To Test of Not to Test?

The stated reasons for the increase in popularity of alternative
medicine therapies includes a rise in prevalence of chronic disease, an
increase inpublic access to worldwide health information, reduced tolerance for paternalism, an increase sense of entitlement to a better
quality of life, declining faith that scientific breakthroughs will
have interest in spiritualism (1).This and the time not taken out to
examine the truth about the risks taken using alternative medicines is
leadingAmerican more towards them. This leads them more towards not informing doctors of their use also. Around 41% of Americans
use some kind of alternative medicine. [Well] with the increase in
number of Americans using alternative remedies, and the medical
establishment becoming more concernedabout possible adverse interaction with prescription drugs, Congress in 1992 established an Office of Alternative Medicine within the National Institutes of Health to evaluate alternative remedies(1).But only 2 million dollars was then spent testing theses, when given 10.7 billion dollars. 100,000 people die each year to adverse interactions with prescription drugs, this being the 4Th leading cause of death in the United States. The FDA ( Federal Drug Administration) should be testing theses to better extent.


Clark, Peter A. "The Ethics of Alternative Medicine Therapies". Journal of Public Health Policy. Vol. 21, No.4 (2000) pp. 447-470. 10 Feb 2007. .