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.... Natural Health ... under attack ?

... comments by Dieter Luske - Editor for useNature

Is the complementary health care industry under attack?

Constant attacks on anything to do with Natural Therapies are nothing new. But lets be fair, I don't think our industry is an isolated case. Aggressive and negative news seem to prevail in all media outlets, and specifically nasty on social media. Everything is fair game, and everything is under attack. Medical topics as much as natural therapies, politics as much as religion, social behaviour as much as the media itself. Yes, that's right, journalist and the media is under constant attack as well, esp. on the topic of "not to sensationalize".

I am never sure, should we be amused or sad when prominent or not so prominent personalities voice their opinions against something as natural as Natural Therapies?

It would be understandable, if people would attack just the fraudulent practices, because as we all know:

"there are some bad apples in every basket"
and ...
"Why throw the baby out with the bath water?"

Yes, that's right, most attacks are of a general nature. The attacks may be only on one product, but that is never differentiated, the attacks and assumptions are always on the whole natural health or wellbeing industry and lifestyle.

Whenever someone is attacking something in general, something what millions of people value, millions of people practice for thousands of years, and whenever someone attacks that whole field of valuable information, one must ask the question.. . WHY???

Is there actually a genuine reason of concern? - Or is it just disguised as a concern with a "secret" agenda?

Most attacks seem to be about that patients open themselves up to harm by seeking advice from Complementary Practitioners, rather than Medical ones.

But, where is the evidence for that?

In my experience it is the other way around, people go to their GP Doctor first, and those patients who are not satisfied with the results may visit a Complementary practitioner. In fact, in most natural type of clinics, about 80% of consultations are instigated because the patients didn't feel their GP or specialist had given them the support they needed.

Wouldn't it be much better, if Naturopaths would work together with Doctors anyhow? That way Doctors could refer patients to a Naturopath of their choice, making sure that Naturopath is qualified and reports back to the them. That's what I call a good patient outcome.

What are all the other concerns and attacks about?

Usually about products, and about how many people "die" or come to harm from taking those products.

The complementary health system always welcomes a genuine investigation about specific products.

No one likes fraudulent practitioners or products, I am sure we all can agree on that.

However the fact remains, there seems to be no evidence that anyone ever died of taking a Natural Therapy Product.

However, Natural Therapists, like Doctors are not able to prevent bad products from coming on the market. Those products have nothing to do with the Complementary Therapy Industry, which in Australia is surprisingly well regulated. Most practitioners by example use only "Practitioner Only Brands", therefore making sure well researched supplements are subscribed.

Products bought by people who "self-prescribe", definitely represents a problem, however this is not a Natural Therapy problem, it is a regulation problem.

To give a "humorous" example: 1 apple a day keeps the Doctor away. - Some people get that wrong, and think, if they eat 10 apples a day, they will never get sick. They are wrong, they probably will get stomach cramps and diarrhoea.

Now, who's fault is that? The complementary or the medical systems fault? Neither of course, lets blame the media for that one.

Could there be a deeper reason why some people are so strongly opposed to Natural Therapies, maybe something personal ?

I always wonder about people who call themselves "skeptics". Checking their blog's or web-sites, one can't help but notice that they are only skeptics on one topic, they attack everything natural.

Isn't that called biased? Why would they do that?

How come, those skeptics are not skeptical of the pharmaceutical industry, which makes Billions of Dollars? How come there are so few "Curative Drugs" and so many "Maintenance Drugs"? Isn't that a reason to be skeptic?

I probably shouldn't open this emotive topic, but how come babies need more and more vaccinations? Not just the few we got 30 or 40 years ago, but now there are probably 20 or 30 vaccinations in the first year alone, and it doesn't end there. Have we become that much more sick, or sensitive? Why?

What do all those vaccinations actually do to an infant? How come skeptics are not skeptic about that? And don't get me wrong, I am not against vaccination.

Natural therapies are not out to harm you, they have been developed out of genuine concerns for human and animal health. They have been developed by learning that many natural substances and also natural type of behaviour and lifestyle, even mental attitudes, are less destructive than commercial modern life products and practices.

The nature of attacking is hostile and destructive.

Instead attacking, why not be constructive and supportive, and investigate how to improve health?

How can we as human beings become and stay healthy. - I find that much more challenging than simply to rubbish something.

There are many challenging issues to be in need of support, actually in urgent need of support.

Natural Therapy is not the issue and not the problem.

I would like to ask to concentrate on the positive, the constructive, and ....

1. Improve the health system, by being more Holistic and incorporating Natural therapies.

2. Work on minimising the side effects of medical drugs.

3. Spend energy on finding the cause of a disease, and proper treatments without side-effects, and without life-long dependency on drugs.

4. Find out and teach everyone, how to become and stay healthy, as described by the World Health Organisation's Constitution:
   
   “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.
   

And if there is still something left to attack, why not attack the obvious health destructing elements of our society?

1. Alcohol and substance abuse.

2. Medical drug abuse and dependencies.

3. Soft drinks and Junk-food adverts.

4. Commercials of health detrimental food items in general.

5. High Sugar and Salt consumption.

6. Food additives - are we meant to eat chemicals, and numbers?

7. And something which can turn our health system around;
   eliminate obesity by education, and here is a great challenge, why not suggest a program to all medical clinics, to open up free weight loss clinics. It cost next to nothing, and even would return value, because participants would be loyal to that Clinic or Doctor.

Actually, I urge anyone;

... please use your intelligence to tackle the positive issues of Health.

Work for Health, not against it.

Fraudulent practitioners are a different story, but most of them, are not even practitioners, there are just fraudulent.

Above all, support health, peace and love, life is so beautiful, lets keep it that way.

More articles:

Natural Therapies .. potential dangerous? Compared to what?

Naturopathy and the Scientific Evidence - A Naturopath is practicing active prevention, by "scientific evidence" based lifestyle modification to prevent diseases.  

 

Comments by:
Dieter Luske - Editor for useNature.com

 

* Disclaimer - Any general advice given in any article should not be relied upon and should not be taken as a substitute for visiting a qualified medical Doctor.