Quackery

This is an edited transcript of a debate held at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut, USA on 25 October 2007. Homeopathy is a widely used but controversial form of complementary and alternative medicine. Six distinguished international speakers, including advocates and skeptics concerning homeopathy, debated the plausibility, theoretical principles, clinical and basic research evidence, ethical and other issues surrounding homeopathy.

This paper highlights the emergence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) within New Zealand. The historical path of development and acceptance of CAM from 1908 will be outlined, with reference to the development of current legislation and government policy. Emphasis will be placed on rapid changes occurring over the last decade. Acupuncture, osteopathy, chiropractics and therapeutic massage are presented as examples of CAM development and practice within New Zealand. Appendix A represents those modalities currently practiced in New Zealand.

In Renaissance and early modern times, the concept of imagination (Latin imaginatio) was essential for the (natural) philosophical explanation of magic processes, especially in the anthropology of Paracelsus. He assumed that imagination was a natural vital power including cosmic, mental, phychical, and physical dimensions. The Paracelsians criticized traditional humor pathology ignoring their theory of' 'natural magic'. On the other hand, they were criticized by their adversaries as charlatans practicing 'black magic'.

A host of alternative treatment methods are sold to us as reputable science on the "supermarket of naturopathy" nowadays. "Foot zone therapy", also known as "reflexology" is one of them. Advocates of reflexology claim that certain zones of the feet are linked to internal organs; that "energy forces" run throughout the human body. According to the teachings of Ayurveda and Yoga, a network of more than 72,000 nerve tracts (energy tracts = meridians) is linked to a single, tiny point on the feet, where the energy ends.

The U.S. Congress determined quackery to be the most harmful consumer fraud against elderly people. Americans waste $27 billion annually on questionable health care, exceeding the amount spent on biomedical research. Quackery is characterized by the promotion of false and unproven health schemes for profit and does not necessarily involve imposture, fraud, or greed. The real issues in the war against quackery are the principles, including scientific rationale, encoded into consumer protection laws, primarily the U.S. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. More such laws are badly needed.

Since the term 'alternative medicine' is defined residually as anything not regular medicine, it is not a useful category. It needs further specification in order to facilitate empirical investigation of the many varied types of health practices it denotes: namely, primitive medicine, folk medicine, herbal medicine, homeopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy, faith healing. New Age Healing, etc.

A host of alternative treatment methods are sold to us as reputable science on the "supermarket of naturopathy" nowadays. "Foot zone therapy", also known as "reflexology" is one of them. Advocates of reflexology claim that certain zones of the feet are linked to internal organs; that "energy forces" run throughout the human body. According to the teachings of Ayurveda and Yoga, a network of more than 72,000 nerve tracts (energy tracts = meridians) is linked to a single, tiny point on the feet, where the energy ends.