Evidence-based Hogwash

One of the great hoaxes of modern medicine is that all conventional medicine is scientifically-based, and that complementary and alternative medicine should not be utilized because of a lack of evidence. Dr. Julian Whitaker in Health and Healing points out that only 25% of medical treatments used today are backed by objective evidence, and that includes bypass surgery, angioplasty, spinal fusion for back pain, Pap tests for low risk women, routine chest Xrays, and tubes in children’s ears. Even if objective evidence is available, which costs millions of dollars and is usually supplied only by drug companies with a profit incentive, the studies just report what happens in the majority of a large group. Individual variation, which is very common in human beings, is not considered important.