

They actually don't get away with it.

If a drug (or 'alternative medicine') makes a claim that states it can cure a disease, prevent sickness, or be used in place of an FDA approved treatment without proper submission and approval, a warning letter is issued.

You can see a wide variety of these on the FDA website.

Answer 2

Okay, there is a problem with your question. First of all, there is no such thing as 'alternative medicines'. There are herbal remedies, vitamins, minerals, etc. But no medicines. You see, that is a medical term owned by the medical community. If you give someone 'medicine' you are practicing medicine without a license, and can be
prosecuted. In order to give a medicine, you have to have diagnosed a medical problem, which means you've now diagnosed *and* prescribed, and you are in big trouble!

Now, I'm assuming that your choice of words was loosely meant, and that you meant remedies. Okay, so how do you regulate food? Herbs are plants, which are food. Vitamins and minerals are food. Who is going to be the governing body over food?

Last but not least, who would spend the money to test 'food' since it can't be patented (anybody can grow a garden of food and herbs). The researchers have to be paid--they don't work for free. There is no money in putting the month/years into testing and trials when no patent will be approved at the end of it.

One more note: re the 'chemicals' mentioned in your post.
You are right about chemicals coming from plants, but plants do not produce synthetic chemicals. These chemicals have the same composition (periodic table) as the natural element, but there are not able to be processed by the body. The body doesn't recognize them. This is why they have so many side affects. Also, pharmaceutical chemicals are denatured chemicals, striped of their natural elements, and rendered so 'pure' they need a DIN #....indicating they have been tested as to how much it takes to kill a person. Hmm, who wants to test for how many carrots you have to eat before they kill you?

You can see that it would be silly to do this type of testing.

Also, if you compare the statistics of people who have died from overdosing on carrots, or Vit A supplements, or *any* sort of supplements, and compare them to any, (or even 1 type of drug)-related deaths--well, I'll let you guess which side the deaths would be weighted on!

These types of issues are made a big deal of by the media, but only because there are big pharma-bucks behind this to protect their financial interests.

Hope this anwers your question in some way.

Answer 3

our current system is driven by the ones who make big bucks from the way it works. It directly funnels money into the pockets of a certain few. And guess who that is, drug companies. They now have it set up so that if anything is used to treat a disease has to be "approved " by the FDA. that is why the big push to get things listed as diseases such as alcoholism, drug dependancy, and other things that have been traditionally not come under the FDA umbrella. And this in turn puts the drugs in the "approved" drug manufacture's arena as they are the only ones with enough money to meet FDA requirements.

On the other hand we have the medico's who do not recognized alternative medicines a valid because it is beyond their knowledge (as it is not taught in traditional medical schools) and if they did recognize it, income would flow away from them. So they don't want regulation of alternative medicines as that would recognize them as effective and realistic.

Hope this is understandable. It is just the bottom line guys ripping off the people who need the treatments and drugs and a doctors power play in the other direction. Kind of confusing? You bet it is because it is designed not to ensure your safety but to line certain pockets.

Answer 4

Alternative medicine like alternative physics and alternative chemistry are unscientific. But the systems have mob attraction. So no special mechanism supervises them.
Fraud is to be taken care of by police.

Answer 5

I don't know much on this topic, but you may find this article i found helps answer your question

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/322/7279/158