Want to drive a medical mainstreamer crazy? Here’s how…

Barking Mad

I can think of one very good reason to continue funding the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health: It bugs the living daylights out of so many mainstream mooks who blow a fuse at the very thought that anyone would find healing or comfort outside of synthetic drugs.

And now that we’re seeing some buzz in the mainstream media about pulling funding for NCCAM, these mainstreamers are yelping long and loud to convince Congress to cut NCCAM loose.

You know what? That might be a good idea.

Kids today

First, let’s follow the money. Although there’s not much to follow.

According to the Washington Post, about $122 million of NIH’s yearly budget of $29 BILLION goes to NCCAM, and about the same amount is devoted to the Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM).

In other words, NIH’s CAM funding is comparatively small potatoes. Which makes all the whining about cutting off funding seem just that much more childish. Waaaah! Conventional medicine only gets nearly ALL of $29 billion! We don’t want to share a tiny fraction of that for studies of “unscientific” treatments. Waaaah!

I know $244 million might sound like a lot of money, but let’s put that in perspective: It’s about the same amount that a pharmaceutical company pays the FDA to get one single drug approved.

Meanwhile, these complaints about CAM therapies being “unscientific” entirely miss the point. The therapies aren’t unscientific, but the evidence to back them up is often lacking. And THAT’S why NCCAM devotes money to mount studies – so the science will be there! Couldn’t be simpler.

But let’s face it – if a study successfully demonstrates the effectiveness of a CAM therapy, then the usefulness of that therapy enters the realm of evidence-based science. And that would be a bitter disappointment for the conventional crowd. They’d have to sit down and shut up.

Ask Mr. Science

The Washington Post article offers a quick review of NCCAM flops, noting that “a randomized controlled trial of the botanical echinacea published in 2003 found it was ineffective in treating upper respiratory infections (although it did cause more rashes).”

Of course, mainstreamers can point to this and complain about what a waste of money it is to study silly herbal treatments. But here’s what actually happened in this pathetic research: They studied the wrong stuff.

As I wrote in the e-Alert “Knockout Punch” (12/16/03), the researchers used echinacea that was mostly extracted from the flower. But the most potent part of the echinacea plant (as with virtually all medicinal plants) is the ROOT. So if you use the flower two things happen: 1) It’s weak and works poorly (if it works at all), and 2) The pollen in the flower is more likely to prompt allergic reactions. Such as rashes!

If NCCAM is going to churn out counter-productive junk like that, then absolutely, do us all a favor and defund it. Just get rid of it. And don’t worry – CAM isn’t going away. The public has enthusiastically embraced CAM therapies. That’s why there will be plenty of further research, followed by satisfying breakthroughs.

And it will make the mainstreamers barking mad.

Sources:
“Critics Object to ‘Pseudoscience’ Center” David Brown, Washington Post 3/17/09, washingtonpost.com
“Efficacy and Safety of Echinacea in Treating Upper Respiratory Tract Infections in Children” Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 290, no. 21, 12/3/03, jama.ama-assn.org
“Scientific Evidence Underlying the ACC/AHA Clinical Practice Guidelines” Vol. 301, No. 8, 2/25/09, jama.ama- assn.org