In general, alternative medicine is anything that has not been tested, approved, recommended or condoned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the American Medical Association (AMA) of the United States of America. The United State’s medical system is benchmark for the rest of the world, an anything  that is approved by the FDA and the AMA is automatically inducted into the conventional medical establishment, considered orthodox and accepted and approved in every other country in the world.

The idea of naturally based therapies goes back to ancient times. Until recently all medicine was what we now call alternative medicine. But with the advent of the pharmaceutical industry, a new chapter began. Natural therapies were replaced with synthetic ones, and governments began regulating the production and use of those. Now doctors learn to identity symptoms and look up treatment options. Then they prescribe what the pharmaceutical companies and the studies say works.

Since most alternative medicines are natural, it would be unrealistic to get them approved by the FDA. Why? Well, even if it could be proven that a fruit, for instance, could cure a disease, why would anyone spend the millions necessary to get through the FDA? There would be no way to recoup that investment because fruit is already available to everyone. So many alternative medicines remain unapproved.

It is interesting that chemotherapy is FDA approved, and yes, as we will see, reports indicate that it is toxic and not very effective. But chemotherapy drugs are manufactured by pharmaceutical companies with the money necessary to complete all of the required tests. The objective results of tumor destruction were demonstrated adequately. But the ultimate test whether the patient lives or not is NOT one of the factors considered in clinical trials.

However, when conventional therapies failed to live up to their promise, people became extremely interested in alternative therapies. In 1994, the magazine MPLS St. Paul dedicated its cover to acupuncture, herbalism, therapeutic massage, macrobiotic diet, chiropractic and other therapies.

In an article titled “New Ways of Healing”, it was reported that even orthodox hospitals were allowing the admission of alternative services, not because they believed in them, but to regain lost clientele.

The April 6, 1992 issue of Time Magazine broke all sales records. The cover displayed a variety of vitamin tablets and capsules and bore the title “The Power of Vitamins.” New Research shows they may help in the war against cancer, cardiac disease and the ravages of aging.”

In the face of the atrocious results of orthodox cancer treatments, the public has decided to look to alternatives criticized by the medical establishment. People are moving toward answers that are rejected by those who do research in laboratories. United States government authorities and scientists, in spite of the overwhelming quantity of studies from the world’s universities seem to want to keep us tied to the belief that nothing apart from the approved treatments is effective, and that the proposed alternative therapies lack scientific basis.

If the authorities were impartial, they would prohibit the approved treatments for cancer since, scientifically, they have been demonstrated to be useless. Beyond that, clinical studies have demonstrated that these treatments actually endanger the quality of life and are often fatal.

Part 2 will be posted on January 22, 2013.