Patrick Elliott wrote:
> Sabrina Kilian wrote:
>> I get the feeling that there are some things acupuncture can be used for
>> in modern medicine, and others that it shouldn't be used for.
> 
> The problem, as I pointed out to someone else, is that you have a *lot*
> of medical doctors doing these sorts of studies, but not all of them are
> scientifically trained. 

Okay, this is where we are at odds. I am not talking about a general
practitioner conducting flawed studies. Maybe I have odd doctors, but
they read peer review journals and try to keep up with new techniques
that have been researched and presented at conferences, not just ideas
that have been batted around the office. Living near a teaching hospital
has that advantage.

Yes, I know of GPs who will recommend non-traditional medicine in a
'Give it a try while we do the other major tests to find out what is
wrong.' manner as palliative care, not as a treatment.

> Point being, would you trust someone doing a study, who has no training
> in running proper studies, and also believes in homeopathy? This isn't
> always the case, which makes things even more confused, but all too
> often you find the people behind the studies are either believers in
> other quack, or funded by such.

No, I wouldn't true a flawed study. Quackery is a separate problem from
non-traditional medicine, even if some quacks are pushing
non-traditional cures.

> If, and this is a big if, it actually does do something in some obscure cases, I am
still not sure that the unfortunate side effect of finding this out, that of having a
huge number of people insist that it still does work for allergies, and pointing at
non-related studies of something that it does work for, is worth the relatively small
benefit that might be gained from it. 

That I have to disagree with. People claim and believe that new drugs do
all sorts of things that they just can't, and we let those individuals
promote and sell the drugs to doctors! If a treatment works, knowing
about it is worth the fact that some people out there may try to spin
things their own ways. Unfortunately, that happens, but it will happen
with any treatment, new or old or rediscovered.

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