The government spends 1.4 billion to find out if there is any validity to any of the alternative medicines or treatments. Does the government believe in things like holistic, homeopathic, and natural medicine?
Documents from the Government have been found that suggest that over one billion dollars are being spent on research into the efficacy of things like home remedies, herbal dietary supplements, and other alternative medicines and homeopathic treatments.
Such procedures in alternative medicine such as acupuncture and aromatherapy have been studied with over a billion dollars’ worth of taxpayers’ income.
There were studies that looked into whether praying would be some kind of effective medical practice in the treatment of AIDS? Another looked into the possibility of lemon and lavender inhalation as a possible natural treatment for flesh wounds. One research group looked into whether or not coffee had a positive impact on those suffering from pancreatic cancer.
Needless to say, many are outraged by the fact that hundreds of millions are being squandered on clearly nonsensical medical procedures when it could be spent on more scientific and legitimate medical research.
Supporters of the research claim that there may be some legitimacy to some home remedies and alternative medicines and its worth investigating. Furthermore, only half a percent of what is given to the National Institute of Health (NIH) is being spent on alternative medicine research.
My own opinion: Some research, like the research into what physiological changes occur during acupuncture procedure seems looking into considering the overwhelming anecdotal evidence and simply due to how wide spread and accepted it is (especially in Asia). However, research into clearly impossible or very unlikely practices such as prayer seems to be completely worthless.
What is your opinion? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
